suggestions: Books based around magic systems

[Kyle]

I am looking for suggestions for books to read. I am not as picky as I used to be. I seem to enjoy books that focus on a magic system of some sort. Example of books I have read and enjoyed are Robert Jordan"Wheel of time" , all of Brandon Sanderson books, I just got into Mercedes Lackey and have been reading her "Obsidian universe" books and am planning on starting the "Halfblood Chronicals" I also enjoyed a hard to find book (atleast for me) The Awakening and its following ones.

Aside from Magic system books I enjoy Orson Scott Card all the ender books and The Lost GatePathfinder

And I enjoyed the action paced technology story fromMark L. Van Name of John and Lobo

Sorry for alot of text and listing, and if you read through it I Was wondering if I could get some suggestions on books to read.

Thanks for any repsonses!!!

[Andrew]

Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman wrote the Death Gate Cycle, a series of seven books based on a world that was sundered into its primary elements.Dragon Wing is the first in the series. Magic is the essence of the world, and comes in many forms.

[Kyle]

I read Dragon wing with no problems but got stuck on the 2nd book Elven star, I keep going back to pick it but to no success

[Kristina]

Definitely check out
The Black Prism and The Blinding Knife

[Joey]

Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind features a really clever magic system.

[Sky]

Joey wrote: "Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind features a really clever magic system."

This is very true. Several, in fact.

Furies of Calderon introduces a world built up around a magic system, and of course the Dresden Files plays with a loosely thermodynamic system of magic, while we're talking about Jim Butcher.

Geekomancy certainly had an interesting way of dealing with magic, and the Midnighters books, starting with The Secret Hour, were entertaining as well, if a little more superhero-esque than magical.

[Kyle]

Thank you for the suggestions, I will look into them, any more would be greatly appreciated!

[Joe Informatico]

In Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea, much of the book is taken up by the protagonist learning the magic system of his world. It has a bunch of sequels too.

The magic system(s) in Raymond E. Feist's books are pretty interesting too. Start with Magician (which you might find as two volumes: Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master), but he occasionally gets back into the magic system in later books.

Also, Garth Nix' Old Kingdom trilogy, Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen, have a fairly unique magic system complete with good-guy necromancers.

[Allison]

Jim C. Hines has Libriomancer, which is a book-based magic system that I adored. I'm going to double down on Pat Rothfuss and Brent Weeks, both write good magic systems. In addition to Week's Black Prism and Blinding Knife, there's also his Night Angel trilogy, which has the benefit of being finished. The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows are the three in the trilogy.

[Phil]

The Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony has an interesting magic system. Actually it has several since each character casts spells in a different manner. For instance, The main character makes a rhyme to cast spells but can never do the same rhyme twice so he saves the easy ones for emergencies.

[Nancy]

It's funny, when I saw the title for the thread, my mind immediately went to Sanderson, but it looks like you've already taken care of that!

In that case I'd like to second Nix's Old Kingdom Trilogy (starting with Sabriel, which also stands along pretty well). The Necromancy system involving the bells is really unique. I first read Sabriel when I was about twelve or thirteen and it's stuck with me ever since.

[Dharmakirti]

R. Scott Bakker introduces some interesting magic systems in his series "The Prince of Nothing" which begins with The Darkness that Comes Before.

He has three main systems of sorcery, Gnosis, Anagogis and the Psûkhe.

Gnosis and Anagogis are about the use of language to convey meaning. Gnosis uses language to create abstractions whereas Anagogis uses language to create analogies. A wiki site devoted to the novels describes the difference this way, "Anagogic sorcerers can summon only an imitation of a dragon which spews out fire, while Gnostic sorcerers can summon heat itself."

The Psûkhe is altogether different. Where Gnosis and Anagogis are more intellectual, the Psûkhe is based on the passions and beliefs of the practioner.

[Daran]

L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s The Magic of Recluce series, and also his Imager series feature very well crafted magic systems, which are a primary aspect of the story. very similar to Sanderson, in fact Recluce was an inspiration for Sanderson. They can be a bit dry though.

It's funny, I spent years reading Modesitt, or Fiest, or Jordan, thinking that I loved the worlds and magic systems, but I wish they would go a little faster. When I read Mistborn, I thought "Eureka!" Now everyone's reading Sanderson's books, and asking for more like them, but when I recommend many of the authors listed above I get; "I liked them alright, but they were a bit slow."
/sigh