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1->''Sometimes magic is '''hard'''...''
2-->-- ''Absenscantia''
3
4A world of [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fae]], a young fairy having trouble with magic, a [[TheHermit grumpy uncle]], cool friend, [[CatsAreMagic winged cat]], [[FictionalSport magic duels]], [[TheBully bullies]]...
5
6''Tough Magic'' is a trilogy of books (''Absenscantia'', ''Trenus'', and ''Magithral''), by [[Creator/EGCastle E. G. Castle]], about a young fairy struggling with his magic, and how -surprise, surprise- he overcomes his issues, with a good bit of magical beat-down being handed out on the way.
7----
8!! Tough Magic contains examples of:
9
10[[foldercontrol]]
11
12[[folder:Tropes present in all of the books]]
13* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Thran has one, although she doesn't actually appear in the books; only being mentioned.
14* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In one of the outtakes, Yil gives a whole emo spiel about how terrible his life is... then finishes with mentioning he hurt his pinky. In a different one, Yil, Thran, Uncle Rick and Holois all list a bunch of issues, all ending with some nonsense one.
15* AuthorAvatar: In the outtakes section in the back of the book the [[AuthorAvatar Author]] appears, directing the scenes. Which usually end up going completely wrong, to his deep dismay.
16* BackgroundMagicField: The rurant is a field of energy that a caster draws on to perform a spell.
17* BeamOWar: Spells clash with each other all the time in incuels.
18* TheBully: A good few characters are bullies actually: Rungar, Jhosen, Vorne, Nist, Brath...
19* CatsAreMagic: Holois, a large, winged and intelligent purple ca- ''Ahem''. ‘Alafin’.
20* DisabilitySuperpower: Yil, despite [[spoiler:being an absenscantia]], becomes good at magic. It’s actually an inversion; [[spoiler:he isn’t better at magic ''because'' he’s a absenscantia, he becomes good at magic ''despite'' being an absenscantia.]]
21* FictionalSport: Incuel is a sport that's the result of taking magical dueling and mixing it with martial arts. Not as dangerous as it sounds, thanks to invarmas.
22* {{Flashback}}: There are two flashbacks in the beginning of ''Trenus'', which help set up events later on in the book. There’s also one in ''Absenscantia'', where the narration goes into flashback mode in response to Yil’s writing a letter; however, he specifically does ''not'' mention what happens in the flashback.
23* GangOfBullies: Two bully gangs briefly appear, one with Vorne, the other with Nist and Brath.
24* GeometricMagic: Spell-diars, spells which use a physical diagram to help control and power the spell.
25* HealingMagicIsTheHardest: Healing magic is mentioned to be very difficult a few times.
26* TheHermit / HermitGuru: Uncle Rick lives like a hermit, having a dislike for being social, living alone several miles away from the nearest town, and only leaving to go to his job.
27* HilariousOuttakes: Each book has a whole outtake section in the back. Yes, in a ''book''.
28* {{Homage}}: Uncle Rick’s car travels through time in an outtake, referencing ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''. [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes In another one]], Bugs Bunny pops up, being hunted by an off-screen Elmer Fudd. [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]] appears in yet a third outtake, and spouts off a few of his trademark lines before fighting Yil.
29* InstantRunes: Casting a trenus causes the spell-diar (diagram of a spell), to appear in the air.
30* KidsAreCruel: Yil has no friends because he’s not good with magic, [[spoiler:being an absenscantia,]] and a good few bullies target him.
31* KungFuWizard: Any incuelist is basically a spell-slinging martial artist.
32* MagicMirror: Temirs are mirrors that act as videophones, working off some form of {{magitek}}.
33* MagicMisfire: Yiltry is prone to having his spells misfire, due to [[spoiler:being an absenscantia]].
34* MagicalGesture: Gestures are often used to help direct spells; particularly notable in the incuels.
35* MagicalIncantation: Spells are often cast using spell-chants.
36* {{Magitek}}: Emis is filled with magical technology; most of it resembling regular technology.
37* {{Mana}}: Sorvs are how much magic being drawn/used is measured.
38* MyNameIsInigoMontoya: Before every incuel, the fighters announce their names while bowing.
39* OurFairiesAreDifferent / OurElvesAreDifferent: Emis is populated by various fairies, although aside from skin, hair, and eye colors (which vary greatly), they seem mostly human; pushing them into elf territory. They are all able to do magic, although with occasional... ''provisos...''
40* PieInTheFace: A pie is tossed into Thran’s and the [[AuthorAvatar Author’s]] faces in an outtake. Also happens to Yil in an outtake in ''Magithral''.
