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
Maybe Robin Hobb’s Farseer trilogy? I feel like it fits the soft magic definition somewhat
And it’s also fantastic
“The Realm of the Elderlings” in general I’d say.
The Riftwar Cycle might fit. The magic system starts off with the users having a hard understanding of how magic works only to learn how soft and pliable it really is.
That said, this series is like 30+ books and is put it at half of them being really good and half being a grind while nearly all of them are dated in fantasy style.
Howl’s Moving Castle - the book showcases it a lot better than the movie. Kind of kiddush but that makes it a fast read, and I really appreciated the magic system.
Don’t miss out on the other loosely-related books in the trilogy, they’re just as cozy.
The Chronicles of Amber. By Roger Zelazny
You might enjoy the Ship of Magic series by Robin Hobb
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams
Hmmm.
- „The dark is rising“ Series by Susan Cooper
- „The Moon of Gomrath“ by Alan Garner
- „The Innkeepers Song“ by Peter S. Beagle
- „Stardust“ by Neil Gaiman
- „The Night Circus“ by Erin Morgenstern
- „Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke
Those were on top of my head. There are probably many many more. Also check out other books by the authors I mentioned.
Malazan Book of the Fallen is fairly soft due to complexity and overlapping systems. A dozen or so themed sources of magic(warrens), several older sources of power (holds) and several powers specific to certain species.
Some characters can access several of these sources and one character semi-accidentally creates a supplemental system that might be more rules based. Geographical location matters and the warrens/holds are also physical realities separate from the main one with their own hazards.
Also, there are mysterious elder entities and there’s always the possibility of ascending to godlike powers through a parallel system of high houses roughly aligned to warrens and mysterious buildings but defined by an in-universe tarot deck that can be altered…
Malazan is everything but soft. Its magic system and the world building in general look like what a programmer with a degree in reddit history would build
How are you defining “soft” in this case? It seems you and I have very different ideas of what that term means, and I’m curious about your perspective.
Haha! My definitions are arbitrary now that I think about it. Tons of gray area, since it’s all fiction to begin with.
My definition of ‘soft’ would be any magic system that lacks exact rules or a concrete cause and effect relationship with scale. Flexible power from a vague connection to a god, planet of origin, or elemental source would be soft. Even softer if there are dozens or hundreds of vague sources with unpredictable effects.
Specific, quantifiable effects from a concrete source (a specific spell, ritual, or x amount of a substance) would be hard.
I’m more of a sci-fi guy but I listened to Joe Abercrombies The First Law trilogy as audio books and holy shit was it great. Ended up devouring the 3 standalone books and the following Age of Madness trilogy that plays out in the same world. Very dark stuff and I believe fits within the requested “soft magic” setting.
The Priory of the Orange Tree might fit what you are looking for. I’ve only learned the term soft magic just now so I might be wrong but magic in that world is mysterious and feels similar to Lord of the Rings. However there’s multiple types of magic and one of the main characters understands a bit more about one of those types and thus knows a bit about its limitations iirc so we as the reader are introduced to those a bit. Overall I’d say it probably fits.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Check out The Last Unicorn.
Basically any physics books
A serial web story by Wildbow named “Pact” has a pretty interesting soft magic system with a decent amount of depth.
Description of Magic System
All characters who can use magic in the story are not able to lie on penalty of their magic power being greatly reduced. The magic system is based around tiny spirits who listen to and judge people. There are powers in 3s, power in performance, powers in name, yet despite this the magic system still feels ad hoc, like you can make magic happen that you would not normally be capable of if you are just smart enough, poetic enough, and persuasive enough to the spirits…
Magical beings feel Eldritch, actively dangerous, and typically very clever. The ones who are clever typically have very good mental models of what makes humans tick, yet clearly do not fall under the same rules.
A bit unconventional, and certainly not high fantasy, but: John Dies At The End by David Wong.
