Path/Book Magic

[Gadget]

I really like Path/Book Magic can anyone recommend any novels to read that have anything like Path/Book Magic in them

[nanoboy]

Originally Posted by Gadget

I really like Path/Book Magic can anyone recommend any novels to read that have anything like Path/Book Magic in them

The Thaumaturgy of the Dresden Files books is an awful lot like the Path magic system. (Evocation in the series is more like the Realms system.) The books are really great, though they don't really pick up in quality until book 4. Still, one should read them in order. They are urban fantasy with a noir, pulp feel.

[Rocket Man]

Jinx High by Mercedes Lackey has a similar feel to it -- ritual magic and summoned spirits, interspersed with occasional psi. She has two other books in the same series, but that's the one I can recommend the most highly.

[mhd]

I gave up after the second DF book due to my chronic Mary Sue intolerance, but yes, they do spend quite some time describing elaborate magical rituals. I guess it's pretty common in contemporary urban fantasy.

If I remember correctly, at least one of the magic systems in the old Lyndon Hardy novels (Master of the Five Magics etc.) came close to it. But it's been a while.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Gadget

I really like Path/Book Magic can anyone recommend any novels to read that have anything like Path/Book Magic in them

H. P. Lovecraft clearly thinks in terms of Book Magic.

Bill Stoddard

[Langy]

Originally Posted by mhd

I gave up after the second DF book due to my chronic Mary Sue intolerance, but yes, they do spend quite some time describing elaborate magical rituals. I guess it's pretty common in contemporary urban fantasy.

If I remember correctly, at least one of the magic systems in the old Lyndon Hardy novels (Master of the Five Magics etc.) came close to it. But it's been a while.

Harry Dresden is pretty mild for a Mary Sue; though I'll grant that he does suffer a little bit from the syndrome, it isn't much more than any other protagonist of an action-oriented book series.

[nanoboy]

Originally Posted by mhd

I gave up after the second DF book due to my chronic Mary Sue intolerance, but yes, they do spend quite some time describing elaborate magical rituals. I guess it's pretty common in contemporary urban fantasy.

If I remember correctly, at least one of the magic systems in the old Lyndon Hardy novels (Master of the Five Magics etc.) came close to it. But it's been a while.

Bear in mind that the second book (Fool Moon) is easily the weakest of the series. It is definitely uphill after that.

[Fred Brackin]

The Lord Darcy series by Randall Garrett would be one of the classic examples. Forensic Sorceror Master Sean O'Loughlin is forever getting all kinds of parphenalia out of hsi symbol decorated carpetbag.

You see a fair bit of this sort of magic in the Buffy series too. All sorts of chanting and candle-burning.

Katherine Kurts Deryni series too. It's practicaly a primer on drawing the circle and calling the Archangels and all sorts of other things they do in Real world magic.

[nanoboy]

I've not seen it myself, but as I understand it, the television show "Supernatural" has a Book magic like system, too.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by nanoboy

I've not seen it myself, but as I understand it, the television show "Supernatural" has a Book magic like system, too.

Most of the magic on Buffy worked that way, too. It's not an accident that Monster Hunters has a ritual magic system.

Bill Stoddard