Every year that I’ve taken part in Wyrd & Wonder, I’ve made lists of cool magic systems and another for magical abilities – and I’m not breaking my streak now! Here is 2024’s list of magic systems I find especially enchanting – please enjoy!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Goodreads
On his way to his betrothal, young Lord Penric comes upon a riding accident with an elderly lady on the ground, her maidservant and guardsmen distraught. As he approaches to help, he discovers that the lady is a Temple divine, servant to the five gods of this world. Her avowed god is The Bastard, "master of all disasters out of season", and with her dying breath she bequeaths her mysterious powers to Penric. From that moment on, Penric's life is irreversibly changed, and his life is in danger from those who envy or fear him.
Set in the fantasy world of the author's acclaimed novels THE CURSE OF CHALION, PALADIN OF SOULS and THE HALLOWED HUNT, this novella has the depth of characterization and emotional complexity that distinguishes all Bujold's work.
In the World of the Five Gods – which covers several other novels as well as the Penric and Desdemona series, but I’m focusing on the P&D series for this list – sorcerers, with the help of their demons (nothing like Christian ones, but they do co-habit the sorcerer’s body) can perform ‘downhill’ and ‘uphill’ magic. Demons are creatures of chaos (again, not in the classic sense), so creating order is difficult – thus, ‘uphill’ magic, because it’s an uphill struggle – but creating chaos is easy, ‘downhill’. How this actually works out in practical terms is absolutely fascinating; making fire? Easy! Fraying ropes? Extremely doable! But mending something that’s broken? Very hard. Healing? Almost impossible, outside of these times when destruction can be healing (like nuking a tumour, a thing which does come up in the series!)
This has the fun side-effect of meaning that a really ‘powerful’ sorcerer is one who – with their demon – can think of creative ways to wreak a little havoc. And creative thinking applied to magic is one of my VERY favourite things!
Uphill magic generates a kind of magical/chaotic friction, so when a sorcerer-and-demon pair do more than a little of it, they then need to ‘offload’ some chaos to reduce that friction. (If they don’t, the heat generated by the friction can literally cook the sorcerer’s body.) The fastest way to shed some chaos is to kill things like bed-bugs and fleas and flies en-mass – these being beasties that are theologically acceptable sacrifices, because they fall under the remit of the Bastard, the god to whom all demons belong. Whereas, if a sorcerer uses their demon to kill another human, the Bastard will take the demon back to the realm of chaos, where it will lose all its personality, effectively obliterating it.
The P&D series is one novel (The Assassins of Thasalon, chronologically book 10) and a whole bunch of novellas, which makes for very quick (but oh-so-enjoyable) reading if you want to check out this superficially simple, but extremely excellent, magic system!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Sapphic MC, major Deaf character
Goodreads
The first in an exciting, action-packed new trilogy from epic fantasy author Matthew Ward, The Darkness Before Them introduces readers to a world ruled by a dangerous immortal king, where souls fuel magic, and a supernatural mist known as the Veil threatens to engulf the land.
These are dark times for the Kingdom of Khalad. As the magical mists of the Veil devour the land, the populace struggles beneath the rule of ruthless noble houses and their uncaring immortal king.
Kat doesn’t care about any of that. A talented thief, she’s pursuing one big score that will settle the debt that destroyed her family. No easy feat in a realm where indentured spirits hold vigil over every vault and treasure room. However, Kat has a unique gift: she can speak to those spirits, and even command them. She’ll need every advantage she can get.
Kat’s not a hero. She just wants to be free. To have her old life back. But as rebellion rekindles and the war for Khalad’s future begins, everyone – Kat included – will have to pick a side.
In the world of Darkness Before Them, there’s no debate over whether souls exist – they most definitely do, and small, semi-sentient pieces of them power basically everything! When people die, little pieces of their soul are snipped off by the church – and are then bound to light lamps, keep locks locked, or even power engines. If you die in debt, your entire soul can be stripped of its memories and made into a kind of unstoppable, unkillable guardian/soldier creature. All of civilisation revolves around and depends upon this practice, this economy of souls, and hi, that’s not terrifying or creepy at all.
That it is of course inextricably tied up in the distribution of wealth and classism makes it even more interesting (and feel even more believable).
If you have a very special Secret Thing, you can ‘talk’ to these sentient bits of soul, and trick them into giving you their ‘key’ – the code that tells them what to do. So you can convince these soul-snippets that you have the authority to be in a restricted area, or that they should unlock their lock for you; whatever it is they do, you can make them do it – or stop doing it. You can, perhaps, imagine the chaos that might ensue…
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Goodreads
Kellen Tavadon, son of the Arch-Mage Lycaelon, thought he knew the way the world worked. His father, leading the wise and benevolent Council of Mages, protected and guided the citizens of the Golden City of the Bells. Young Mages in training--all men, for women were unfit to practice magic--memorized the intricate details of High Magic and aspired to seats on the council.
