This week over at the Fantasy Review Barn we are once again travelling through the tropes of fantasy with Nathan.  This week, I admit I struggled a bit and so some of my suggestions might not quite fit ‘awesome’ magic.

AWESOME DISPLAYS OF MAGIC

Sometimes magic can be subtle. Who wants that? Big explosions or acts of creation, death and destruction or acts of awe inspiring wonder. If your world has magic then why not show it off?

Pug – from the Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist – I think this is my only example of awesome magic – don’t ask me to explain why – but basically there’s a lot of serious magic in the first three books (I haven’t read further than that at the moment).

Howl’s moving castle – I love the magic in this book – and I do think it’s awesome – living in a moving abode with doors that open into different places – so okay, I think I had two.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman – there’s one scene where the witch turns a goat into a man and creates a whole Inn with roaring fires and hot bath tubs – it’s a little bit impressive.

The Witches by Roald Dahl – those witches are not messing about – turning boys into mice – not to mention killing lots of children – nasty!  And, they have a plan to kill ALL the children – that’s big magic – not nice, but big!  Watch out for the sweet shops.

The Curseworkers by Holly Black – I’m not going to elaborate though because it would be a spoiler but things pretty much get transformed in the most unexpected ways:

Honorary mentions

Gandalf, LotR and The Hobbit – although, and don’t all beat me up now, but, his magic never seemed overly impressive to me – there it is, I said it – what’s the point of having a wizard who can only create fireworks, light up his staff in the dark, and shout ‘you shall not pass’ when the baddies arrive.  Okay, you all know I love Tolkien but as far as impressive and awesome magic it’s not going on with Gandalf – unless he’s keeping his ‘big’ magic hidden (although he did fight with a Balrog and come back as a white wizard).

The World of Harry Potter – okay, I’m not going to give all the examples but there is some good examples of magic – people being transformed into creatures, bones being turned to jelly, etc, etc, not sure if it’s awesome but there it is.

Madame Mim and Merlin – so good the battle they have – I call that some pretty good magic – not only thinking on the hoof but trying to best each other!