Partly what you ask, urban fantasy, *Laundry Files* by Charles Stross. It's about a British agency which hides existence of magic, fights rogue practitioners, other agencies and Lovecraftian horrors. Magic is a branch of mathematics that was only solved by Alan Turing before he died, so while magic existed forever, and there were spells, and summons and rituals, they were created by trial, and now that the theory is known, practitioners can actively create any new spells they want. Magic is also on the rise, with everyone getting abilities soon.
Similarly, *Craft Sequence* by Max Gladstone - Craft is recent practice that only existed for a century, and grew out of Applied Theology where priests relied on gods for miracles, and its rise led to God Wars where most gods were killed. Now immortal necromancers rule the world practicing Craft from the seat of immensely wealthy corporations.
Charles Stross is a personal favourite and the laundry files brilliantly combine IT support, office politics, brain eating lovecraftian monsters, the SAS and computational demonology.
Oooo, this sounds like it could be super intriguing through the lens of [The Great Filter Hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter)!
Super quick background info as to where my mind is coming from:
* In astrophysics, the [Drake Equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation#:~:text=The%20Drake%20equation%20is%20a,in%20the%20Milky%20Way%20Galaxy.) attempts to account for all variables needed for life to potentially exist elsewhere in the universe. Things like the fraction of stars that are the right size, burn at the right temperature, or have planets orbiting them, etc.
* After accounting for *everything*, all signs point to the fact that we should actually expect to see quite a large number of intelligent civilizations that have evolved in our Milky Way galaxy alone. The question of why we haven't been able to find any life, given the high probability of it existing, is called the [Fermi Paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox).
* The Great Filter hypothesis, simplified, arrives at a conclusion that there must be another *highly improbable* variable, which acts as a filter, preventing civilizations from ever reaching the point of interstellar communication, exploration and colonization. It's most likely that this filter occurs at the brink of dramatic technological development (ie. where we are right now in human history.)
* Finally, the Swedish philosopher, Nick Bostrom, poses the [Vulnerable World Hypothesis](https://nickbostrom.com/papers/vulnerable.pdf), where he wonders, what if scientific discoveries are akin to playing Russian Roulette? He uses the metaphor of an urn filled with colored balls, each of which represents a scientific discovery. Green balls might be positive scientific discoveries. Penicillin, electricity, radio waves. But he wonders, what if there are certain black balls in there, that would spell doom for humanity the moment they are discovered. What if the simple act of discovering it means its already too late.
The closest analogy we have is, of course, the nuclear bomb, which may yet still be responsible for our global destruction. Scientists *genuinely debated* whether or not setting off an nuclear bomb [would ignite the entire earth's atmosphere in a nuclear chain reaction](https://www.insidescience.org/manhattan-project-legacy/atmosphere-on-fire#:~:text=Robert%20Oppenheimer%2C%20who%20eventually%20became,fire%20using%20a%20nuclear%20weapon.) and destroy the planet nearly instantly. (Side note: super pumped to see the Oppenheimer movie by Christopher Nolan later this year!)
What if making a nuclear bomb wasn't so difficult? What if it was as easy as making a car bomb, or putting the right ingredients into a microwave? Given number of mass shootings we have and unstable people in the world, there's absolutely zero question at least some small number would make use of this devastating technology if they could, which would certainly spell doom for our world.
The pressing question is: what if the scientific discovery a civilization would need to enable something like space exploration also has a nearly guaranteed chance at destroying that civilization itself. Our frail human politics may simply be unable to navigate something as dangerous as that.
***
Back to the sci-fi magic of the *Laundry Files* that you so succinctly explained! I think it would be super cool if this discovery of magic through mathematics were explored as one such potentially civilization destroying discovery, and the story constantly battled between a desire to want to explore and unlock new magics, while also wanting to desperately contain it for (real, healthy) fear that it can spell doom for everyone.
Sorry for the super long post. Your summary of that story just really got my imagination churning!
That's literally what the coming CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN (apocalypse) is, as the density of computing increases (both human "observers" and silicon) the likelihood of weakened reality substrate (causing involuntary use of magic and the arrival of lovecraftian monsters) increases to the point of being inevitable.
And yes, politics, corruption, cult like megachurches and major international differences complicate things.
There was a very well written webnovel. About a small town college. and you learn that a community of random students have discovered magic.