Then he found the forbidden Books of Wild Magic--or did they find him? The three slim volumes woke Kellen to the wide world outside the City's isolating walls. Their Magic was not dead, strangled by rules and regulations. It felt like a living thing, guided by the hearts and minds of those who practiced it and benefited from it.
Questioning everything he has known, Kellen discovers too many of the City's dark secrets. Banished, with the Outlaw Hunt on his heels, Kellen invokes Wild Magic--and finds himself running for his life with a unicorn at his side.
Kellen's life changes almost faster than he can understand or accept. Rescued by a unicorn, healed by a female Wild Mage who knows more about Kellen than anyone outside the City should, meeting Elven royalty and Elven warriors, and plunged into a world where the magical beings he has learned about as abstract concepts are flesh and blood creatures-Kellen both revels in and fears his new freedom.
Especially once he learns about Demons. He'd always thought they were another abstract concept--a stand-in for ultimate evil. But if centaurs and dryads are real, then Demons surely are as well. And the one thing all the Mages of the City agreed on was that practicing Wild Magic corrupted a Mage. Turned him into a Demon. Would that be Kellen's fate?
Deep in Obsidian Mountain, the Demons are waiting. Since their defeat in the last great War, they've been biding their time, sowing the seeds of distrust and discontent between their human and Elven enemies. Very soon now, when the Demons rise to make war, there will be no alliance between High and Wild Magic to stand against them. And all the world will belong to the Endarkened.
In many ways, the Obsidian Mountain trilogy hews to the most classic fantasy classics – it feels very traditional, almost stereotypical at times, especially with the eye-rollingly over-the-top EvilTM Demons. And at first glance, the magic looks very classic and simple too.
BUT.
What if magic was alive and sentient? Because that’s what makes the Wild Magic unique, and deserving of a spot of this list. Wild Mages cast spells, and for the most part those spells don’t look too strange; do a thing, say a thing, spend some energy, and stuff happens. But there’s another element to Wild Magic spells, and that’s the personal price the mage has to pay, completely separate from whatever energy went into the healing or fire-summoning or whatever. There’s no predicting what the price will be – although depending on the circumstances, the mage has the option to refuse it, but if they do then the spell doesn’t happen – and sometimes the price is really incredibly odd. When Kellen casts a Finding spell early in the first book, the price of the spell is to rescue a servant girl’s kitten.
???
Later, as the price of a healing, the Wild Magic requires the caster to clear a polluted pond.
The prices are always for a kind of greater good, but it makes it clear that the Wild Magic wants things – and I don’t think that’s something I’ve encountered anywhere else, a magic that has its own wants and plans – some of them very long-term plans – and Big Picture view of the world, with thoughts on how to improve or repair that world.
You can kind of understand why some people within this world find the Wild Magic terrifying. But equally, why even more might revere it.
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Brown cast
Goodreads
Amal Singh is an engaging and motivated writer from Mumbai, India, with a long list of short story credits in Clarkesworld, F&SF, Apex, Fantasy and many others.
In the city of Sirvassa, where petals are currency and flowers are magic, the Caretaker tends to the Garden of Delights. He imparts temporary magical abilities to the citizens of Sirvassa, while battling a curse of eternal old age. No Delight could uplift his curse, and so he must seek out a mythical figure. A god. When a Delight allows a young girl an ability to change reality, the Caretaker believes he’s at the end of his search. But soon a magical rot takes root in his Garden, and the Caretaker must join forces with the girl and stop it from spreading. Even as he battles a different rot that plagues Sirvassa, he learns that Delights are always a precursor to Sorrows.
We’re all familiar with the idea of magical potions, and one of the things that goes in them is usually plants – but in the eponymous garden of The Garden of Delights, the plants themselves – specifically, flowers – are magical. Consuming a petal from one of these flowers conveys temporary magic – this one gives you the power to levitate; that one gives you super-speed, and almost anything else you can think of. There’s even a Delight – that is, one of these magical flowers – to help you figure out what Delight you want! (Which I would definitely need, since I have no idea which one I’d choose!)
You can use multiple Delights simultaneously, but those who really know what they’re doing can mix the flowers into potions that are more than the sum of their parts.
