Magic Goes Away, The

Set in the dawn of history, where the fortunes of those who once ruled the world by magic are now in decline. The gods are absent or dead, and once powerful sorcerers are now reduced to hoarding their magic as the finite magical resources of the earth - mana - have been all but exhausted. An unlikely group of saviours have one last chance at a previously untapped source of power - but is it worth the risk?

Here Niven shows that his knack for logical and self-consistent writing works just as well in the fantasy realm as it does in science fiction. Duncan thought that it was an excellent book, far beyond the usual swords-and-sorcery clones. There is certainly a compelling quality about Larry Niven's interpretation of magic. This story was reprinted in 1984 in the Time of the Warlock collection.

Though the magic has gone away, several newer stories set in the Warlock's universe have since been written, including The Burning City and Burning Tower/?q=bibliographic-reference/time-of-the-warlock-the by Niven and Pournelle.