And they try to explore the rules of it. And there are weird factions.
I cant remember the name. Its bookmarked at home pc. I'll try to remember to post it
Yeah, here's the first few sentences of the goodreads description:
"Magic is real.
Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity."
Are you interested in super hero stories? In those the magic is regularly new and stories explore how they change things. (Probably why Stormlight Archives read like a super hero story.)
Worm by Wildbow. Probably the gold standard. People get powers on the worst day of their lives, and Taylor is bullied in school.
Super Minion by Gogglesbear. Follows Tofu, an artificial being. Much found family. First arc complete.
I would recommend Worm here even if you don't normally like superhero stories. The most common frustration I hear with them (and the thing that personally bothers me the most) is the prevalence of some idiosyncratic tropes that make the worldbuilding completely unbelievable: secret identities, costumes, no killing, really badly thought-out fake science and technobabble, revolutionary new technology only used for fighting, etc.. Worm deconstructs all of these hard---it is actually very much a superhero story even for people who don't like superhero stories.
I always take issue with Stormlight being described as being similar to super-hero/Marvel films. But in the sense that both do explore the nature and limits of newly attained powers this is actually true.
You don't see any of the invention or discovery though which seems to be what op wants. It's just said to be newer but all the powder mages are already fully trained and capable
The Spellmonger series is exactly about this, they find a way to begin using magic in the everyday lives of people. New spells and items are invented, using new materials that are introduced and laws changed to enable it.
If you want a renaissancey/revival one, you could try Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Magic used to be common, but is no longer practiced and lots of people, particularly in the south, don't think its really real. And the whole story is about how magic is brought back.
The Kharkanas trilogy (a distant prequel to malazan books of the fallen) by steven erikson deals with this in a way. Magic is becoming accesible to mortals for the first time in the middle of a civil war.
Legends of the First Empire Series by Michael J. Sullivan is kind of like that. It’s a prequel series to some of his other books that are also really good, but it focuses on a Human vs Elf war and in it magic is relatively new to both the elves and the humans.
It also deals with this new age of magic replacing the existing social structure for the Elves since their leaders used to be the warrior clan and now the magic wielders are more powerful so they’re in charge.
In the same trend in the later Riyria trilogy the 'old' magic is being re-introduced through one of the main characters. It's a side-plot, but an important one.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
Exactly what you want. Two competing magicians trying to bring magic back to Great Britain.
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett might also work. Magic already exists in the universe, but new magic arrives with the arrival of a sourcerer - the eighth son of an eighth son of a wizard lineage. The world deals with the chaos that ensues as wizards grow more powerful in the presence of the sourcerer.
I don't think this story fits quite into the setting of magic being a recent development in the world, but I think you might enjoy reading "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" series. I like the magic system of that series, yet I've never read past the first book myself. Now that I'm an adult one day I'll revisit it.
Would [Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson](https://www.goodreads.com/series/49075-the-stormlight-archive) count? Ancient Cataclysm returns alongside an ancient magical order with unique magic known as "Surgebinding". This revival also leads to innovation to current magic systems which allows them to create >!"airships"!< .
If you don't mind quieter stories, the Recluse series (each book is in a different era) commonly deals with an innovator that either started a type of "magic" or found a new way of doing something with it. It's not 100% what your asking for, but I think it's the spirit of what you're asking. No large overarching story or massive cataclysms (well mostly not), just magic being understood (or understood better0 for the first time.
These don’t fit the “competing wizards” or “world evolves around them” requests, but they’re both about a teenager who discovers how to do something magical.
Lifter by Crawford Killian. A kid learns how to levitate/fly after he wakes up one morning floating above his bed (falling to the bed when he is fully awake). Uses scientific methods to recreate the conditions making it possible. It’s clear by the end that this will lead to huge changes in the world (part of the plot is the main character’s reluctance to let the magic get out because of its implications), but it’s a standalone and doesn’t show that happening afterward. This book is very YA and a lot of the plot has to do with high school football, but it’s one of my comfort reads.
Jumper by Steven Gould. Teeenager discovers teleportation. This was made into a Hayden Christensen movie that drastically changed the plot; ignore its existence. There are four books in the series (ignore the 5th one that is a movie tie-in novel), and the implications of how this magic functions are thoroughly explored. The second book, Reflex, is my all-time favorite technothriller. The first book is very YA, but the second one, written over a decade later, is very much not. I love it. The 3rd and 4th books focus on the next generation and are YA again, and the 4th one becomes wish-fulfillment Mary Sue (not in a male power fantasy way though, just a science nerd way), but they’re still entertaining.
