Five books in which magic comes at a price

Isabelle Steiger was born in the city and grew up in the woods. She received her first notebook when she was eight, and she’s been filling them up ever since. When not writing, she enjoys playing RPGs, getting excited over obscure facts, and never knowing enough about movies to sound cool when she talks about them. She is only fluent in one language but can speak three others terribly, and is possibly the only person who hates sand as much as Anakin Skywalker. After a childhood filled with haunted mansions, lightning-induced power outages, and insects rude enough to sabotage a perfectly honorable swordfight, she was relieved to finally return to New York, where she currently lives.

Steiger's new novel is The Rightful Queen (Paths of Lantistyne, Volume 2).

At Tor.com she tagged "five books (or the first book in a series, when the whole series is applicable) in which the price of magic is particularly ingenious." One title on the list:

Physical/psychological trauma: Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone

Caleb, the protagonist of Two Serpents Rise, has the very rare ability to unravel the spells of the series’ primary magic-users. This ability comes from a long-overthrown priesthood, and it was bestowed on him by his father, Temoc, one of the last living priests. However, a recipient of this power must suffer wounds ritually carved all over their bodies. When Caleb was still a child, Temoc drugged him and performed this ritual without his consent, an act that put Caleb in the hospital and tore apart his family when his mother couldn’t forgive his father for what he had done. Caleb’s scars are literally the source of his power, and as his adult self grows ever closer to all-out conflict with Temoc, those scars are a constant reminder of his father’s hopes for his future, a dream that Caleb cannot fulfill.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: Two Serpents Rise.

My Book, The Movie: Two Serpents Rise.

--Marshal Zeringue