SOLVED. Forgotten magic, fantasy world magic spells would be forgotten as soon as they were used. Because of this most of the magic was abandoned, few spells being still remembered. [s]

[Aurelio]

So this is a fantasy book/series, it has an English Wikipedia page but no matter how many times I change the keywords I never find it. What I remember was this detail that was interesting: in this fantasy world magic spells would be forgotten as soon as they were used. Because of this most of the magic was abandoned, few spells being still remembered. This concept is fascinating, which is why years later I try to find this book, but no luck.

[Kris]

Aurelio, around what year did you read this book? This will help us narrow down the search.

Is this book for teens or older adults?

Tips for posting a book request - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Ergative]

This reminds me a bit of Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet (first book: A Shadow in Summer). The magic system works by capturing metaphysical concepts as physical, humanoid creatures that have power to control that concept (e.g., Stone-made-soft manifests as a person, and is useful for mining and building). The catch is that these avatars are always trying to get free, and same method of capturing these concepts cannot be used twice, so the system is inherently always weakening. There are always fewer magical concepts available in the future than in the past. It's not quite the same as forgetting spells, but I could imagine an incomplete memory filling in the blanks to arrive at something like what you describe.

(It's a superb series, even if it's not the one you're looking for.)

[Michael]

The basic concept is much like the way magic works in Jack Vance's The Dying Earth, a real classic in fantasy. Spells are very difficult to memorize, such that a trained sorcerer can hold at most three or four in his mind at once; and each spell, once used, vanishes, and must be re-learned.

Many of the spells have wonderfully exotic names, such as the Excellent Prismatic Spray, the Spell of the Slow Hour, Phandaal's Mantle of Stealth, and the Call to the Violent Cloud.

Within the book, it's stated that at one time, a thousand spells were known to man, but that over time, most of them had been lost, such that no more than 100 were still found in ancient books.

[Aurelio]

Yes I think Michael is right, it must be Dying's Earth.
It has a Wikipedia English page, the plot is basically the same, even the cover rings a bell.

Thanks a lot! :D