STEM-like Magic Systems
magic systems in fantasy that resemble and incorporate real or fictional sciences! for the fantastical scientists that want magic inscriptions that feel like coding, alchemy, and magical equations fueling spells!
created by the_rags
last updated August, 2026
Comments
Such a cool concept ☺️
the_ragsOP
the idea for this was sparked by me reading Blood Over Bright Haven and my partner (who majored in Data Analytics in college) looking over my shoulder being like “is that code?”. and i was like wait there needs to be a collection of novels with STEM-y magic systems!
Love it
I've got a sibling and a friend who both code, and learned the very very basics when I was in school, so the magic in blood over bright haven was definitely very fun
Love this!! Thank you for putting it together!!
the_ragsOP
thank you! as a scientist and a lover of fantasy, it sciency fantasy novels are my jam
Loveeee this omg!! I'm always wanting more overlap between science and fantasy/magic. I'd like to recommend The Library of the Dead by T. L. Huchu -- the magic system in this series is based on thermodynamics and there is literally an equation for doing magic explained in detail in the book. I am a physicist and I feel like it passes the sniff test for physics in fantasy, which is...rare lol.
the_ragsOP
oooo that sounds so amazing (and physicist approved!!) added, thank you for the recommendation!
Brandon Sanderson is a great one for this.
that definitely seems to be the consensus from my research! i didn’t want this to be taken over by him so i only included The Rithmatist, which seems like the most scientific of his books, but i think most at least loosely fit this concept
Iconic list!! Also the very 1st book I thought of after seeing the list name was Foundryside, I'd highly recommend! The magic system is just like coding, and there's a focus throughout the series on how the magic gets developed over time in a way that directly mirrors technological advancement. It's so good
the_ragsOP
that is such a cool concept!! added it (i think this is actually on my physical TBR so idk how i missed it lmao), thank you for the recommendation!!
