The Magic System

Use this forum to discuss the October 2020 Book of the month, "We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies" by Matthew Tysz.
Nikita_sharma
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Re: The Magic System

Post by Nikita_sharma »

I actually found the magic system really intriguing. The concept of it being drawn from the cosmos is brilliant. The display of its potential in the end shows its infinite capacity. Its creative and quirky. I'm sure Matthew Tysz will delve into it further as the series progress but in such a short novel, the teaser it gave about what magic can do and how it works has me temporarily satiated. I definitely want to know more though!
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Post by ashleymarie310 »

It does seem to be a little underdeveloped in the first book, but I think that opens up the opportunity to learn about the boundaries of magic from the characters rather than being told about it. It leaves us open to wonder "can they" or "can't they" and, for me at least, creates a story that I'm much more engaged in because I don't really know where the line is.
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Post by Fliesie01 »

I agree with you, it also felt like the magic just appeared in the book without any explanation, I would have loved to know more about the magic, where it comes from, and how it works.
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Post by zainherb »

The magic is a bit underdeveloped in the book, yes, but it didn't much bother me. Maybe because I knew there were more books to come, or maybe because I have learned to not expect much from books or attach myself to them so much that what happens or doesn't happen bothers me.

In any case, I simply assumed since magic comes from caromentis,those who practice it simply know how to draw from it.I was satisfied with that. I was more interested in what the characters were going to do with their magical powers.
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Post by Ndiviwe »

I think the limitation mentioned by the author is the lack of access to the other dimension of magic, which is Caromentis. I think the reason why Meldorath is so powerful is because he has some how found a way to access a small part of Caromentis, hence the appearance of Beth. I think as the series progresses the magic system will be more clear and the reason it is unclear in the first installment is because the aim the first book was to establish the storyline, protagonists and antagonists.
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Post by Sue_neth_ak »

luchi123 wrote: 07 Oct 2020, 08:40 Yes, I felt the same way too. That was why I enjoyed reading about Galen more because I felt that he, was the only real character I could relate with. However, then came Demetrius; and magic of course will be introduced into Galen's life too. I also didn't understand how the magical powers were graded. For instance, Rowan, Marshus, the mages, and biomage all had magical abilities, but they couldn't do as much as Meldorath did with his.
I agree with you. I had naturally considered Galen to be the main character with the same reason because I couldn't grasp the boarders and limitations of magic. Meldorath and many mages didn't seem to have their boundaries, which made me wonder. Then again, it's nice to see Voulhire through Galen's eyes gradually as he was introduced to the magical world.
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Post by EReid »

I thought the magic system was set up well enough to be understandable for the purposes of the first book without being confusing. I hope the magic is explained more in future books, but I also understand there is a fine line between explaining a magic system and over-explaining and confusing a magic system with detailed descriptions of all the rules.
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Post by mari_crespo »

Well, I haven't really read all the books yet so please take what I say with a grain of salt since I'm just speculating from the first one. So, my opinion is that this series will end up being not about the characters, but about the world itself. The characters may just be there so that they discover the world alongside the reader. We can see this in the different rapidly changing points of view during the story or even the title itself, "We are Voulhire". Both of these examples show that the story is not necessarily about the characters. I'm not sure either if in the next books the magic system will be explained on a deeper level or if it's gonna be left as a soft or unexplainable magic system. But if we take into account that the series may be about Voulhire (or the setting), then maybe it would be better if they explained the magic better. But I still think that the idea of exploring this new magic system slowly is as fun as it's dangerous, I'm definitely excited to see how it plays out. Anyways I'm not sure if what I said even makes sense but let's just pretend it did;)
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Post by Rayah Raouf »

I guess as we read the series we learn about it nice and slowly. Demetrius tries to get in touch with his magical side and we get to see that happen. There is also Meldorath. His objective is different from Demetrius, so I think there might be a difference in magical abilities too.
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Post by Sarrikoziol »

I think Tysz is doing a fantastic job of getting people to question his books. Bravo!! There doesn't need to be an in depth description of the magic in the book. It will all come about. The objection was reached for book one. Tysz has developed people to be "heroes" and "villians". My question is are you sure your definitions of those are correct? In many Sci-Fi series, the author shows all the power and none of the limitations. It sets your mind to make clear distinctions on who you think is the good guy and the bad. I've read a few where I drew my conclusions, and then it all changed.

I don't read Meldorath as good or bad. I feel the same about most of the characters in the boom. My exception is Maido. I just think he's despicable by nature.

I don't feel cheated by the lack of deep explanation of magic here. It will all be revealed in later books most likely. I just roll with the pages.
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Post by iammiape »

Karina Nowak wrote: 06 Oct 2020, 15:20 After I read this book I was left frustrated over the magic system, or rather that it wasn't explained enough. I get that maybe there were certain things that the writer didn't want to reveal just yet because it's only the first book. I also didn't expect everything to be explained in depth right away, but there needed to be, MORE!

The author seems to be building their own magic system which, seriously, bravo, Tysz! :tiphat: :clap: However, telling the reader that magic has limitations but then creating several characters that operate without any known limitations is confusing. If I'm honest, I did feel a little cheated that he didn't explain more about Caromentis and how the magic worked.

Yes, I know, there's probably more in the other books, I just needed more in this one. Did anyone else feel like that?
From what I can recall, I believe that Matthew haven't confirmed, so far, that magic has its limitations. Bartrus said that the system of magic is a complex web in which most parts remains unfathomable, however, it's an established view, in our world, that everything has limitation; I'm unsure if it also applies in this book. On the other note, I do agree that there are few magical characters with unknown capacity in using magic, however, I think that it was because they aren't yet in the right moment that'll reveal their vulnerability. So, I don't see this as lacking of consistency. Nevertheless, I, like you, am eager to know more about Caromentis and magic.
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Post by Janet Kimetto »

I completely agree with you. I even stated this in my review, that we weren't given enough information about magic. The writer almost made it look like magic could be learned and that was a little confusing because magic users are usually mostly born. He also made it look like magic had no limitations, which is not usually the case. It would have been nice if we had been given some facts about magic as it applies to the unique world of Matthew Tysz.
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Post by Josephe-Anne »

I didn't have any issues with the magic system in this book. There are always rules and exceptions to the rules. Meldorath and a few other powerful mages were able to figure out how to break the rules and make magic bend to their desires.
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Post by Asja Šabani »

I like the magic system Tysz created - it is unique and it makes sense. I didn't feel like I need more information about it at this point. I am happy to learn about it slowly as the story progresses.
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Post by Olomofe »

Yes did feel the same as why magic is made to be limited in its eficacies. But I resolved the efficacy of any magic cast is determine by the mage themselves. Some mages are powerful and skillfull than some
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