this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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Does anyone know of any good magitech series that go into detail about how magic works and how it's used? I've always found the engineering aspect of magitech really interesting, and having a flexible magic system is cool. An example of the kinda thing I'm looking for is Eragon. Eragon never got into magitech, but the magic system was fairly well explained, enough so that I was disappointed when magitech was never established as a thing.
The Founders Trilogy (book 1: Foundryside) by Robert Jackson Bennett uses a system of magic called Scriving wherein objects have written upon them instructions that sort of convince the objects that the laws of physics work in different ways. Over long ages engineers found ways to build engines for scriving that had commonly used instructions and essentially allowed more advanced technologies by creating "programming languages" of a sort, if you will, that work in proximity to the engines. So you get this very advanced society with technology built over this magic system, and a main character whose MacGuffin allows for messing with others' scriving as your setting.
I quite enjoyed the trilogy, and they seem to fit the kind of vibe you're looking for. Over the course of the books they dive a lot into both the way the magic functions and the history behind how it came to be as it is.
Someone else already suggested it, but thanks for the suggestion!