Amid world-building in fantasy novels, there are many magical systems that have similarities as well as differences. Myriad magical manners keep reading fresh rather than being fed what has been done before repeatedly. Salina Public Library offers a variety of books to subvert expectations regarding the manner of the workings of magic in the worlds readers enter upon checking them out with a library card. Here are some suggestions to get you started!

 

Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson 

A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families, and ordinary folk are condemned to live in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash fields. But now a troublemaker has arrived and there is rumour of revolt, a revolt that depends on criminals that no one can trust and a young girl who must master Allomancy – the magic that lies in all metals. The primary type of magic used by the characters in the Mistborn books is Allomancy, wherein a genetically gifted user can swallow and “burn” a specific type of metal to temporarily gain a specific supernatural ability. There are 16 different types of metal Allomancers can use, each of which grants a certain power. Most Allomancers can only burn one kind of metal, and are known as “Mistings.” However, the rare “Mistborn” can burn all types of metals, making them some of the most powerful characters in the Mistborn series.

 

Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan 

When using the One Power, one weaves flows of different elements: Earth, Spirit, Water, Air, and Fire, also known as the Five Powers. Men are generally stronger with Fire and Earth, while women are generally stronger with Air and Water; significant strength in Spirit is distributed equally, and relatively rare in either. Great strength in all Five Powers has been unknown since the Age of Legends. An advantage of being female is that only a woman can start the link for a circle, while men cannot link to form a circle of multiple channelers working together without a woman’s aid. Women are more dexterous in the actual weaving of the flows, and have the advantage of linking, but cannot increase a circle beyond thirteen without the inclusion of men. When a male channeler and a female channeler work together, they are much stronger than many of the same gender, which means that the two Powers are working better together.

 

Heaven Official’s Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

In Heaven Official’s Blessing, the magic system revolves around spiritual energy and cultivation, with both gods and ghosts wielding power derived from different sources and governed by different rules. Gods gain power from the faith of their believers, while ghosts draw power from their resentment and obsession, and can further enhance it through training. Ascension to godhood is a complex process involving ability, hard work, and luck, with some mortals ascending through martial prowess or extraordinary deeds. 

 

Babel by R. F. Kuang

Babel is the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working — the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars — has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization. This linguistic magic involves scholars engraving a word in one language and its translation into another on different sides of a silver bar to produce a specific effect (light, explosion, structural reinforcement, etc.). Different magical results are dependent upon the slightly different connotations each word has in its respective language. However, the catch is that the practitioner must be a native speaker of one of the languages.

 

The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss 

In Temerant, the fictional continent where the story takes place, magic has a scientific characterization where only those who have been extensively educated can use it effectively. Thus, the reader sees the main character Kvothe spending time progressing in his training at The University. The University stands out due to its instruction in disciplines that closely resemble magic, replacing technological development with Sympathy, Artificing, Alchemy and Naming. Kvothe’s lifelong interest in Naming takes root under Master Elodin’s tutelage. It is here that Kvothe begins to hone the oblique skill of awakening his sleeping mind to call the wind and other names.

 

The Alex Stern series by Leigh Bardugo

Throughout Bardugo’s Ninth House and Hell Bent, the characters accomplish various magic through complicated and incredibly disturbing rituals. One of the earliest examples is prognostication, where the members of the Skull & Bones house examine a (unconscious) person’s insides to predict the future. The implications of this magic system is a metaphor of the elite retaining their power at the expense of others. Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. Their eight windowless “tombs” are the well-known haunts of the rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street’s biggest players. But their occult activities are more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. They tamper with forbidden magic, raise the dead, and sometimes prey on the living.

 

Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks

The title “Lightbringer” conveys the most essential part of Weeks’ series’ magic system. Certain characters, called Drafters, can harness light and create the substance Luxin, the properties of which vary depending on its color. Drafters who can only wield one color of Luxin are called Monochromes, while those who can use two are Bichromes, and those who can use many are Polychromes. Gavin Guile, the protagonist of the series, is known as “the Prism” because he can wield every color on the spectrum. This constitutes a very interesting system because it is based on a simple scientific concept that most people reading the novel can understand without trouble, but is then presented through a fantasy lens.

 

Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab

In one of Schwab’s best fantasy series, magic inhabits everything and everyone. Certain locations serve as the sources of magic, which magicians learn to harness. Magical abilities crop up randomly (it is not hereditary), and most magicians can wield only one of five elements (with rare cases of those who can wield more, recalling other book series with a similar system). However, what makes Shades of Magic truly distinctive is its setting of several parallel worlds, each with a different relationship with magic. The protagonist is one of the few magicians powerful enough to travel between worlds. As he visits Red London, Grey London, White London, and Black London, the reader is exposed to malevolent and neutral forms of magic, as well as the different ways it is harnessed and treated by the human population. Shades of Magic’s overlapping categorizations are slightly confusing, but it is doubtlessly also one of the most unique magic systems in fantasy literature.

