The Magic Goes Away

Most of Larry Niven's considerable oeuvre takes the form of the Heroic Quest,but using the vocabulary of hard science fiction. In "The Magic Goes Away", he leaves the space ships and gravity generators on the shelf, and addresses the Quest directly. In doing so, he reveals a level of poetry of language and sensitivity of characterization that is rare in any genre, and unheard of in science fiction. "The Magic Goes Away" is in a class with "The Circus of Doctor Lao" and "Green Mansions": Small, easily-read fantasy novels that will stay in your mind forever.

It's a classic. Saying this needs some work is like saying that Snow White and the Seven Dwarves wasn't good enough.

Niven outdoes himself in this proof that the master of sci-fi is also the king of fantasy. Look for the spinning disk that uses up avalably mana. the inspration for nevinrals disk in the magic the gathering card game. the concept of a nonrenewably mana pool for magic energy found its birth in this classic. a must read for all fantasy fans.

This book of fantasy stories is unusual in that it postulates a specific reason (the gradual exhaustion of the world's supply of "mana", which is effectively the energy source for magic) for the decline of magic in the world. The stories are concerned with the attempts of magicians to cope with the exhaustion of this vital (to them) resource. Niven herein does what he does best - working out often-surprising implications of what might happen if techology or natural laws were different in specific ways. This book works as both fantasy and science fiction.