It is annual tradition that I make lists of interesting magic systems and magical abilities for Wyrd & Wonder, and 2024 will not be the year I break my streak! You can find this year’s magic systems list over here, and this post will spotlight ten different magic powers that intrigue and delight me!
(What’s the difference between a magic system and a magical ability? Well, I define a magic system as something that allows the practitioner to do many things, whereas an ability lets them do one thing – even if that one thing can be utilised in a lot of different ways!)
Thus, here is 2024’s list of some of the very coolest magical abilities!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Gay MC
Goodreads
In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.
Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities.
At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home.
Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.
As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.
Most of the characters we meet in The Tainted Cup have magical enhancements – to their sense of smell or their size or even to their pheromones. But the main character, Kol, has a perfect memory, allowing him to remember every detail of a crime scene or suspect interview. In his world, this isn’t even an unusual power to have – it’s one many people choose, although not too many, as people are aware that being unable to ever forget anything will eventually become overwhelming and cause a dramatic burnout.
But we’re not talking about something as ‘simple’ as a photographic memory. Kol can also perfectly recall what he hears, smells, tastes – and does. Shown how to pick a lock, he can perfectly remember, and execute, what he was taught. Guided through a sword move, he can replicate it again perfectly every time. I mean??? That’s kind of objectively amazing. I definitely wouldn’t want to never be able to forget anything – but if I could just have that part? The doing-it-right-once-and-able-to-do-it-again-forever bit? Just imagine how incredible that would be!
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Representation: Major gay character
Goodreads
In a world where anyone can cast a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.
Kellen does not fully understand his unique gift, but helps those who are cursed, like his friend Nettle who was trapped in the body of a bird for years. She is now Kellen's constant companion and his closest ally.
But the Unraveller carries a curse himself and, unless he and Nettle can remove it, Kellen is a danger to everything – and everyone – around him . . .
Curses are a staple in fantasy, and so is breaking them – but never quite like this. Usually, breaking a curse requires a whole entire quest, and generally a character (or group of characters) only ever set out to break one curse. But Kellen has unravelled dozens and dozens of curses – it’s his magical gift, bestowed on him through a tragic accident. His whole life is travelling from place to place, undoing curses and (arguably just as important) identifying the people who cast them. This would be a big deal in plenty of magical settings, but Kellen lives in a country where everyone has the potential to become a curser – and although sometimes curses are a way of levelling the playing field between the misused and the upper classes – a way of getting justice when the person who’s done wrong is too rich to suffer consequences in court – usually it’s just spite and hate, and the curse is so completely disproportionate to the perceived ‘wrong’.
So it’s pretty gamechanging, to have someone around who can undo curses!
The wide-ranging ramifications of the existence of an unraveller is honestly just as excellent as the magical ability itself is. Yes, Unraveller is meant for younger readers, but like everything by Hardinge, there’s a lot here for grown-ups to enjoy too!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bi/pansexual MC (possibly on the ace spectrum?), secondary gay hispanic character
Goodreads
Daisy Ellery’s pies have a secret ingredient: The magical ability to avenge women done wrong by men. But Daisy finds herself on the receiving end in Misha Popp’s cozy series debut, a sweet-as-buttercream treat for fans of Ellery Adams and Mary Maxwell.
The first time Daisy Ellery killed a man with a pie, it was an accident. Now, it’s her calling. Daisy bakes sweet vengeance into her pastries, which she and her dog Zoe deliver to the men who’ve done dirty deeds to the town’s women. But if she can’t solve the one crime that’s not of her own baking, she’ll be out of the pie pan and into the oven.
Parking her Pies Before Guys mobile bakery van outside the local diner, Daisy is informed by Frank, the crusty diner owner, that someone’s been prowling around the van—and not just to inhale the delectable aroma. Already on thin icing with Frank, she finds a letter on her door, threatening to reveal her unsavory secret sideline of pie a la murder.
Blackmail? But who whipped up this half-baked plot to cut a slice out of Daisy’s business? Purple-haired campus do-gooder Melly? Noel, the tender—if flaky—farm boy? Or one of the abusive men who prefer their pie without a deadly scoop of payback?
The upcoming statewide pie contest could be Daisy’s big chance to help wronged women everywhere…if she doesn’t meet a sticky end first. Because Daisy knows the blackmailer won’t stop until her business is in crumbles.
This is probably the most ‘cute’ magical ability on this list, but only at first glance. Daisy can bake all sorts of things into her pies (although it’s not 100% clear if her power only applies to pies, or potentially any baked good); concentration and energy, for students studying for exams; happy vibes; courage; even forgiveness (although she can’t control what or who the person who eats her pie will forgive, only make them more inclined to forgiveness in general). It depends on what she’s thinking about and/or feeling as she bakes.