 

Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin

Earthsea subscribes to a magic system defined by extensive training necessary for individuals to be able to wield magic properly. However, many people still have natural magical talent. Le Guin introduced the concept of magic being controlled by a true language, which has been repurposed in other fantasy series. Practitioners learn to use the Old Language, specializing in different disciplines of magic. The Earthsea Cycle includes some other types of magic governed by a different set of rules, including the Old Powers of the Earth, Female Magic, and Enigmatic Magic. The rich world of Earthsea also features mythological creatures such as dragons who have their own powers. Overall, Earthsea is another example of a series that stresses the importance of not taking magic lightly, illustrated by the protagonist accidentally inciting catastrophe.

 

Broken Earth trilogy by N. K. Jemisin

In the Broken Earth trilogy, the magic system, called orogeny, revolves around humans with the ability to manipulate seismic energy. These individuals, known as orogenes, can control the earth’s movements, including causing and preventing earthquakes. Their power is tied to a gland in their necks called the sessapinae, which allows them to sense and channel energy from the earth. However, orogeny is a dangerous power, and untrained orogenes can unintentionally harm those around them by manipulating the earth’s energy and causing unintended seismic events or extracting heat from living beings, potentially turning them to stone.

 

Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski

In The Witcher books, magic is depicted as a force called “Chaos” that can be harnessed by individuals with a natural talent, referred to as “Sources”. While anyone can learn basic spells like the Witcher signs, true mastery requires innate magical ability. Magic users, including mages, priests, and druids, draw power from various sources, primarily the elements of earth, fire, water, and air. Intersections, where magical streams converge, are particularly potent locations for drawing magical energy. Fire magic is considered dangerous and can lead to madness, while water is often cited as the easiest source to draw from.

 

Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

The Amber stories take place in two contrasting “true” worlds, Amber and Chaos, and in shadow worlds (Shadows) that lie between the two. These shadows, including Earth, are parallel worlds that exist in — and were created from — the tension between the opposing magical forces of Amber and Chaos. The Courts of Chaos are situated at the very edge of an abyss. Members of the royal family of Amber, after walking in a Pattern that is central to Amber, can travel freely through the Shadows. While traveling (shifting) between Shadows, they can alter reality or create a new reality by choosing which elements of which Shadows to keep or add, and which to subtract, eventually arriving at their chosen destination.

 

The Bone Shard Daughter Andrea Stewart 

Shards of bone are harvested from humans, then implanted into constructs. This creates a magical link, siphoning off some of the human’s vitality to power the construct. These constructs can be made from any previously living matter but are usually composed of various animal parts. While constructs can be animated by a single shard, each shard can only be inscribed with one command. Even simple constructs usually require a few if-then statements to perform duties like carrying cargo or chopping down trees. More complex constructs require more commands and sometimes hundreds or even thousands of shards. This allows for constructs that can check for contraband goods or fight independently of human orders.

 

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by Ursula Vernon

This is a setting where most so-called “magickers” have only a minor talent: something simple like changing the color on a juggling ball or straightening out a bent piece of wood. Anyone with truly impressive abilities is quickly recruited into the army, so we don’t see many of them. Mona, our protagonist, has an affinity for bread. Fourteen-year-old Mona isn’t like the wizards charged with defending the city. She can’t control lightning or speak to water. Her familiar is a sourdough starter and her magic only works on bread. She has a comfortable life in her aunt’s bakery making gingerbread men dance. But Mona’s life is turned upside down when she finds a dead body on the bakery floor.

 

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling 

The basic concepts of magic were fairly simple — even a two-year-old wizard could do some form of magic — but the inherent power and potential for misuse were great indeed. It was for this reason that promising young witches and wizards were sent to schools of magic, such as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to refine their craft and learn the art and responsibility of their power. There, they learned a variety of magical specialities, general theory and the history of magic in their world. Magic was unable to be performed by non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles), which was what separated the Muggle world from the wizarding world. As a substitute for magic, Muggles used technology, but in the same sense, many wizards were ignorant of the workings of most Muggle devices, including electricity. Both Muggles and wizards viewed their choice of tool as completely and utterly logical and ordinary, although each would find the other’s tools fascinating or even mysterious. As per the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, wizards and witches must constantly hide their magic abilities from the Muggle world, and thus most Muggles were unaware that magic existed.