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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, its source, "mana," 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 rule is "Not Long Before the End," Niven's own contribution, which is set in the time before the mana was used up.
I couldn't help but be a little disappointed with this collection, given the pre-eminence of some of the authors involved. The only story which works well is "Manaspill," by Dean Ing, an almost fairytale-like opus about a young woman, her brother, and a truly despicable villain. "Strength," by Poul Anderson and Mildred Downey Broxon, shows promise, but could really have benefited from expansion into a full-length novel; there's just not enough room in the short story for the character and setting development the story needs and deserves. "Not Long Before the End" is a very simple, short, tale, as befits its role as stage-setter for the other stories. "Earthshade," Fred Saberhagen's contribution, and "...but fear itself," by Steven Barnes, are both quite weak, the former due to an extremely transparent "surprise" ending, and the latter because it simply doesn't work on very many levels at all. Perhaps "...but fear itself" would have done better in enlarged format too, but it is hard to tell. Alicia Austin's illustrations are generally excellent, and complement the stories well.
The Magic May Return makes for decent "on-the-bus" reading, and the underlying theme of the stories is an interesting one. However, as I mentioned above, it is, with the exception of "Manaspill," a disappointing collection of tales, from authors who should have done better.
Reviewed by Patrick Conway on February 7, 1997. Image from Sewdoll's Fantasy Clipart.
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