And then of course, there’s the murder pies she doles out to rapists and other abusers. I just think it’s objectively excellent to be able to murder people with pie magic, okay? That is both delightful and epic.
How the murder pies actually work is just *chef’s kiss*, but as it’s a minor spoiler, I’ll put it under a cut. View Spoiler »
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Representation: Autistic MC, brown bisexual MC, bisexual MC
Goodreads
“But these are vital aspects of marriage. If one cannot discuss them, what's the use in meeting at all? It's like trying to decide what you'll have for dinner without mentioning food.”
Wisteria Vasilver does wish to marry. Truly. But though she lives in Paradise, arranging a match is full of traps and pitfalls for the unwary ... or perhaps just for her.
Nikola Striker, Lord of Fireholt, expects he'll wed ... someday. But not now, and never to a rich icicle of a woman like Miss Vasilver. No matter how much his parents might want the match, or his house might need her dowry. Besides, he has his own problems -- most of them people who need his help as a mind-healer.
Lord Justin Comfrey, Viscount of Comfrey, would be more than happy to help Striker with his financial troubles, and not just to ensure that Miss Vasilver's dowry doesn't tempt Striker into marriage. If only he could find some way to make his proud, stubborn friend accept the money!
Can three people of such different temperaments ever find their way to a more perfect Paradise?
Magical healers aren’t common enough in fiction, imo – more stories featuring them, please! – but A Rational Arrangement is literally the only time I’ve ever come across someone who can heal mental illnesses, injuries, and disorders!
I mean. !!!
A small part of what Nikola does is casting out demons – although that requires the consent of the patient/victim, which can be very difficult to get. But he’s also able to heal various mental illnesses, correct developmental disorders before they get too far, and repair ‘mind-shapes’ which are out-of-true – like shrinking the fear of someone with paranoia, whose ‘fear-shape’ has become ‘swollen’, so they no longer struggle with irrational fears.
But this healing ability doesn’t come with instructions; Nikola – and others with this power, he’s not the only one – must study, because they can only heal when they know what the problem is. If Nikola can’t identify it, he can’t fix it, which means the notes of other mind-healers are priceless, as is getting as much experience as possible in examining as wide an array of minds – healthy and unhealthy – as possible.
Makes sense to me! And gods, I can’t even imagine how different our world would look if we had people who could do this.
(An important note: when he examines the mind of the autistic love interest – who at one point does ask to be ‘fixed’ – his power says there’s nothing wrong with her. She’s different, but not ill or broken. One of many reasons I love this book so much!)
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy, YA
Representation: Korean-descent demisexual MC, disabled brown MC, hispanic MC, minor F/F
Goodreads
Welcome back to Las Anclas, a frontier town in the post-apocalyptic Wild West. In Las Anclas, the skull-faced sheriff possesses superhuman strength, the doctor can speed up time, and the squirrels can teleport sandwiches out of your hands.
In book one, Stranger, teenage prospector Ross Juarez stumbled into town half-dead, bringing with him a precious artifact, a power no one has ever had before, and a whole lot of trouble— including an invasion by Voske, the king of Gold Point. The town defeated Voske’s army, with the deciding blow struck by Ross, but at a great cost.
In Hostage, a team sent by King Voske captures Ross and takes him to Gold Point. There he meets Kerry, Voske’s teenage daughter, who has been trained to be as ruthless as her father. While his friends in Las Anclas desperately try to rescue him, Ross is forced to engage in a battle of wills with the king himself.
In the second book of the Change series, we meet Kerry, one of the royal family of Gold Point – so, the daughter of King Voske, aka the main villain of the series. Most of Voske’s children are Changed (possessing magical abilities, or superpowers, depending on if you consider this series fantasy or sci fi), but Kerry’s is hands-down the most interesting to me. She can create seemingly any object she pleases – but it only exists while she’s touching it, and no one, including herself, can see what she’s made.
What she makes has limits – she doesn’t seem to be able to create things with moving parts, for example, and she can’t create a key to a lock she doesn’t know (although she could probably copy a key if she got to see, and maybe handle, the original). But she can definitely make weapons, which – can you imagine trying to fight someone whose sword or whatever you CAN’T SEE???
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
Chloe Neill brings her trademark wit and wild sense of adventure to a stunning seafaring fantasy starring a dauntless heroine in a world of magic and treachery.
