Masters of Magic
A look at four fantasy authors and their unique magic systems
Tolkien gave us wizards and mysterious elvish medicine. Neil Gaiman has ancient gods and spirits who play in your dreams. No matter where a book lands on the scale of high dragon fantasy to mortals messing with the occult, magic and the systems that govern it are a core building block of the fantasy genre.
Waving a wand and shouting “abracadabra” may work for some, but when magic is an integral part of a fantasy world, when it weaves its tendrils through the hearts of characters, underpinning their struggles and motivations, it becomes more than just a plot device. It moves beyond the realms of world-building and becomes a character in its own right.
Here are four world-renowned fantasy authors who give their magic systems pride of place. From parallel worlds hidden behind the streets of London to the scientific study of the power held in a name, these authors make the magic their own, give it a beating heart, a distinctive voice, and write systems and spells with a flavour you can’t help but fall in love with.
Shades of Magic
by V. E Schwab
Shocking no one, on a list of beautiful magic systems, what better place to start than the Shades of Magic series by Victoria Schwab.
From the first chapter, the first page even, Schwab introduces us to a world of blood magic and walking between worlds, to a dying breed of magician and the mirror cities they inhabit. Her characters are not just wizards, they are Antari. They don’t just cast spells, they slice into their flesh and create doors between worlds. Even something as simple as a peculiar red coat becomes an iconic example of the way magic manifests in this vivid and distinctive world.
Magic underpins Schwab’s society, from the language they speak to the dangers they face, and we are shown the effect of this magic on every character we encounter; from those that lack its gifts and are forced to compensate, to those who have become darkened and twisted by it. In this world, magic is not simply good or evil. Instead, it is shaped by the user, the way one uses magic altering the way the magic uses them. It’s a balance, an art of control, and throughout the series, Schwab shows us the dangers of losing that control.
Her magic is not freely given but rather earned, and we see each of her characters struggle with the grey areas between power and strength. The magic system imprints on all of our anti-heroes, colouring each with their own flavour while simultaneously pulling them together and tearing them apart.
This a baroque tale of love and the darker side of responsibility. It’s a story of friendship and the dangers of isolation, and instead of being a simple catalyst for story advancement or a minor character trait, the magic system Schwab has created purposefully mirrors these themes. It works alongside and through her story to expand these ideas to their full, and sometimes terrifying potential.
And in the end, we are left smelling the faint scent of roses and wishing we could return to a city that felt like home.
The Stormlight Archive
by Brandon Sanderson
One cannot write a 1200+ page fantasy epic without a firm grasp of your core magical mechanics, let alone four of them. So it should come as no surprise that Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series has made it onto this list.
The Stormlight Archive is a powerful tale of war and morality, racial inequality and religious oppression, and alongside complex anti-heroes and a labyrinth of interlocking storylines, Sanderson transports us to a world of magic made real.
Gravity can be altered through a process of Lashing. Magic manifests material as Shardblades, giving warriors great abilities in battle. And stone can be created by Soulcasting through fabrials. These aspects add more than just flavour to the world. They define it, drop the reader into a fully formed land of tangible magic, where we can feel the threat of a high storm approaching and imagine creation spren springing up around our feet.
Sanderson’s magic is vast and complex, linked to the gods, the land and the souls of the lost. Each character comes to magic in their own way, and each is forever altered by its presence in their lives. The weight of responsibility, running from past trauma, the fear and freedom of losing one’s faith, these deeply personal struggles are magnified through the lens of Sanderson’s magic, each Knight’s Radiant their own personal brand of broken, struggling to keep it together in a world relying on them to be better.
Stormlight is a series of hope hidden in dark places. It’s a story of finding yourself and being true to your nature, even if that nature takes you away from home and throws you into a war you never wanted to be part of. And as we are taken on this journey, following Sanderson’s characters to places we wish they didn’t have to go, his magic holds our hands, lights a candle along the way, and makes us feel slightly safer as we walk together into the dark.
The Kingkiller Chronicles
by Patrick Rothfuss
Sympathy. Quite possibly my favourite magic system out there to date, and one piece, in a masterclass of worldbuilding, that makes Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller series unequalled across the fantasy genre.
