Reading tips

[psilorder]

Hello.

First post from me and maybe i'm putting it somewhere i shouldn't but i couldn't find a better spot for it (if this is a bad spot i apologize and ask for help in moving it to a better one).

I'm looking for help in finding books with special characteristics, reading tips, books to read and learn from.

I'm looking for books where magic is very commonplace.

Where magic itself is not anything special and is used almost everywhere in society.

To use writing excuses terms; the donkey has been put out of business.

Anybody know of such books?

I'm currently listening to Wise Mans Fear and it has some of the items down but it is too rare.

Any help is appreciated.

[CrazyRioter she/her]

Have you read the Codex Alera series? It's set in a world where everybody has the power to manipulate one or more elements.

[Aethling he/him]

You tried The Black Prism? Magic isn't all that common, but it does not appear to be all that rare either.

The Elenium trilogy by Eddings centers around a small group, but magic is fairly widespread with all the different users.

I have never read Butcher's Codex books, but I think the main character is a non-magical one where magic is everywhere. Still, that is just from what I have read about the series, not from the books themselves, so that may have just been wrong information.

Most of the books I have read with magic have magic as a rarity. If everyone has the ability, or it is fairly common, it loses being special.

[Shivertongue he/him]

You tried The Black Prism? Magic isn't all that common, but it does not appear to be all that rare either.

The Elenium trilogy by Eddings centers around a small group, but magic is fairly widespread with all the different users.

I have never read Butcher's Codex books, but I think the main character is a non-magical one where magic is everywhere. Still, that is just from what I have read about the series, not from the books themselves, so that may have just been wrong information.

That is the idea behind Codex Alera, in the beginning. It's a world where everyone, by a certain age, has gained elemental spirits - Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Wood and/or Metal - called Furies that aid them and give them various abilities. Most people have one, some people have two, etc. The main character, Tavi, has no Furies for some unknown reason, and thus has to accomplish things other people use magic for, with his own skill and intelligence. Excellent books.

Most of the books I have read with magic have magic as a rarity. If everyone has the ability, or it is fairly common, it loses being special.

I would personally disagree with that. As shown in the Codex Alera example above, magic doesn't have to be rare in order to be special. I have a fondness for stories with the type of magic that everyone has access to, and everyone can use, and has become a part of daily life. In those cases, the only difference is that some people are better with it than others, or know more, or have more of whatever the power source behind the magic is. And, conversely, those that don't have the skill or the power or even the interest make up for it with other talents.

In Codex Alera, for example, there is a character named Ehren. Ehren has only Wind and a small amount of Wood, neither very strong, and is a weak furycrafter in general. But he is incredibly intelligent, a decent fighter, and even his weak furycrafting comes in handy, simple because weaker furies are harder to detect than strong ones.

It's a fascinating change, I feel, from the "magic is rare" idea. If everyone has it, then the playing field is more level, and those with skill or wits or whatever above the norm, be it with magic or without. Magic is common, but skill is rare. It's honestly how I prefer to do the magic in my books

[psilorder]

Thanks. I'll look at Codex Alera and Black Prism.

The Elenium Books i have read and there is quite a bit of magic there but basically what i'm looking for is settings that have magic instead of technology.

Patrick Rothfuss does it to some degree in The Kingkiller Chronicle in that there are magic lamps instead of electric ones and some other small things but beyond that it is still a medieval setting.

Guess i'm basically looking for books that have taken a modern setting (or more advanced) replaced the modern technologies with magical ones and then worked from there to get what could have produced that and changed the setting accordingly (and possibly removed the original magical devices).

[Aethling he/him]

Black prism may fit that idea perfectly then. The use the magic to construct all types of things. Lamps, buidlings, boats, gliders, bombs, etc.

[Shivertongue he/him]

Just DON'T get the audiobook of Black Prism. The guy who reads it is the worst I've ever heard.

[Scattered she/her]

The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop has magic that's pretty commonplace. Everyone has different strengths of magic, but almost everyone has at least a little, and they use it for all sorts of things, like doing hair or cooking, they have witchlight instead of electricity, and all kinds of psychic powers (speaking mind to mind, feeling the presence of others nearby, etc). There are also talking animals, but those aren't super common (at least as far as humans know). These novels can run kind of dark though, and there's definitely a lot of sexual content, so if that's not your thing maybe they're better avoided.

If you're looking for lighter-hearted fare, I would suggest the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony. That world is nothing but magic, all over the place. They read like kid books, but I read them when I was in college and I still enjoyed them. The first book centers around a character who does not appear to have magic, and they make a big deal about that because everyone else has magic.

[psilorder]

Ok, Black Prism sounds like what i'm after.

But not the audio version. there's not more than one version? i heard that Name of The Wind had a tape version that was bad.

The Black Jewels sound like what i'm looking for regarding the magic. I don't know whether high sex content and darkness is my fare. Guess i'll find out.

Xanth, ok. Sounds like a nice perspective.