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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 26, 2026

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There's a recent YA fantasy series, Keeper of the Lost Cities, by Shannon Messenger, which has this "magical genetics" as an explicit plot and world building point in an otherwise fairly normal story. There's an institution in the magical society which generates a list of 100-200 potential matches for all young adults based on family history. Marrying someone on this list guarantees that all your children will have magic as well. One of the heroine's problems is that her parentage is unknown, so she is technically "unmatchable", which causes problems in her possible romances.

Unusually, the author is sticking to this plot point so far, rather than having the institution be running some sort of conspiracy. There's one likeable supporting couple, allied to the heroine, who were a pure love match, not matched by list. And it turns out that one of their children does not have magic, unlike his siblings, and he has to deal with that.