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Fantasy books with an interesting "soft magic" system? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 days ago by BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee to c/books@lemmy.ml

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The title pretty much says it! I'd like to explore that idea a little and would love to hear y'all's recommendations. This thought was originally inspired by lord of the rings, but I'm also currently on a little nostalgia trip by reading The Sea of Trolls and the soft magic system in that is pretty fun

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[–] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

what makes a magic system soft. just not a lot of it like lotr?

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

https://habitwriting.com/hard-magic-vs-soft-magic/

Hard Magic System: A type of magic that has specific rules that the reader understands and which limit a magic user in what they can do.

Soft Magic System: A type of magic that–though rules may apply to it–does not have specific limits that are expressed to or known by the reader or audience.

Basically how much readers are exposed to the mechanics of the magic system, and thus how realistic or constrained-to-reality the magic seems. Harry Potter and LotR are probably more in the soft magic category, whereas Brandon Sanderson's novels have good examples of hard magic.

[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Sanderson, who coined the terms, describes Potter as being a pretty good example of a mixed magic system.

Which makes sense to me. The spells they learn at school are a pretty hard magic system. But then things like "the power of love" are more reminiscent of a soft system.

[–] dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 days ago

Thank you, I do think this was mentioned in the article I linked, and it does seem like Harry Potter is a good example of a mixed system. In my mind what makes it a soft system more fundamentally is how the author is inconsistent and the way magic is never really restricted by rules, even if there is a lot of focus on classes and how the spells are conjured, etc.