Magician Bear by Jules Dubost
Some fantasy authors feel the need to go into “the rules” of the magic they write about. It’s limits, the can and can’t do’s of it, whatever. I particularly see a great deal of that in fantasy fiction written in the last few decades and suspect it comes from a strong Dungeons & Dragons, role-playing and video game influence on the genre.
There’s a lot that has been written about “hard” and “soft” magical systems. Brandon Sanderson prefers a hard style, and has written a balanced essay outlining his views on these two competing styles that outlines the pros and cons of each. I recommend giving it a read, but for the sake of brevity I’ll say the heart of his philosophy is his “First Law of Magic”:
Sanderson’s First Law of Magics: An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL…
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Kate McClelland 