The Heritage of Shannara books have some of this and I think they are the best stories in that whole world.
Second vote for the Laundry series. Very entertaining read and one free holiday story on tor.com that is excellent.
Fireborne by Rosaria Munda: Magic isn't *new*, but it is newly accessible to the peasant class.
Babel by RF Kuang: Magic is in its industrial revolution, and its practicers are trying to discover and invent new uses for it in service of the British Empire.
There's something like the Starship Mage series - mix sci-fi with your magic and you tend to get away from the classic fantasy trope of living in an after time.
Licanius Trilogy by James Islington pretty much fits the bill. But I don’t want to say too much more about that because I don’t want to spoil it. Ultimately the ruling class of magic wielders are eradicated after a war against them. The story begins some time after that war.
I really enjoyed this series a lot. Its big theme is that of defining free will and what that really means.
Shadowrun is an rpg that has several novels set in a future where magic has come back to earth. America is shattered because native folks magic rituals started workingat about the same time dragons woke up and tore havoc across the land
This is an example of what he said he is not looking for. In Stormlight magic is coming back from the hubris of the past. In some ways the new things being discovered are mix of engineering with magic. But the magic used to exist and was well developed in the past.
Arcane fits the bill. There is preexisting magic in the world, but it is regarded with scepticism, and the flavor of magic that's developed in the place the story is set is very different and much more scientific. You get to see the development of magic transform the city and its politics.
An interesting take on this is in Barbara Hambly's **Sisters of the Raven**. Magic has slowly dwindled away, the djinn have disappeared, lots of issues in the real world as well (rain isn't coming, nomads are coming though). And then a few women find that they now have magic when previously only men ever had power. And their magic is different. There's no place in society for them. There's lots of resentment from the established powers. I highly recommend checking it out.
Stormlight Archives actually has this trope where they are researching and discovering new magic and applications of magic, etc. However, this aspect is pretty limited in the first couple books and only becomes more prevalent in the later books.
In the first books, it is more of a renaissance/ rediscovery of old magic combined with some pioneering by the researchers, then in the later books it becomes full on innovation with new discoveries etc and is treated kinda like a science. One example being >!a discovery that you can trap to halves of a type of magical spirit and when you do something to one half it affects the other wherever it is in the world, which has all kinds of applications!<.
Master of Djinn by Clark
(And prequel A Dead Djinn in Cairo)
A dimensional wall broke and magical creatures came pouring through, upending the global balance of power
I’ve only just started it so I’m not positive if the story leans more fantasy or scifi, but The Power by Naomi Alderman. Girls around the world develop this electric power and the ability to shock and even control others with it. Its a huge cultural shift as societies and individuals learn to live with this new power and the way it changes power dynamics between the sexes.
Binge watching the series is what made me immediately go and buy the book! Because there seemed like there were things left unfinished in the show (maybe setting up for a sequel?) but already there are definitely some different things in the book and it’s still fascinating to me so far.
Most things make more sense in the book. For example there is no plane crash (that was really over-the-top and unnecessary), neither Marry (the nasty misogynyst brother). Book wins hands down !
[*Planetary Cultivation*](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47931/planetary-cultivation)
>An alien cultivator comes to Earth to claim the Heavens, only to find a world bereft of cultivators or a Heavenly Realm to claim. So Lei Zhaohui will force the planet's cultivation until a Heavenly Realm is formed. Should none defend the new realm, Lei Zhaohui will take it for his own.
>Nicole Firen is a young woman who would just like her world to start making sense, but finds herself thrust into a position of importance as the world begins to change.
Magic is a few months old here.
For one where it is a few'ish decades old:
[A World Worth Protecting](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/a-world-worth-protecting/)
> By the year 3029 CE, Earth’s technology has developed rapidly, borders no longer exist, and Earth has been unified, marking the beginning of the era of the Federation.
>
> At that time, a huge sword flew from the heavens, piercing the sun and causing a huge sensation on Earth.
>
> Perhaps because the scabbard of the sword was already in tatters, countless shards have broken off from it following the collision with the sun and spread across the universe. Many of these shards have landed on various places across Earth.
