[Darkwatch]

Cause is right because

Spoiler

In the conversation between Kellhus and Moenghus at the end of TTT Kellhus has understood that the Psuke is based on passion. That means that Moenghus is weak and he states this himself, the only time he surpasses the others are in the more sublte speels like the Cant of Calling he used to summon Kellhus. The reason for his predominance in the Cishaurim is like Cause says, you're a priest first sorceror second which means your rank is not determined by your sorcerous abilities. Which means that Moenghus like Kellhus has manipulated himself into a position of great power.

[Salt-Man Z]

I really enjoyed the Runelords magic system. Brandon Sanderson's use of the aeons in Elantris was interesting, and I liked the the surprising geographical tie-in at the end.

One no one's mentioned that I really love is Stephen R. Donaldson's "imagery" in Mordant's Need. He even goes so far as to describe it (in his Gradual Interview) as more science than magic -- though I would argue with him there, as an imager need some amount of inborn talent, and arch-imagers in particular have some sort of "magical" gift. Altogether, it's probably my favorite magic system -- outside of MBotF, of course.

[Morgoth]

the magic system in the mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson is also excellent. The rules are intuitive and clear, yet at the same time the only limit to magics use is your imagination in many ways.

[FilthyGnome]

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned it but Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series, where he uses Furies based on mostly elements, but uses it to create a somewhat realistic use for it.
I really do like it, but my favourite one has to be SE's.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

I'm undecided on SE's magic system. As far as the actual use of magic is concerned we have very little knowledge of what is possible, who can do what, what can be done using different warrens/holds etc. It may be a well thought out system, well structured and entirely logical, but we have so little information on the details that it could just as easily be based on letting mages, spiritwalkers, bonecasters etc. do whatever is needed to advance the plot.

Things like Modesitt's Chaos and Order in the Recluse series (and the simlar system in the Coraen etc books) and the One Power in Jordan's Wheel of Time series trump MBotF in my opinion, mainly because they show well thought out limitations and structures after seeing the details. And after getting the details, the magic doesn't loses its lustre.

[Salt-Man Z]

I think for most of us, SE's magic system gives the impression of a deep, intricate, and well-defined structure -- even if it hasn't been explicitly shown to be so.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

True, though it is much easier to give an impression of one than to follow through and show that this is actually the case (of course this may be what the italics are implicitly stating, but I've had a few more past the point of being able to discern that).

[Kalahinen]

Yes, MBotF is not among the top in my mind.

Earthsea magic is the number one.
Twin Peaks' (although a tv-series, but I'll mention it anyway) also has this incredible, spooky, mystic magic. Wow.

[acesn8s]

Salt-Man Z;299284 said:

I think for most of us, SE's magic system gives the impression of a deep, intricate, and well-defined structure -- even if it hasn't been explicitly shown to be so.

Ahhh . . . but by not defining it, he doesn't put limits on it.

[Salt-Man Z]

I'm just saying, SE's magic system seems, at first glance at least, to possess well-defined rules and limits. Dig deeper, and (presumed) contradictions and rule-breaking surface, but I think a lot of fans (myself included) give SE the benefit of the doubt that these things will be explained or have been accounted for somehow; that there is a concrete system in place here -- it's that same trust that most MBotF fans have developed while reading this series: that Eriskon knows what he's doing.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Right now, I'm pretty impressed with Bakker's PoN series. Interesting take on magic.

[williamjm]

A couple of magic systems I quite liked that don't seem to have been mentioned so far in this thread:

Weis and Hickman's Death Gate series got mentioned, but I also thought the magic system in their Darksword trilogy was interesting as well, particularly in the way the workings of the magic system and which type of magic people were good at (in this world everyone is a magician) moulded the whole society - for some reason not many authors have explored the idea of a society where everyone has magic, even though that's a logical extrapolation of typical fantasy world-building.

It might not necessarily be considered a magic system, but I did like the pseudo-scientific system of psychic powers used in Julian May's Saga of the Exiles and Galactic Milieu books. It did seem well thought-out in terms of how it affected the plot and the characters, unlike a lot of books where what magical powers can do seems to vary depending on what the plot demands at that instant (see Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, for example, which was a great book but it did give the impression Clarke was just making up the whole system as she went along, particularly the way spells were used once then never repeated).

[Optimus Prime]

I liked the idea of the One Power in Wheel of Time.

Spoiler

How the women could use it and were of varying degrees of strength but the men were tainted at first and couldn't use it without going mad. Thought that was a cool idea.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Xander;305492 said:

I liked the idea of the One Power in Wheel of Time.

Spoiler

How the women could use it and were of varying degrees of strength but the men were tainted at first and couldn't use it without going mad. Thought that was a cool idea.

Yeah, one of the things Jordan got right.

[Optimus Prime]

I also liked the addition of

Spoiler

The True Power, except he never really shows us a battle between the OP and the TP

I like Bakker's systems in the PoN as well. The idea of "singing" magic is really cool to me.

[Zanth13]

williamjm;305379 said:

A couple of magic systems I quite liked that don't seem to have been mentioned so far in this thread:

Weis and Hickman's Death Gate series got mentioned, but I also thought the magic system in their Darksword trilogy was interesting as well, particularly in the way the workings of the magic system and which type of magic people were good at (in this world everyone is a magician) moulded the whole society - for some reason not many authors have explored the idea of a society where everyone has magic, even though that's a logical extrapolation of typical fantasy world-building.

Early Xanth novels also explored the idea of a land where every one had magic... I really liked the first 5 books too (until the series became a big punish cartoon)

DeathGate magic was pretty bad ass... I havent finished the Darksword series yet.

With Weis and Hickman besides the DL books (which I love) I also enjoyed pretty much all their other books that I have read...they usually have some interesting things to write...

The DragonQueen series was good (I think thats what it was called) were they had a bad ass characted named Draconus (who was a dragon in human form btw)...

The soul stone trilogy was allright... It had some cools magic but I felt like the books lost focus.

[Kalahinen]

Xander;305540 said:

I like Bakker's systems in the PoN as well. The idea of "singing" magic is really cool to me.

Well, as to singing, singing magic spells is a real method in our world, also in Finland. In the old days (possibly still in the more distant areas of Lapland and Karelia) spells were sung. Tolkien also borrowed the idea to Silmarillion where Sauron fights an elven king a battle of magic singing. A Finnish legend tells of a similar fight between Wäinämöinen and Joukahainen, and also between Lemminkäinen and the Lord of Northland, which is probably where Tolkien got the idea.

[Zanth13]

Kalahinen;306001 said:

Well, as to singing, singing magic spells is a real method in our world, also in Finland. In the old days (possibly still in the more distant areas of Lapland and Karelia) spells were sung. Tolkien also borrowed the idea to Silmarillion where Sauron fights an elven king a battle of magic singing. A Finnish legend tells of a similar fight between Wäinämöinen and Joukahainen, and also between Lemminkäinen and the Lord of Northland, which is probably where Tolkien got the idea.

Terry Brooks used singing magic also...

Wishsong ect ect...

[Cause]

Its not that the magic is sung that makes it cool so much that their is a very concise and plasible explanation for why language can affect reality. Also the fact that magic is language based can then be further sub-divided into analogy, paradox and I cant remeber the third though its the most important!

[Optimus Prime]

Haha, thanks for clarifying Cause

Although GRRM's series doesn't have any known "systems", I like how magic is very discreet and in the background of the books.

I just wish I had materia slots in my weapons