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I have a vague recollection of a book I devoured while in college; it was from the late 80's or early 90's. I remember that there were two 'classes' of mages, the ones who could harvest magical energy from the environment and supply that power to the other 'class' of mages.

The main character learned that he could reverse the flow and sap the other mage of his/her power. I also seem to remember that there was a lot of technological warfare and travel to the planets moon(s)?

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  • Did the mages see 'ghosts' that nobody else could see, and control them to attack, view things at a distance, and fly, and were they not humans, but rather a species of wolf-like humanoids? I'm thinking that it's a long shot that this could be Glen Cook's 'Darkwar Trilogy'.
    – LAK
    Commented Sep 11, 2017 at 13:31
  • None of that rings a bell, but has been ~20 years.
    – Bill
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 3:04

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I think it could be the 'Darksword' trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The part of the "harvesting energy form the environment and supply the other class" sounded somehow familiar. (I read the books also around 20 years ago).

The Darksword series of books, written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (cover art by Larry Elmore), which tells the story of a young man, born without magic in a world where everyone is born with it, who has been prophesied to destroy the world in which he lives.

The main character

Joram

The son of the Emperor and Empress of Merilon, and heir to the throne, Joram was born completely Dead (devoid of magical power) in a society where magic is considered life. He was taken to the Font (the religious center of Thimhallan) and left there to die. However, a distraught woman named Anja finds him there and takes him to replace her own stillborn child. She flees with Joram and raises him among the field magi in the village of Walren. ... There he plans to forge the Darksword, a blade capable of absorbing magic.

About the class that "harvest" the energy

The rare magi born to this mystery are known as catalysts or thaumaturgists. A catalyst does not possess magic in great measure himself; however, he possesses the unique ability to channel Life. As the name implies, a catalyst takes magical energy from his surroundings and, by assimilating it within his own body, is able to enhance it and transfer it to magi who can wield it.

There is also an alien race. called the Hch'nyv.

The Hch'nyv are an extremely violent alien race bent upon the destruction of all human life.

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  • This is the book. Thanks so much! I believe that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman wrote most of the books that I read in HS
    – Bill
    Commented Feb 1, 2018 at 4:55

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