41* PowerCrystal: Mesc and macrys are crystals that function as magic batteries; which powers the {{Magitek}}.
42* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: It’s not uncommon in incuels for the fighters to be knocked off their feet and a good bit backwards with a kick or punch, although it’s more common with spells.
43* RapidFireInterrupting: At one point Thran refuses (not deliberately) to allow Yil to get out a complete sentence. To be fair; he was ''really'' worked up at the time. Also, at the very end of ''Magithral'', a crowd of kids talk over each other, creating the same effect.
44* RunningGag: Holois’s hitting peoples’ noses with her tail. Mostly Uncle Rick, but it happens a time or two to Yil as well.
45* ShoutOut:
46** A title of one of the outtakes is ‘[[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo Finding Emo]]’.
47** Yil tries to cast some Literature/HarryPotter spells in a different outtake (no, it doesn’t work).
48** A house falls on Yil in a third outtake (Yup, ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'').
49** In an outtake match with Thran, Yil uses a [[KamehameHadoken kamehameha]] and goes [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]] (''Anime/DragonBallZ'').
50* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Anyone who spends enough time around Holois can usually understand her, although she usually only speaks in various ‘mrows’. Yil’s the best at it, though.
51* SuicidePact: In two separate outtakes, Yil, Thran, Uncle Rick and Holois kill each other after each gives a speech about how hard their life is, always ending in something ridiculous.
52* TournamentArc: ''Trenus'' contains a tournament for a few chapters, and ''Magithral'' is actually made up of two tournament arcs back-to-back.
53* TranslationConvention: Played with: Holois only speaks in mrows; with either the narration proving a translation, another character responding to what she said; implying what it was, or a character outright translating for the benefit of others.
54* WizardDuel: Incuel is a sport where wizards duel each other with magic and martial arts. No, ''not'' to the death.
55* WorldOfTechnicolorHair: Pretty much everyone has an unusual hair color (Skin and eyes too). Justified, since it’s a world of fae, not humans.
56[[/folder]]
57
58[[folder:Absenscantia]]
59* CatharticScream: At one point early on, Yil goes off by himself to a quiet spot in the woods to think things over. It doesn’t go too well, until he screams to vent his frustration; after which he finds he can evaluate what he needs to do.
60* FMinusMinus: A bully tries to insult Yil by suggesting he had gotten double ‘F’s on his exams.
61* FullNameUltimatum: Fe calls Yil by his full name (Yiltry Adler Wilven, since you ask.), when getting annoyed after Yil refuses to discuss with her why he thinks he passed his exams.
62* HippieTeacher: Yil’s teacher, Mrs. Hiolet, is widely viewed as being overly-bright and friendly, with strict views against corporal punishment.
63* SymbolSwearing: Appears in an outtake; apparently because the [[AuthorAvatar Author]] forbade swearing at all in the book itself.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Trenus]]
67* FloweryElizabethanEnglish / YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: An outtake has the setup for the dupair being redone in a parody of old English/[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespearean]] English..
68* InevitableWaterfall: A short outtake lampshades the whole ‘falling into a river and going/almost going over a waterfall’ business. The [[AuthorAvatar Author]] even [[{{Lampshade}} lampshades]] it, “And who put a ''waterfall'' there?!”
69* MirrorMatch: Yil has a match with his {{Doppelganger}}, a {{Magitek}} golem designed to duplicate his skills.
70* RobotMe: The doppelganger Uncle Rick makes for Yil is specifically designed to match his capabilities; it being a golem programmed to fight just like him.
71* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Gast insists on being referred to as teacher or similar when he’s teaching. As he explains;
72-->''"To learn, or take orders from someone, you need to respect them, and using a title is a way of ensuring that."''
73* TimeSkip: ''Trenus'' skips about a month's worth of time from ''Absenscantia'', using a few flashbacks to note anything of interest that had happened in the meantime. Weirdly, those flashbacks ''happen at the very beginning of the book''.
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Magithral]]
77* AngryFistShake: Uncle Rick does this at Holois after she hits his nose with her tail one last time.
78* BananaPeel: Yil fights a clown (Yes, really.) in an outtake, with the clown tossing a bunch of banana peels around. Ironically, when Yil goes through the peel field the first time he gets through perfectly fine. When the ''clown'' goes through it, however... And Yil doesn’t do too well the second time either.
79* SoundEffectBleep: A bleep covers up a curse word in one of the outtakes. Actually makes some sense in context (despite it being a ''book''), considering that the outtakes are mostly presented as blooper reels.
80[[/folder]]
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