And then there are the Florrals, people who have a much stronger connection to the flowers than normal humans. For you or me, a Delight is mostly a kind of pretty toy, something wonderful and joyful but not powerful in the way we’re used to thinking of power. But the Florrals…well, that’s spoiler territory: you’ll have to read the book yourself to find out about them!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Goodreads
Rejected by his aristocratic family, Gil Irichels has been content to make his living as a traveling cursebreaker, working with his lover, the feral mage Envar Cassi, and their bodyguard, swordswoman Arak min’Aroi. After a series of deaths leave him the sole heir to the family’s house and fortune, Irichels’s main concern is to do whatever he must to settle the estate and return to his previous life. But these is something very wrong in seaborne Bejanth, starting with the deaths of his kin and spreading into the complex web of politics and magic that holds the city together. As he struggles to discover the truth behind his family’s losses, he realizes that there is more at stake than the fall of one house. Someone is unraveling the web of curses on which the city depends, and Irichels is the only person who can stop them—if it’s not already too late.
Curses are magical contracts in the world of Master of Samar – contracts with strange, alien spirits referred to as demons (although they have nothing to do with the Christian concept of demons). These are a lot more legalistic than your typical demon pacts, and a big chunk of the world relies on them – the city of Bejanth, for example, not only exists (like Venice) out on the water because of contracts of this kind, their shipping routes are also defined by contracts the city has made with the sea-demons.
Mages are people who’ve made many personal contracts – for protection from stabbing, for supernatural healing, even for the ability to throw fireballs. The contracts are marked on their skin for all to see (hence the tattoo-looking things on Envar’s arms on the cover), and the darkness of those marks indicates how long is left in the contract; if the contract is nearly up, the marks are distinctly more faded than fresher, newly-made ones.
But ‘how long is left in the contract’ is not necessarily anything as simple as time; if you bargain for protection from stabbing, for example, your contract might only protect you from stabbing for five years – or it might only protect you from 15 stabbings. If the former, the cursemarks will look faded as the five year limit gets closer; with the latter, the marks will grow paler each time someone tries to stab you, indicating that the demon’s side of the deal is nearly complete.
Basically, the more cursemarks a mage has – and the darker those marks are – the more careful you should be about pissing them off!
Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy
Goodreads
In Empire of the Feast, we awaken with Riverson, 32nd ruler of the Stag Empire, as he attempts to govern without the memories of his previous lives. To survive the ever-sharpening gears of war, he will need to mend the political schisms threatening to tear his empire apart while maintaining the erotic rituals holding off the eldritch horror known only as the Rapacious.
Sex magic doesn’t get featured a lot outside of the more paranormal romance side of SFF, but Empire of the Feast is a very unique science fantasy that puts sex magic front-and-centre – because without the eternal orgy, aka the titular Feast, overseen by the Empress (or, from the start of the novella, Emperor) a universe-ending not-god will break out of its prison and devour absolutely everything.
Which is, uh. Not the kind of power or responsibility I’ve seen put on sex magic before! But no worries about the pressure causing anyone performance issues – the Empress (or Emperor) is connected magically to the orgy at all times, and can influence and guide it as necessary (or desired).
It’s been a while since I read this, but I think I remember being surprised that for an empire whose continued existence depends on sex magic, this novella isn’t very graphic with regards its eternal orgy. Which I mention just so you know that you won’t be inundated with sex scenes if you give this book a try!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Goodreads
The circle is closing. The stakes are high. And old truths will live again...
The Emperor has been murdered, leaving the Annurian Empire in turmoil. Now his progeny must bury their grief and prepare to unmask a conspiracy.
His son Valyn, training for the empire’s deadliest fighting force, hears the news an ocean away. He expected a challenge, but after several ‘accidents’ and a dying soldier’s warning, he realizes his life is also in danger. Yet before Valyn can take action, he must survive the mercenaries’ brutal final initiation.
Meanwhile, the Emperor’s daughter, Minister Adare, hunts her father’s murderer in the capital itself. Court politics can be fatal, but she needs justice. And Kaden, heir to an empire, studies in a remote monastery. Here, the Blank God’s disciples teach their harsh ways – which Kaden must master to unlock their ancient powers. When an imperial delegation arrives, he’s learnt enough to perceive evil intent. But will this keep him alive, as long-hidden powers make their move?
In the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne (which I strongly recommend if you don’t mind your fantasy grimdark-leaning and can hold your nose through the probably unintentional misogyny), magic-users are known as ‘leeches’ and are pretty universally despised – most are killed as soon as their powers are discovered. The rest tend to be conscripted into the Kettral, the empire’s incredibly-exclusive, legendary elite corps of special operatives – who aren’t interested in the superstition stating all leeches are evil, only in how useful their powers can be.
