#inspiration for
I think the best part about susanna clarke’s magic systems is how really and truly magical they are. unlike so many magic systems in the modern fantasy genre, hers aren’t bound by rules— they are wild and eerie and beautiful and, above all, wholly beyond human comprehension. Magic is not a science. It is a labyrinth of empty halls flooded with water, it is a raven-haired king staring out at you from the shadows, it is the language of the trees and the rocks, it is the loss of reason, it is the acceptance of insanity. and since magic cannot be tamed or understood, when stuffy old people try to turn it into a tool, they are “merely throwing paper darts about a parlour, while real magic soared and swooped and twisted on great wings in a limitless sky far, far above them.” like dang susanna clarke really getsmagic