Kit Brightling, rescued as a foundling and raised in a home for talented girls, has worked hard to rise through the ranks of the Isles' Crown Command and become one of the few female captains in Queen Charlotte's fleet. Her ship is small, but she's fast--in part because of Kit's magical affinity to the sea. But the waters become perilous when the queen sends Kit on a special mission with a partner she never asked for.
Rian Grant, Viscount Queenscliffe, may be a veteran of the Continental war, but Kit doesn't know him or his motives--and she's dealt with one too many members of the Beau Monde. But Kit has her orders, and the queen has commanded they journey to a dangerous pirate quay and rescue a spy who's been gathering intelligence on the exiled emperor of Gallia.
Kit can lead her ship and clever crew on her own, but with the fate of queen and country at stake, Kit and Rian must learn to trust each other, or else the Isles will fall....
Kit’s world is criss-crossed with ley lines, veins of magic spread all over the planet – including through the sea. And the sea is just what Kit is Aligned to; she can sense, access and even manipulate the magic running through the ley lines that run through the ocean. You can do a lot with a powerful Alignment – but magic is so little understood that anything more than passively sensing ley lines (and the area around them) is incredibly dangerous.
Which is maybe why Kit’s the first person to figure out how to use her Alignment with the sea to speed her ship. It’s a little like pulling yourself along a rope to cover ground faster; Kit accesses the ley, and uses it to haul or shoot her ship forward. She has to be incredibly careful to do so without jepordising the safety of the ship and crew, and even so, it does her permanent damage. But the trade-off is very worth it in a world without engines – a ship that can move impossibly faster than its peers (and especially its enemies) is priceless when chasing down smugglers, delivering urgent, top-secret missives, or in naval warfare.
I’ve seen magic-users manipulating wind to speed ships before, but never anyone doing this. Kit’s not even controlling the actual currents and tides to push her ship along – it’s something much stranger, but also simpler, which gives this ability a kind of primordial feel that I like very much!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: In book one: bisexual MC, secondary nonbinary character
Goodreads
Power always wins.
Imagine Camelot but in Gotham: a city where knights are the celebrities of the day, riding on motorbikes instead of horses and competing in televised fights for fame and money.
Imagine a city where a young, magic-touched bastard astonishes everyone by becoming king - albeit with extreme reluctance - and a girl with a secret past trains to become a knight for the sole purpose of vengeance.
Imagine a city where magic is illegal but everywhere, in its underground bars, its back-alley soothsayers - and in the people who have to hide what they are for fear of being tattooed and persecuted.
Imagine a city where electricity is money, power the only game worth playing, and violence the most fervently worshipped religion.
Welcome to a dark, chaotic, alluring place with a tumultuous history, where dreams come true if you want them hard enough - and are prepared to do some very, very bad things to get them . . .
"A riveting tragedy of blood and desire - and the coolest thing you'll read this year" ― Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season and The Priory of the Orange Tree
"The boldest, smartest, most adventurous fantasy I've read in ages - and it's really f**ing fun" ― Krystal Sutherland, author of Our Chemical Hearts
"Arthurian legend meets urban fantasy in a brilliant, bloody wild ride" ― Jay Kristoff, No.1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author
How about making copies of yourself? Not illusions, but fully material, physically indistinguishable duplicates with all of your memories? Who are not puppets of the original, but fully independent, able to think and act on their own? Sounds more like the start of a horror story, but Eve’s version doesn’t have the copies turning evil! I think this is the only time I’ve ever seen this magical power, in a book or any other media, and I wish we’d gotten to see more of it. But what we did see was pretty amazing!
Genres: Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Lipan Apache asexual MC
Goodreads
Imagine an America very similar to our own. It's got homework, best friends, and pistachio ice cream.
There are some differences. This America has been shaped dramatically by the magic, monsters, knowledge, and legends of its peoples, those Indigenous and those not. Some of these forces are charmingly everyday, like the ability to make an orb of light appear or travel across the world through rings of fungi. But other forces are less charming and should never see the light of day.
Elatsoe lives in this slightly stranger America. She can raise the ghosts of dead animals, a skill passed down through generations of her Lipan Apache family. Her beloved cousin has just been murdered in a town that wants no prying eyes. But she is going to do more than pry. The picture-perfect facade of Willowbee masks gruesome secrets, and she will rely on her wits, skills, and friends to tear off the mask and protect her family.
I’ve seen lots of characters who can see and/or communicate with ghosts – but always human ghosts. Even more rarely, characters who can summon ghosts – but again, always human ones! Whereas the eponymous Elatsoe belongs to a maternal tradition of animal ghost-raisers – and ‘animal’ covers everything from insects to mammoths! If it’s dead – even long, LONG dead – Elatsoe can, in theory, summon them back to the living realm.