Rothfuss tells us the story of Kvothe, a simple bard from a modest upbringing, who gets thrown into a dark world of demons and betrayal, as he stumbles through a life that gives birth to a legend.
Sympathy, one system of magic in our hero’s world, is based on the idea that creating a binding, or a link, between two things, allows you to affect both simultaneously. Throw a rock from a roof and cause another to fly. Take the heat from a flame to start a fire elsewhere. This simple notion expands to create a complete arcane system, supported by Alchemy, Sygaldry, Naming and Glammour, the mystical magic of the Kingkiller Fae. We learn these systems, and their diverse laws, with Kvothe, as he works up the ranks of the University from E’lir to Re’lar to Arcanist, and comes to understand the beauty of silence and the power held in a name.
Sympathy and magic flow through this story, colouring each encounter with the vibrant personality of our main protagonist. His slightly fae, slightly whimsical edge mixed with a darkness he struggles to hide comes out in the way his magic manifests, both helping and sometimes hurting him as he learns to control his power and his past.
The demons and fae creatures we meet retain the mystical quality of the unknown, whilst still staying true to the laws of magic this world is based on. When a magic system is so thoroughly thought out, so beautifully structured, it becomes a science we as readers can easily buy into, as real as gravity, no suspension of disbelief needed. It gives the author’s world a realism and credibility you can feel on every page, and is one thing, in a long list, that makes this series a prime example of fantasy done right.
Discworld
by Sir Terry Pratchett
A world set on a flat disk carried on the back of 4 elephants astride a giant astral turtle. If you’ve never read Terry Pratchett before, that about sums him up in a nutshell: absolutely ridiculous, hilariously funny, and dangerously insightful for a series that, on the surface, seems like complete fantasy nonsense.
Throughout this immense 41-book series, Terry leads us through a universe of incompetent wizards, feisty old witches, underappreciated librarians and the ever-watchful DEATH. Discworld runs on magic, it even has its own colour; Octarine (a sort of greenish-purple), and from the very first book it captures our hearts with its wit and practicality.
Magic on the Disc is unpredictable, much like its inhabitants, leaking into the world from age-old old battles or coalescing at the peaks of towering mountain ranges. We fall in love with the bumbling Rincewind, we fear the wrath of Granny Weatherwax, and though these magic users may have very different opinions as to how, and indeed if it’s necessary at all, to use magic, the consistent laws and nature of Terry’s wild magic tie this collection of wayward tales together.
Terry shows us the human truth behind the fantasy. He sneaks razor-sharp wisdom between the words when your back is turned. And though his stories are not direct sequels of each other, we are never in doubt as to whose world we are in.
The fantasy genre is full of heroic adventures and heartbreaking tales. Full of dragons and elves, good vs evil, or a rag-tag group of mercenaries off to save the world.
Magic is a staple of the genre we love, an expectation we have as a reader when we pick up the next Tor fantasy or Orbit publication. And while magic can be a mechanic working behind the scenes, an unseen part of the world-building process, certain authors show us the power magic can hold by giving their systems substance, character and a heart of their very own.
When you can feel an author’s magic breathe in every word, come alive through their characters, sing through their spells. When their system not only complements their world but is the backbone of it, colouring every aspect and seeping into the fabric of the story. These are the magic systems you remember. These are the systems that capture our hearts, and teach us a lesson in the art of world-building with purpose.
And on those dark and stormy nights lit by candle flame and moonlight, they make us pause a moment and wonder… what might be possible with a sprinkle of grave dirt and a few whispered words.
About The Author
Franky Seymour writes things you might consider stories.
She’s never in the place you left her, but can likely be found somewhere along the Pacific Northwest. She writes fantasy, fairytales, and stories that hold your hand as they lead you into the dark, and can occasionally be caught doing ‘real’ work behind the wheel of an ambulance. Her favourite trick is to tell you a story you don’t realise is a story until after you’ve finished reading it. Consider yourself warned.
You can find more of her work on her website, connect over on LinkedIn, or shoot her a message about anything from worldbuilding to wanderlust.
Originally published at https://frankyseymour.com on February 10, 2023.
