Fantasy Books with LOTS of magic use

[hephaest]

Hephaest,

To answer your questions:

By a light read, I meant you prefer books with a certain amount of pace. OK, LOTR is not exactly a rattle-through read, but Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey and several of the others that you mentioned all clip along at a steady pace. McCaffrey was one of my favourites for many years, and I still return to her work now. I've not read GRR Martin, so I cannot comment on whether he would class as a 'heavy' read. For me, a heavy read is one where, as you say of Martin's Game of Thrones, there is lots of description and not much happening. I recently spent several months trying to plow through Jordan's tenth epic in the Wheel of Time series. At the end of it I was forced to ask 'Why did I bother?' My conclusion was that I'd come too far to give up, but I found the book to be turgid and lifeless. You will not find this in any of the books I have recommended. Indeed, much the opposite.

Thanks for the detailed explanation of your recommendations

 

[kaneda]

My suggestions:

Obviously you have the dragonlance chronicles and legends series (raistlin, raistlin and more raistlin )
David Gemmel - knights of dark renown / morningstar
Greg keyes - the briar king - the charnel prince (i can't rememeber that the series is called!)
Trudi Canavan - The magicians guild series (although tbh I didn't think much of the series - thought it was a little predictable. BUT it is a quick read and does have lots of magic!)
Tad Williams - memory, sorrow and thorn series (which is ridiculously slow for the first 100 or so pages, but really picks up)

 

[direghost]

One more to add to the list: Brust's Vlad Taltos books. Lots of magic, humor, and I'd say one of the more original series out there. Definitely more on the lighter side, but well worth reading.

 

[hephaest]

I second direghost's recommendation of Feist's Riftwar saga. Plenty of magic there. And if you like ongoing sagas there's the Serpent War saga too (the in betweens "King's Bucaneer" and "Prince of the Blood" have less focus on magical characters if I remember correctly, it has been a while since I've read them.)

First book: "Magician" (I believe it has been split into two volumes, right?)
I believe the third book contains the most magic. ("Darkness at Sethanon")

The Serpent war saga (though adding new characters) eventually contains cast of several magic(al) users banding together.

Well, I am almost done reading Magician Master (after having read magician apprentice). There didn't really seem to be that much magic use. Yes the whole rift phenomenon is magic but the books seem to focus more on politics. Pug doesn't seem to be the main character in book 2. He uses his magic very rarely and mostly towards the end. The amount of magic use is nowhere near as much as the Aes Sedai in "Wheel of Time series" or the amount of magic in "sword of truth" series.
I will try "Malazaan book of the fallen" next

 

[Parsimony]

I think Brooks' pace is fine, but even with Shannara, I'd like some more magic. I love Elfstones of Shannara because Wil overcomes his wariness and mistrust with magic.

As for my suggestion, I'd go with David Eddings' The Belgariad (and then) The Mallorean series. The writing isn't amazing, the plots are cyclical (but on purpose and explained in the Mallorean), and the dialogue gets corny fast, but magic has no limits. Pretty much every good character is invincible and immortal...

 

[MJM]

Hi,
Im looking for fantasy books that are good but
also that have lots of magic use. Especially the main
character. I have read the following:
Lord of the rings
Sword of Truth (all in series)
Sword of Shanara (first trilogy)
Wheel of Time (all in series)
Inheritance (Eragon and Eldest)
Earthsea Cycle (books 1 and 2)
A Game of Thrones (dropped after 50 pages)
Narnia (dropped after 50 pages)
Dragons of Pern (most books in the series)

I would say out of the above, the one series that has the most magic use is the Wheel of time. Here, the main characters use magic quite frequently. You have all the Aes Sedai using magic all the time and occasionaly Rand uses his magic. The problem with Wheel of time, is that it has too much diplomatic intrigue and too many sub-characters and sub-plots and too many descriptions of clothes and furniture. It drags on at a snail's pace. Probably the series that appealed to me the most is Sword of truth. It doesnt have that much use of magic, but it goes at much faster pace and keeps you in suspence. Inheritance, Main characters use magic often. Now Lord of the ring, while a great book, doesnt really have any magic use. Gandalf does some stuff rarely. And theres the evil Sauron that is all magic (including his ring). But poor old frodo has no magic at all. I want to read books filled with the use of magic. Teleportation, stoping people's hearts, fire from fingertips, etc. and the more mundain use of magic like combing ones hair and drying one's clothes. A world full of magic use.

Does the "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant- the unbeliever" have lots of magic use?

I guess it depends on what you call "magic". For instance, in my novel Universal Tides the magic is real. The characters use a process called 'dream travel', using the Blue Light to travel into Otherworlds. This process is real and anyone can experience it with practise. So if 'magic' means something that only belongs in fiction, then what would you call 'dream travel'?

MJM
Author 'Universal Tides: Barbed Wire Blues'

 

[bangerm]

i would recommend zelazny's Changeling and Madwand books...i also saw amber series mentioned above and recommend that highly
bangerm
also stasheff's warlock series is very good

 

[Tau Zero]

Here are my suggestions:

Simon Green, the Nightside series (6 books).
Nina Kiriki Hoffman, A Fistful of Sky.
R A Heinlein, Magic, Inc. (A little dated, but still fun to read.)