(I mean, in theory, she could also bring back humans. But as Lipan Apache, she and her family know that messing about with human ghosts will always, always end badly.)
One of the many incredible moments in the book is when Elatsoe interacts with pre-historic ghost beasties – brings back, or falls into, the ocean which used to cover the land she’s standing on. It’s amazing.
It’s something I’ve never seen before – all of it, not just the ocean scene – and I just… love that it’s animals for once. And how much of the way Elatsoe thinks of ghosts, and interacts with them, is tied to Lipan Apache tradition and culture. It makes for a brilliant combination!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Asexual MC, nonbinary secondary character
Goodreads
Kamai was warned never to open the black door, but she didn't listen ...
Everyone has a soul. Some are beautiful gardens, others are frightening dungeons. Soulwalkers―like Kamai and her mother―can journey into other people's souls while they sleep.
But no matter where Kamai visits, she sees the black door. It follows her into every soul, and her mother has told her to never, ever open it.
When Kamai touches the door, it is warm and beating, like it has a pulse. When she puts her ear to it, she hears her own name whispered from the other side. And when tragedy strikes, Kamai does the unthinkable: she opens the door.
A.M. Strickland's imaginative dark fantasy features court intrigue and romance, a main character coming to terms with her asexuality, and twists and turns as a seductive mystery unfolds that endangers not just Kamai's own soul, but the entire kingdom ...
As the blurb says, soulwalkers are people who can travel into and within another person’s soul. The soulwalker needs to go to sleep in fairly close proximity of the person whose soul they are visiting – and that person also needs to be asleep – but one in, they can wander as they please.
What do souls look like? They manifest as houses, each one unique, and there’s no way to predict if a person’s inner house will be small, large, grand or plain (although I think it’s noteworthy that a person’s soul house appears the same to every soulwalker). But you should be very careful not to disturb anything – furniture and decor are all metaphorical stand-ins for aspects of personality, emotions, and memories, so repositioning a sofa or breaking a vase could have HUGE consequences!
But sometimes those consequences are good – iirc, trained soulwalkers can interpret what they find in a person’s inner house, and move things around in order to help heal or offer peace. Alternatively, a trained soulwalker need touch nothing to ‘read’ your secrets from the decor – secrets they will absolutely remember when they wake up, making them excellent potential spies…
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads
Seyonne is a man waiting to die. He has been a slave for sixteen years, almost half his life, and has lost everything of meaning to him: his dignity, the people and homeland he loves, and the Warden's power he used to defend an unsuspecting world from the ravages of demons. Seyonne has made peace with his fate. With strict self-discipline he forces himself to exist only in the present moment and to avoid the pain of hope or caring about anyone. But from the moment he is sold to the arrogant, careless Prince Aleksander, the heir to the Derzhi Empire, Seyonne's uneasy peace begins to crumble. And when he discovers a demon lurking in the Derzhi court, he must find hope and strength in a most unlikely place...
Another soul-related magic – in fact, this one is also about travelling into other people’s souls. The difference is that the Wardens who battle demons (to free victims of demonic possession) enter a person’s soul physically – they step through a portal to enter a landscape that is the soul, and they can be lost or killed there if something goes wrong. But it’s the Aifes, the portal-makers, that I want to feature here.
An Aife doesn’t just make the portal into someone’s soul – they also create that landscape, by weaving their own soul or being with that of the other person (almost always someone who’s demonically possessed). This is incredibly intimate and, unsurprisingly, incredibly difficult – as is keeping the portal open long enough for the Warden to travel through it, defeat the demon, and make it back out again.
It’s not perfectly clear whether this is an innate ability that is honed through training and practice, or whether it’s something anyone with enough magic (and you need a lot) could learn to do – or maybe a bit of both. Aifes are always women, but again, it’s not clear if that’s just a cultural thing, or if this is an ability only women can have or learn.
Either way, I’m just in awe of the idea that you can a) in practical terms merge souls with someone who is almost always a complete stranger, b) turn your merged souls into a landscape, and c) allow someone else to physically enter that landscape. Tell me that’s not mindblowing!
This is only the latest of my lists of magical abilities – you can find the rest below!
(Some Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Some More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Even More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
(Yet More Of) The Coolest Magical Abilities in Fiction!
Or hop over here to start exploring my lists of especially epic magic systems!
Thanks for the list! I haven’t read any of the books, but those magic abilities might tempt me into trying a title or two.
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy the ones you try out!
Ugh I really need to get and read The Tainted Cup. I’m so envious of everyone else who already has haha (but my gosh the hc is bloody expensive here).
Alas, hardbacks are expensive. It’s one reason I only read ebooks!