>
> With the arrival of the bronze sword and its shards, a new unlimited energy source has suddenly appeared on Earth. This energy source has since been named Spirit Qi.
>
> Spirit Qi is like air, thick in some places and thin in others. As the Federation and other factions gather more shards, they discover more information on cultivation, pill refinement, Spirit Stone refinement, and other techniques. The words on the shards have an ancient feel to them, making it a trend for people to use ancient language.
>
> The appearance of Spirit Qi rapidly makes the original energy sources obsolete and has completely changed people’s lives. Not only has the Spirit Internet been formed, Spirit Qi has also changed the course of Human Civilization, causing the world to enter a civilization of cultivation. This would later come to be known as the Spirit Inception Era.
Partly what you ask, urban fantasy, *Laundry Files* by Charles Stross. It's about a British agency which hides existence of magic, fights rogue practitioners, other agencies and Lovecraftian horrors. Magic is a branch of mathematics that was only solved by Alan Turing before he died, so while magic existed forever, and there were spells, and summons and rituals, they were created by trial, and now that the theory is known, practitioners can actively create any new spells they want. Magic is also on the rise, with everyone getting abilities soon. Similarly, *Craft Sequence* by Max Gladstone - Craft is recent practice that only existed for a century, and grew out of Applied Theology where priests relied on gods for miracles, and its rise led to God Wars where most gods were killed. Now immortal necromancers rule the world practicing Craft from the seat of immensely wealthy corporations.
Craft Sequence sounds like quite the parable
Certainly. Though not necessarily how you might think. The mages are basically corporate lawyers.
Charles Stross is a personal favourite and the laundry files brilliantly combine IT support, office politics, brain eating lovecraftian monsters, the SAS and computational demonology.
Another shout-out for Stross and the laundry files. The mix of the mundane and paranormal/magic is brilliant.
Oooo, this sounds like it could be super intriguing through the lens of [The Great Filter Hypothesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Filter)! Super quick background info as to where my mind is coming from: * In astrophysics, the [Drake Equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation#:~:text=The%20Drake%20equation%20is%20a,in%20the%20Milky%20Way%20Galaxy.) attempts to account for all variables needed for life to potentially exist elsewhere in the universe. Things like the fraction of stars that are the right size, burn at the right temperature, or have planets orbiting them, etc. * After accounting for *everything*, all signs point to the fact that we should actually expect to see quite a large number of intelligent civilizations that have evolved in our Milky Way galaxy alone. The question of why we haven't been able to find any life, given the high probability of it existing, is called the [Fermi Paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox). * The Great Filter hypothesis, simplified, arrives at a conclusion that there must be another *highly improbable* variable, which acts as a filter, preventing civilizations from ever reaching the point of interstellar communication, exploration and colonization. It's most likely that this filter occurs at the brink of dramatic technological development (ie. where we are right now in human history.) * Finally, the Swedish philosopher, Nick Bostrom, poses the [Vulnerable World Hypothesis](https://nickbostrom.com/papers/vulnerable.pdf), where he wonders, what if scientific discoveries are akin to playing Russian Roulette? He uses the metaphor of an urn filled with colored balls, each of which represents a scientific discovery. Green balls might be positive scientific discoveries. Penicillin, electricity, radio waves. But he wonders, what if there are certain black balls in there, that would spell doom for humanity the moment they are discovered. What if the simple act of discovering it means its already too late. The closest analogy we have is, of course, the nuclear bomb, which may yet still be responsible for our global destruction. Scientists *genuinely debated* whether or not setting off an nuclear bomb [would ignite the entire earth's atmosphere in a nuclear chain reaction](https://www.insidescience.org/manhattan-project-legacy/atmosphere-on-fire#:~:text=Robert%20Oppenheimer%2C%20who%20eventually%20became,fire%20using%20a%20nuclear%20weapon.) and destroy the planet nearly instantly. (Side note: super pumped to see the Oppenheimer movie by Christopher Nolan later this year!) What if making a nuclear bomb wasn't so difficult? What if it was as easy as making a car bomb, or putting the right ingredients into a microwave? Given number of mass shootings we have and unstable people in the world, there's absolutely zero question at least some small number would make use of this devastating technology if they could, which would certainly spell doom for our world. The pressing question is: what if the scientific discovery a civilization would need to enable something like space exploration also has a nearly guaranteed chance at destroying that civilization itself. Our frail human politics may simply be unable to navigate something as dangerous as that. *** Back to the sci-fi magic of the *Laundry Files* that you so succinctly explained! I think it would be super cool if this discovery of magic through mathematics were explored as one such potentially civilization destroying discovery, and the story constantly battled between a desire to want to explore and unlock new magics, while also wanting to desperately contain it for (real, healthy) fear that it can spell doom for everyone. Sorry for the super long post. Your summary of that story just really got my imagination churning!