 

[Werthead]

Is a game of Thrones- a heavy read? I dropped it after actually around a hundred pages. And the reason was not because I found it heavy. I just felt that nothing was really happening in the book. The author introduced the main characters and various supporting characters. There was an attach in the woods by some magical beings (if memory serves). A wolf was adopted by a ******* son. The king visits one of the main characters to offer him a promotion. But it just didn't pull me in. It just seemed boring. Does the book go on in the same manner? With nothing much happening?

I went through all of the books in (wheel of time series). At first it was moving along nicely, but ofcourse in the latter books it slowed down and developed too many plots that werent tied off. You dont get to see the main character often anymore. There is too much description of furniture and clothes. But the reason I stuck with it is because it sort of became a soap opera. I just wanted to know what was going to happen.

A Song of Ice and Fire is comprehensively the best epic fantasy sequence available. It's also extremely fast-paced in its second half. By the end of Book 1 alone there have been three massive battles, plenty of murders and betrayals and conspiracies. The opening of the story is more slower-paced, but not remarkably so. The only problem I see for you is the magic use. Martin's take on magic is the same as Tolkien's. Hurling fireballs around is not magic, that's just science which doesn't work in real life. Real magic is when something unexpected happens, usually very rarely, and a sense of wonder permeates the book. Martin pulls this off in the last chapter of the first novel. There is more magic use in the later books, but it never reaches D&D-style levels. To me magic use is secondary to character and the quality of the writing and in these regards Martin is unopposed in the epic fantasy genre.

Erikson has much more magic use and isn't far behind Martin in quality.

 

[alex]

Raymond E Fiest Magician is really good it takes a fair while to get into but when you do youll love it...it is a trilogy but ive read most of his books and there really good mate you should try them.

 

[GOLLUM]

Erikson has much more magic use and isn't far behind Martin in quality.

Just reverse that statement and I'll agree with you.... However, Erikson and Martin are both wonderful writers......

 

[Smoking Mirror]

Erikson books have more choices of magic

 

[Hiro Protagonist]

I have found that it is not the amount of magic use, but the way magic is used which is important. I have read some books where the magic system is just plain bad. The best magic system is one where you sacrifice something for magic/power. This creates balance, unlike the Harry Potter books where Hermione can cast spells because of... knowledge? Her wand? She is capable of more magic because of genetics?

Look over your books and find a system of magic which you like and post it. Once you do that I can recommend some books to you

 

[enchanted_ghost2001]

It doesnt have to be bad fantasy to have plenty of magic included
Im watching this thread with interest, as I too like a fantasy book with plenty of magic included in the plot.
The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher is a good example

I agree. I am currently reading his series and I am enjoying them greatly. I recently heard Jim Butcher speak and he mentioned the Dresden Files were picked up by the SciFi channel. I think the series is due to air in January. Also Teresa Edgerton/Madeline Howard writes with a lot of magic in her books. Most of them are out of print but well worth the effort to track them down. J. V. Jones' The Book of Words series and Barbara Hambly's Dark Series are also good reads with a lot of magic. Don't give up on Martin he is one of the greats. At least I think so.

 

[MJRevell]

I can also recommend the Bartimaeus Trilogy - it is fantastic stuff.

 

[Karsa Orlong]

The thing with Erikson's use of magic is that whilst it plays a very large part, it's very ambiguously defined throughout. I like this method, sometimes magic has far more presence and richness in the reader's mind if its essence isn't spelt out in detail.

 

[BattleMage]

From what you described as being your preferences in books Id recommend The Elminster books(the first 3 anyways) by Ed Greenwood. It basically started the Forgotten Realms books but dont judge Elminster by those other books. It has a strong dose of dry humor as well as being in a world saturated with magic. The first book starts out with a tragedy and b/c of that Elminster starts out as a hater of magic and magic users, but eventually he progresses into becoming a mage himself at the behest of the Goddess of magic. Book three is by far the most magic intensive and my favorite for magic battles, but the first book is a good read about a boy progressing into a powerful mage and getting revenge at the end. They're not my "favorite" books nowadays but from what you described I hope you enjoy them.

 

[hephaest]

I finally read all of Erikson's Malazan series available in the US, and you guys were right. He is a great author and there is tons of magic use. It governs everything. Many of the main characters and sub-characters use it. There are magic realms (used to draw power from and a mode of transportation). Wars are faught with magic. There are powerful warlocks mages, witches, shamans, etc. Even gods use magic. The magic has limits and balances. There are forces to balance magic use. Its complicated.

 

[Quokka]

Erikson is a personal favourite at the moment and there's plenty of magic in Weis and Hickman's The Death Gate Cycle but for something a little bit different I'll recommend Jack L Chalker's Soul Rider series.

I read this more than a few years ago so maybe take the recommendation with a grain of salt but if you want magic this has it in spades. Alot of the magic is the traditional wizard in a robe type but the whole world is magicial (called flux) with only little islands of reality and most of those were created by magicians.

From memory its not ground breakingly good literature but it was a fun and easy read.

The series was released in the mid 80's so your best chance of finding it is probably online or second hand stores.

 

[hephaest]

I went back to the sword of truth series by terry goodkind (the last book of the series came out). And omg, how bad it is after you get used to reading Erikson. Goodkind overstates the obvious a hundred times over. as though he writes for kindergarden children. The charecters seem so simplistic after getting used to Erikson's charecters. The people who posted a long time ago in this thread were right about goodkind. He may have lots of magic in his books and its fast paced and it does pull you in when there is some action going on. But interaction between charecters and charecter developement is just horrible.