Image via Orbit By Diego Pineda Pacheco Published Jul 25, 2026, 12:08 AM EDT Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel. A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin . He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated. Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Fantasy is such an expansive, storied, and prolific genre that there exists a myriad of subgenres under its umbrella, but it can all be broadly categorized into two boxes. Low fantasy is set in the real world, or a highly realistic historical setting, and magic in it tends to intrude upon an otherwise quite normal world. High fantasy, on the other hand, is all about vast fictional worlds where magic is a regular part of everyday living. Both low and high fantasies can have exceptionally written magic systems (the set of rules that dictates how magic works in a story), but it's more common to find these sorts of legendary systems in high fantasy.
For proof, one needn't look any further than classics like A Wizard of Earthsea and modern gems like Shadow and Bone , groundbreaking books that display some of the most fascinating worldbuilding the fantasy genre has ever seen on the printed page. Many elements define whether a book's worldbuilding is widely considered great, including a good magic system . As long as it makes sense, is well-integrated into the fictional world's culture, and serves the tone and characters of the story well, a high fantasy book's magic system can be counted among the best.
Cover of Shadow and Bone Image via Henry Holt and Company Young adult fantasy has given bookworms several of the most compelling magic systems in the genre's history, and Leigh Bardugo 's magic system for Shadow and Bone is right up there as one of the best. The first installment in the trilogy of the same name, this YA gem was Bardugo's debut novel, and what an introduction it was. Wonderfully plotted and elevated by some exceptional worldbuilding, it may not be particularly juicy or substantial fantasy, but it's more than entertaining enough for those who tend to enjoy the genre's YA variety.
For all its minor flaws, however, Shadow and Bone is one of the modern fantasy books with the best magic systems . Known as the Small Science, this magic is practiced by users called Grisha, who are able to manipulate matter on a molecular level . It's a hard and logical system whose tangible limitations make it drive the plot and character development forward in all sorts of meaningful ways.
The front cover of the book 'Blood of Elves' by Andrzej Sapkowski. Image via superNOWA/Andrzej Sapkowski Polish fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski was the mind behind the Witcher series of books. They were well-known in Poland from the start, but…