Leeches can manipulate the world around them pretty much however they please – but each individual draws their power from a unique source, referred to as their Well. A Well can be almost anything; a material, like wood or gold; something like light or fire; or a species of animal – even specific emotions! At any given time, a leech is limited by how much of their Well is around – if your Well is gold, for example, you’re not going to be able to do much unless you happen to be surrounded by the bejewelled wealthy: an unlikely scenario on a top-secret Kettral mission. Whereas if it’s wood, and you’re in a forest? Your enemies should be VERY afraid. This means that a leech’s power-level is constantly changing, depending entirely on their physical surroundings – and most of them work hard to disguise what their Well is, meaning that if you’re going up against a leech, it’s almost impossible to figure out what substance etc you have to get them away from. What if you try to kill them in the bath, and their Well is water? Should you try and lure one into the desert, away from almost everything – only to discover their Well is heat or sand?
It’s a superficially simple magic system that in practice is absolutely fascinating.
Protagonist Age: 18
Goodreads
Sent to a boarding school in Ancelstierre as a young child, Sabriel has had little experience with the random power of Free Magic or the Dead who refuse to stay dead in the Old Kingdom. But during her final semester, her father, the Abhorsen, goes missing, and Sabriel knows she must enter the Old Kingdom to find him.
With Sabriel, the first installment in the Abhorsen series, Garth Nix exploded onto the fantasy scene as a rising star, in a novel that takes readers to a world where the line between the living and the dead isn't always clear—and sometimes disappears altogether.
I can’t believe it’s taken me so many years to feature Sabriel in one of these lists, but in my defense, it has been a LONG time since I read it!
There’s actually several magic systems in this series, which can interact in very interesting ways, but the most iconic is the necromancy – because, in a wildly original move, necromancy in this world is performed with bells.
Not just any bells – sets of seven extremely special hand-bells, each with its own name, function, and, for lack of a better word, personality. And just for that extra bad-ass factor, they’re worn in a bandolier, allowing for easy access and (honestly, far more importantly) ensuring that there’s no way for any of the bells to ring accidentally. Because you really, MASSIVELY do not want that. The bell Astarael, for example, sends all who hear it directly into Death – including the person ringing it.
Even a trained necromancer or an Abhorsen (someone who binds and lays the dead to rest, rather than raising them like a necromancer) often find the bells very hard to control; they want to be used, and many of them don’t play nice.
The bells of a necromancer are different from those of an Abhorsen: very minor spoilers under the cut. View Spoiler »
It’s all increidbly unique, and the further into the series you go, the more incredible backstories and worldbuilding you learn about the bells and their origins (and uses). The series is amazing in all other ways as well – if you haven’t read them yet, you very much need to!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: A LOT of mental illness rep
Goodreads
Faith shapes the landscape, defines the laws of physics, and makes a mockery of truth. Common knowledge isn't an axiom, it's a force of nature. What the masses believe is. But insanity is a weapon, conviction a shield. Delusions give birth to foul new gods.
Violent and dark, the world is filled with the Geisteskranken—men and women whose delusions manifest, twisting reality. High Priest Konig seeks to create order from chaos. He defines the beliefs of his followers, leading their faith to one end: a young boy, Morgen, must Ascend to become a god. A god they can control.
But there are many who would see this would-be-god in their thrall, including the High Priest’s own Doppels, and a Slaver no one can resist. Three reprobates—The Greatest Swordsman in the World, a murderous Kleptic, and possibly the only sane man left—have their own nefarious plans for the young god.As these forces converge on the boy, there’s one more obstacle: time is running out. When one's delusions become more powerful, they become harder to control. The fate of the Geisteskranken is to inevitably find oneself in the Afterdeath.
The question, then, is: Who will rule there?
I wasn’t able to finish this one, because I just do not have the stomach for grimdark and WOW is this grimdark (I saw it described as the most grimdark grimdark book to ever grimdark, so really I only have myself to blame) – but the magic system is phenomenally cool. In this world, reality is fluid – shaped by belief. The larger the number of people who believe a thing, and the more they believe it…the truer it becomes. (Albeit, only in the proximity of those who believe it. So in theory, you could have completely different laws of physics in City A than in City B.) It’s a world destined to be ruled by used-car salesmen and megachurch ‘pastors’, whose fast talk and/or charisma can convince people of all kinds of things – many potentially terrifying.
But above even these are those called Geisteskranken – the most powerful reality-warpers of all. Geisteskranken is a kind of catch-all term for people with mental health disorders – mostly (but not only) those with delusional disorders. Given the nature of delusions, and the nature of this world, those delusions alter reality in big ways – functionally giving the person who has them magical abilities. Many Geisteskranken are eventually destroyed by the manifestations of their delusions – believing in your delusions enough to wield them as power, but not enough to be consumed by them, is a very, very difficult line to walk.