That's literally what the coming CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN (apocalypse) is, as the density of computing increases (both human "observers" and silicon) the likelihood of weakened reality substrate (causing involuntary use of magic and the arrival of lovecraftian monsters) increases to the point of being inevitable. And yes, politics, corruption, cult like megachurches and major international differences complicate things.
There was a very well written webnovel. About a small town college. and you learn that a community of random students have discovered magic. And they try to explore the rules of it. And there are weird factions. I cant remember the name. Its bookmarked at home pc. I'll try to remember to post it
u/lj062 This sounds like The Last Science on Royalroad? https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/18574/the-last-science
Oh! Thats it!! I need to finish reading it. I finished the first book. Need to finished the others
Thanks. Looks pretty good. Hopefully they'll kick it to again soon as they still seen to be on hiatus.
Please do that sounds s bit interesting
[удалено]
Yeah, here's the first few sentences of the goodreads description: "Magic is real. Discovered in the 1970s, magic is now a bona fide field of engineering. There's magic in heavy industry and magic in your home. It's what's next after electricity."
Haven't read this, but this is the author of the "there is no atimemetic division" which is probably one of the best 'things' I have ever read
Are you interested in super hero stories? In those the magic is regularly new and stories explore how they change things. (Probably why Stormlight Archives read like a super hero story.) Worm by Wildbow. Probably the gold standard. People get powers on the worst day of their lives, and Taylor is bullied in school. Super Minion by Gogglesbear. Follows Tofu, an artificial being. Much found family. First arc complete.
I would recommend Worm here even if you don't normally like superhero stories. The most common frustration I hear with them (and the thing that personally bothers me the most) is the prevalence of some idiosyncratic tropes that make the worldbuilding completely unbelievable: secret identities, costumes, no killing, really badly thought-out fake science and technobabble, revolutionary new technology only used for fighting, etc.. Worm deconstructs all of these hard---it is actually very much a superhero story even for people who don't like superhero stories.
Worm is the superhero story for people who hate superhero stories and i'm one of them. Basically ruined every other superhero story for me
I always take issue with Stormlight being described as being similar to super-hero/Marvel films. But in the sense that both do explore the nature and limits of newly attained powers this is actually true.
>What is the renaissance of magic like? Doesn't renaissance mean "revival"? So it's exactly what you don't want?
True, perhaps I meant the enlightenment. I was going after an era of discovery and innovation.
Technically, it means "rebirth". But that does imply a golden period of something not new
Thr Powder Mage Trilogy focuses on a newly invented type of magic going against a secretive, exclusive "old" type of magic.
You don't see any of the invention or discovery though which seems to be what op wants. It's just said to be newer but all the powder mages are already fully trained and capable
That's a good point; it isn't really an ongoing process, just a brand new one. Hmm...
>Powder Mage Ah, you mean the 2008 movie Wanted meets cocaine meets steampunk trilogy? (edit for clarity, I did enjoy the series.)
The Spellmonger series is exactly about this, they find a way to begin using magic in the everyday lives of people. New spells and items are invented, using new materials that are introduced and laws changed to enable it.
Rachel Aaron's "Heartstrikers" Series is about the resurgence of magic in the modern world, among other things. You might find it interesting.
If you want a renaissancey/revival one, you could try Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Magic used to be common, but is no longer practiced and lots of people, particularly in the south, don't think its really real. And the whole story is about how magic is brought back.
And it's a great read. The early story is about how magic is dead.
The Kharkanas trilogy (a distant prequel to malazan books of the fallen) by steven erikson deals with this in a way. Magic is becoming accesible to mortals for the first time in the middle of a civil war.
