The Magic May Return

Not Long Before the End as a story begins thusly : "A swordsman battled a sorcerer, once upon a time. In that age such battles were frequent. A natural antipathy exists between swordsmen and sorcerers, as between cats and small birds, or between rats and men. Usually the swordsman lost, and humanity's average intelligence rose some trifling fraction. Sometimes the swordsman won, and again the species was improved; for a sorcerer who cannot kill one miserable swordsman is a poor excuse for a sorcerer." The tone follows, as a barbarian swordsman encounters the sorceror and his female assistant. Said swordsman has a bad magic sword. Magic, in Niven's Warlock series, is a non-renewable resource, and when the mana is gone, it is gone. This sorcerer sets a disc to spinning magically, to tell him when the mana is all gone. Also useful as a weapon against sword arms, when the arm is carrying a magic sword that protects against all magic.

3.5 stars A collection of mostly above average stories that despite the title are really not about the possibility of the magic returning, but of the hard life during and after the end of magic and how societies are going to survive with no, or greatly diminished and different magic. The weakest story by far is the tale of humans being used as pawns in a game of the old gods in order to bring the magic back in an unlikely scenario of a satellite blocking sun mana from reaching the earth. The story doesn't work on any level and the heavy handed overtones of monotheism at the end don't help it one bit. Better are the other stories, a tale of a wizard using a magic dead spot to defeat a demon, a charlatan wizard with no power being outed when encountering some mana rich stones, Barnes tale of an African tribe preserving magic in its young and finally the tale of the "first shaman". These were all good stories, average to above. Still though, they all indicate that the magic is gone, despite the title and will only live on in a sorely diminished form if that. Also the artwork must be commented on, though serviceable it doesn't really add anything to the stories. It isn't to the level of the Vallejo work in "The Magic Goes Away"

The Magic May Return is a collection of short fantasy stories based on a common theme. Each tale involves the concept that magic, once prevalent on Earth, has now become at best an extreme rarity, having been exhausted through use. However, each story also raises, in its own way, the possibility that the loss of magic may not be permanent (hence the collection's title). The only exception to this is "Not Long Before the End" which is set in the time before the magic was used up.This is a delightful collection of stories which is sure to entertain.

ONCE THERE WAS MAGIC IN THE WORLD....Unlimited magic, enough magic for every wizard's son who ever wished to cast a spell. But the "mana;' the power that makes the magic and fuels the spells, is drying up, a natural resource wasted by centuries of careless and short-sighted magicians. In The Magic Goes Away master fantasist Larry Niven chronicled the end of an age, and the beginning of a new world where steel and muscle rule. In this eagerly awaited sequel, Larry Niven has invited Poul Anderson, Steve Barnes, Mildred Downey Broxon, Dean Ing and Fred Saberhagen into his world to tap the hidden reserves of mana and uncover the forgotten places of power. All is not lost. The magic may return. Illustrated by Hugo winner Alicia Austin.