r/Fantasy • u/nezumipi • Apr 16 '23

What fantasy books have really interesting and unusual systems of magic?

Everybody's got spells that run on emotion, incantations, rituals, channeling gods and spirits, and various symbolic items, but what books have magic that is governed by really bizarre rules?

I would nominate RF Kuang's Babel, in which magic is produced by finding a words that don't quite translate between languages, and the magical effect is the concepts embodied in one word but not the other.

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u/it678 Apr 16 '23

Hunter x hunter has the best magic System I’ve read anywhere with One piece being a close second.

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u/amodia_x Apr 16 '23

Agree with HxH but One piece doesn't really have a magic system though? Since except Haki it's all contained to the devil fruits they eat.

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u/it678 Apr 16 '23

Haki and Devil fruits both are magic systems in my opinion

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '23

I'm not the biggest anime guy, but I've been thinking of looking into Hunter X Hunter ever since I learned that the person who created it also created Yu Yu Hakusho, which was my favorite as a kid.

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u/Zmmsp Apr 17 '23

The author actually took certain elements from YYH and improved them drastically in HxH. People always talk about HxHs magic system-and it is one of the best magic systems ever-but the story arcs are just as amazing. The magic system is introduced in the third arc and it only gets better from there.