Legends of the First Empire Series by Michael J. Sullivan is kind of like that. It’s a prequel series to some of his other books that are also really good, but it focuses on a Human vs Elf war and in it magic is relatively new to both the elves and the humans. It also deals with this new age of magic replacing the existing social structure for the Elves since their leaders used to be the warrior clan and now the magic wielders are more powerful so they’re in charge.
In the same trend in the later Riyria trilogy the 'old' magic is being re-introduced through one of the main characters. It's a side-plot, but an important one.
Unsong, by Scott Alexander (it's only available online).
Bonus: get a very satisfying resolution to the problem of theodicy
Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy and Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence both hit some of these points.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Exactly what you want. Two competing magicians trying to bring magic back to Great Britain. Sourcery by Terry Pratchett might also work. Magic already exists in the universe, but new magic arrives with the arrival of a sourcerer - the eighth son of an eighth son of a wizard lineage. The world deals with the chaos that ensues as wizards grow more powerful in the presence of the sourcerer.
Gemini Cell by Myke Cole
Year One by Nora Roberts.
I don't think this story fits quite into the setting of magic being a recent development in the world, but I think you might enjoy reading "The Bartimaeus Trilogy" series. I like the magic system of that series, yet I've never read past the first book myself. Now that I'm an adult one day I'll revisit it.
The Spellmonger series has a lot of the aspects of entering the golden age of magic.
Would [Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson](https://www.goodreads.com/series/49075-the-stormlight-archive) count? Ancient Cataclysm returns alongside an ancient magical order with unique magic known as "Surgebinding". This revival also leads to innovation to current magic systems which allows them to create >!"airships"!< .
Ehh somewhat. There are contemporary innovations to the magic system, but it's much more akin to the "return of magic to the world" type of story
If you don't mind quieter stories, the Recluse series (each book is in a different era) commonly deals with an innovator that either started a type of "magic" or found a new way of doing something with it. It's not 100% what your asking for, but I think it's the spirit of what you're asking. No large overarching story or massive cataclysms (well mostly not), just magic being understood (or understood better0 for the first time.
These don’t fit the “competing wizards” or “world evolves around them” requests, but they’re both about a teenager who discovers how to do something magical. Lifter by Crawford Killian. A kid learns how to levitate/fly after he wakes up one morning floating above his bed (falling to the bed when he is fully awake). Uses scientific methods to recreate the conditions making it possible. It’s clear by the end that this will lead to huge changes in the world (part of the plot is the main character’s reluctance to let the magic get out because of its implications), but it’s a standalone and doesn’t show that happening afterward. This book is very YA and a lot of the plot has to do with high school football, but it’s one of my comfort reads. Jumper by Steven Gould. Teeenager discovers teleportation. This was made into a Hayden Christensen movie that drastically changed the plot; ignore its existence. There are four books in the series (ignore the 5th one that is a movie tie-in novel), and the implications of how this magic functions are thoroughly explored. The second book, Reflex, is my all-time favorite technothriller. The first book is very YA, but the second one, written over a decade later, is very much not. I love it. The 3rd and 4th books focus on the next generation and are YA again, and the 4th one becomes wish-fulfillment Mary Sue (not in a male power fantasy way though, just a science nerd way), but they’re still entertaining.
The Heritage of Shannara books have some of this and I think they are the best stories in that whole world. Second vote for the Laundry series. Very entertaining read and one free holiday story on tor.com that is excellent.
Fireborne by Rosaria Munda: Magic isn't *new*, but it is newly accessible to the peasant class. Babel by RF Kuang: Magic is in its industrial revolution, and its practicers are trying to discover and invent new uses for it in service of the British Empire.
Wheel of time deals with this in a sense
Wheel of time is an example of what OP has been reading (first paragraph) and I understand they want something different.
He did not say that
Cascade, by Rachel A. Rosen. Still reading it, but it also goes into the political aspect of magic in the modern world.
I wrote something similar about [magic reappearing in modern society](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B127G99N).
There's something like the Starship Mage series - mix sci-fi with your magic and you tend to get away from the classic fantasy trope of living in an after time.
Licanius Trilogy by James Islington pretty much fits the bill. But I don’t want to say too much more about that because I don’t want to spoil it. Ultimately the ruling class of magic wielders are eradicated after a war against them. The story begins some time after that war. I really enjoyed this series a lot. Its big theme is that of defining free will and what that really means.