It’s not just delusions – one of the main characters is a sociopath (which is…not a real medical term, and I admit to not being sure exactly what his real-world diagnosis would be), while a secondary character with pyromania has the ability to create fire. Impulse control disorders (like pyromania and kleptomania) also fall under the Geisteskranken umbrella, although I didn’t get far enough into the book to see what if any ‘magic’ kleptomania confers. (Maybe that no one ever catches you in the theft?)
If you pick this one up, there’s a handy guide at the end of the book explaining various different kinds of Geisteskranken and what they can do. (Although schizophrenia = believing you are, and therefore becoming, multiple people is another take that confuses me.)
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy
Goodreads
When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian.
When Daniel was twelve, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones.
Now, years later, Daniel is a petty thief with a forged identity. Hiding amid the crowds in Los Angeles―the capital of the Kingdom of Southern California―Daniel is trying to go straight. But his crime-boss uncle has a heist he wants Daniel to perform: break into the Hierarch's storehouse of magical artifacts and retrieve Sebastian's sword, an object of untold power.
For this dangerous mission, Daniel will need a team he can rely on, so he brings in his closest friends from his years in the criminal world. There's Moth, who can take a bullet and heal in mere minutes. Jo Alverado, illusionist. The multitalented Cassandra, Daniel's ex. And, new to them all, the enigmatic, knowledgeable Emma, with her British accent and her own grudge against the powers-that-be. The stakes are high, and the stage is set for a showdown that might just break the magic that protects a long-corrupt regime.
Extravagant and yet moving, Greg van Eekhout's California Bones is an epic adventure set in a city of canals and secrets and casual brutality--different from the world we know, yet familiar and true.
Imagine if you could gain the powers of creatures like dragons and krakens…by eating them. Only, such beasties are long-since extinct – so you’re eating fossils instead.
I mean – that is objectively cool, even if it’s sad that magical creatures aren’t around anymore. But their not being around anymore is actually very important – because it means that, a bit like oil in our world, these fossils will eventually run out. The supply is limited, and getting smaller every day.
It’s okay though! Because there’s a super easy workaround. See, when you eat a fossil, its magical properties end up in your bones. So if you can’t get your hands on, I don’t know, a griffin fossil, that’s fine!
You can just eat someone who’s eaten a griffin fossil.
Yeah. Being murdered and eaten is, uh, kind of a professional hazard for anyone belonging to the magical community in this book…
That makes 10! Looking for more? You can find them in my earlier lists here;
Ten Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (Even More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Ten (Yet More) Ridiculously Cool Magic Systems!
Or you can check out my lists featuring unique magical abilities – start here, and keep an eye out for this year’s in the next few days!
What are some of your favourite magic systems?
Wow. All these magic systems sound so cool. I just read Sabriel last year and bought the second and third book to read.
Another cool magic system is The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. You chalk drawings come to life and there chalk that involved a lot of strategy to win.
I’m rereading Sabriel right now – I only ever made it through the second book. I’m determined to read the whole series this time!
I tend to avoid Sanderson, but I’ve heard of Rithmatist! The magic system sounds pretty epic. (Along with most of his others!)
Thanks for another great list; I always enjoy these. Garden of Delights sounds fascinating. Also WHY did nobody mention the handbells (demands the handbell enthusiast) in the Abhorsen series? You have singlehandedly moved these way up my TBR list!
Thank you, and you’re welcome! I’m so glad people enjoy these; the magic systems posts are the hardest lists to make each year, so I’m extra happy when people enjoy them.
And I’m DELIGHTED to have sold you on the Abhorsen series! You won’t be disappointed, the handbells are AMAZING!
This is a brilliant list and definitely agree about the ones that I’ve read. I do love the idea of the Wild Magic in the Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory books. I also liked the way that magic had a price which is something I know other authors have used but it does seem right to me that magic should cost something.
Thank you! :D
The Wild Magic is pretty epic, and I love how long-term its plans are. PLUS that it’s price is specifically to do good deeds is just awesome.
Some of these I really need to start like The Darkness Before Them, Sabriel and The Emperor’s Blades. Great list to read.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the ones you pick up :D
Didn’t expect to see Greg Van Eekhout on this list! I’m only familiar with his middle grade books, which I’ve always found fun and creative. Sounds like CALIFORNIA BONES alsos shows off his creativity.
I had no idea he wrote MG too! I shall have to take a peek. But yes, California Bones is hella creative :D