Men go mad because before the post- apocalypse (yes, it's post apocalyptic) setting their half of the source of magic was tainted by Not Satan. It's not that they're more powerful (they are explicitly stated to be more powerful in general, though), but every time they "touch" the source this taint feeds into them and drives them insane. It's not about how powerful they get, but how often they are exposed to and how resistant they are to this taint.
And then when they go mad they're a danger because they're essentially casting wild magic according to their delusions
I am very literally guessing based off of information I have halfway through book two. But this doesn't really ruin anything for me as I was going to listen to it anyways.
that ain't it
Men go mad because before the post- apocalypse (yes, it's post apocalyptic) setting their half of the source of magic was tainted by Not Satan. It's not that they're more powerful (they are explicitly stated to be more powerful in general, though), but every time they "touch" the source this taint feeds into them and drives them insane. It's not about how powerful they get, but how often they are exposed to and how resistant they are to this taint.
And then when they go mad they're a danger because they're essentially casting wild magic according to their delusions
spoiler
I am very literally guessing based off of information I have halfway through book two. But this doesn't really ruin anything for me as I was going to listen to it anyways.