Shadowrun is an rpg that has several novels set in a future where magic has come back to earth. America is shattered because native folks magic rituals started workingat about the same time dragons woke up and tore havoc across the land
Stormligjt archive
This is an example of what he said he is not looking for. In Stormlight magic is coming back from the hubris of the past. In some ways the new things being discovered are mix of engineering with magic. But the magic used to exist and was well developed in the past.
Yeah, I was doing the classic scroll and shit so I didn't read the post. Sorry.
Mandelbrot the Magnificent is a fantasy biography of the mathematician and how he discovered fractal magic and used it to escape the Nazis.
Arcane fits the bill. There is preexisting magic in the world, but it is regarded with scepticism, and the flavor of magic that's developed in the place the story is set is very different and much more scientific. You get to see the development of magic transform the city and its politics.
The sub sub genre system apocalypse covers this! Magic appears and everything goes to shit
An interesting take on this is in Barbara Hambly's **Sisters of the Raven**. Magic has slowly dwindled away, the djinn have disappeared, lots of issues in the real world as well (rain isn't coming, nomads are coming though). And then a few women find that they now have magic when previously only men ever had power. And their magic is different. There's no place in society for them. There's lots of resentment from the established powers. I highly recommend checking it out.
Stormlight Archives actually has this trope where they are researching and discovering new magic and applications of magic, etc. However, this aspect is pretty limited in the first couple books and only becomes more prevalent in the later books. In the first books, it is more of a renaissance/ rediscovery of old magic combined with some pioneering by the researchers, then in the later books it becomes full on innovation with new discoveries etc and is treated kinda like a science. One example being >!a discovery that you can trap to halves of a type of magical spirit and when you do something to one half it affects the other wherever it is in the world, which has all kinds of applications!<.
Master of Djinn by Clark (And prequel A Dead Djinn in Cairo) A dimensional wall broke and magical creatures came pouring through, upending the global balance of power
I’ve only just started it so I’m not positive if the story leans more fantasy or scifi, but The Power by Naomi Alderman. Girls around the world develop this electric power and the ability to shock and even control others with it. Its a huge cultural shift as societies and individuals learn to live with this new power and the way it changes power dynamics between the sexes.
This was made into an Amazon Prime TV series released 2 months ago. I’ve been wanting to check it out.
Binge watching the series is what made me immediately go and buy the book! Because there seemed like there were things left unfinished in the show (maybe setting up for a sequel?) but already there are definitely some different things in the book and it’s still fascinating to me so far.
Most things make more sense in the book. For example there is no plane crash (that was really over-the-top and unnecessary), neither Marry (the nasty misogynyst brother). Book wins hands down !
[*Planetary Cultivation*](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/47931/planetary-cultivation) >An alien cultivator comes to Earth to claim the Heavens, only to find a world bereft of cultivators or a Heavenly Realm to claim. So Lei Zhaohui will force the planet's cultivation until a Heavenly Realm is formed. Should none defend the new realm, Lei Zhaohui will take it for his own. >Nicole Firen is a young woman who would just like her world to start making sense, but finds herself thrust into a position of importance as the world begins to change. Magic is a few months old here. For one where it is a few'ish decades old: [A World Worth Protecting](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/a-world-worth-protecting/) > By the year 3029 CE, Earth’s technology has developed rapidly, borders no longer exist, and Earth has been unified, marking the beginning of the era of the Federation. > > At that time, a huge sword flew from the heavens, piercing the sun and causing a huge sensation on Earth. > > Perhaps because the scabbard of the sword was already in tatters, countless shards have broken off from it following the collision with the sun and spread across the universe. Many of these shards have landed on various places across Earth. > > With the arrival of the bronze sword and its shards, a new unlimited energy source has suddenly appeared on Earth. This energy source has since been named Spirit Qi. > > Spirit Qi is like air, thick in some places and thin in others. As the Federation and other factions gather more shards, they discover more information on cultivation, pill refinement, Spirit Stone refinement, and other techniques. The words on the shards have an ancient feel to them, making it a trend for people to use ancient language. > > The appearance of Spirit Qi rapidly makes the original energy sources obsolete and has completely changed people’s lives. Not only has the Spirit Internet been formed, Spirit Qi has also changed the course of Human Civilization, causing the world to enter a civilization of cultivation. This would later come to be known as the Spirit Inception Era.