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/lit/ - Literature

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1153867 No.1153867 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: the best use of magic in books
my opinion The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud
kinda young adult but i think the system was done really well while showcasing a lot of different cultures around the world without relying on that power of love/friendship cop out

>> No.1153980

Jim Butcher's dresden files/ fury books

>> No.1154016

>>1153980

This.

>> No.1154038

>>1154016
yeah but in the fury books he still uses that love aspect which always strikes me as mostly bad writing but yes the one dresden i read made me crave more
having sad that
i still liked bartimaeus more

>> No.1154059

Earthsea, losers.

>> No.1154855
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1154855

Eathsea is good.

Brandon Sanderson comes up with good magic systems. Mistborn, for example.

>> No.1154895
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1154895

D&D ripped it off

>> No.1154898

The Wheel of Time is the best one, bar none.

Jordan had a physics degree from The Citadel and it showed.

>> No.1154917
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1154917

>>1154895
>implying D&D didn't borrow extensively from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser

>> No.1154919

>>1154917
yeah but the magic system in d&d is explicitly vancian magic (even though actual magic in vance is kind of different from the implementation in d&d) also, jack vance is fucking great

>> No.1154922

>>1153867
Sorry for off topic, but what manga is this?

>> No.1154923

From what I remember the Nightwatch books' magic system was pretty interesting.

Prince of Nothing and Discworld have interesting similarities between their magic systems. A lot of thought clearly went into PoN's, and I like the obvious and profound influence it has on world politics instead of just "here is a fantasy world, also there are wizards."

>> No.1154925
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1154925

>>1154919
>implying the alignment system didn't originate in Three Hearts and Three Lions

>> No.1154928

>>1154922
AKIIIIIRAAAAA!!!!!

Srsly though, read it if you haven't. Vastly superior to the movie, IMHO. Ditto for Nausicaa.

>> No.1154934

>>1154925
what the fuck are you even, i didn't imply that

>> No.1154937

>>1154928
Oh sweet. Yeah I was planning on reading through Akira and Nausicaa when I got caught up on Berserk but sort of forgot about that.

>> No.1154941

>>1154898
This. So true.

>> No.1154945

>>1154937
Cool; they're a couple of my favorite manga. It turns out that not being constrained by runtime and budget vastly expands one's storytelling options.

>> No.1154953

>>1154941
For all the series' shortcomings it does have this going for it. Channeling is so well realized and detailed that I almost don't think of it as "magic".

>> No.1154957

>>1154925


Also, I liked the way Steven Erikson designed his magic in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series even if it was overused and kinda deus ex machina.