Music soothes the soul and draws us to dance. The beat works its magic; toes start tapping and heads bop along. With such an elemental effect, it’s no surprise that music has inspired many fantasy authors.
Here are ten books which capture the magic of music on the page. Be warned: lyrical prose and rhythms that leak off the page may have you humming along or seeking out songs online.
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
Series: Kingkiller Chronicles #1
Why: The son of traveling performers tells an epic tale of magic and adventure in the voice of a talented poet and natural musician. You’ll be spellbound.
Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
Series: Discworld #16
Why: If madcap comedy sounds to your tastes, try Soul Music. This zany tale of music with a mind of its own also works as a good entry point to the Discworld series.
Dragonsong, Anne McCaffrey
Series: Pern Series; Harper Hall #1
Why: For old school fantasy, try Dragonsong, where a young woman denied her music runs away to find her destiny, and ends up teaching wild dragons to sing.
Signal to Noise, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Series: Standalone
Why: If urban fantasy is more your style, try this little-known gem. Signal to Noise tells a tale of musical magic in Mexico City. Read with the soundtrack, filled with classic jazz, rock and roll and 80’s pop, in both English and Spanish. Read my review.
The Hum and the Shiver, Alex Bledsoe
Series: Tufa #1
Story: In the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the truth of the Tufa people hides in the music they’ve passed down for generations. Bronwyn Hyatt will have to reconnect to those roots if she is to stop the restless darkness rising in the hills. (Read with bluegrass soundtrack.)
Last Song Before Night, Ilana C. Myer
Series: Standalone
Why: Travel to a high fantasy world of bards and poets. This song-infused fantasy is told in flowing, lyrical prose that creates the feel of music on the page. This tale of poets off to restore enchantments to the land is the perfect read to bring your musical journey to a close. Read the review.
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman
Series: Seraphina #1
Why: Seraphina is a gifted musician who joins the court just as a royal is murdered. The investigation threatens to reveal the secret of her musical gift, which could endanger everything.
The Darkest Part of the Forest, Holly Black
Series: Standalone
Why: Ben has the gift of fae music and plays bard to his sister’s knight. But fae magic is hard to control, and he swears off music after a horrible accident. To save the day, he’ll have to face his fears and reclaim his magic. Read the review.
The Naming, Alison Croggon
Series: The Books of Pellinor #1
Why: Maerad is trapped in a hopeless life of slavery and war, until a bard selects her as his next student. But the two musicians have a long road ahead, filled with danger and dark forces.
City of Dark Magic, Magnus Flyte
Series: City of Dark Magic #1
Why: This bizarre, raunchy cross-genre read features Beethoven, espionage, time travel, sex and humor all rolled up into one weird story. Read the review.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This week’s topic is Music & Books.
Come Hither Books 
Lovely idea & great list! 🙂 The Name of the Wind captures music on pages very well! And I love that book! Others I haven’t read unfortunately.
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Name of the Wind is just lovely. There are very few books that I find myself reading aloud, and it’s one of the few. When he slips naturally into iambic pentameter while storytelling and you don’t even notice at first, it gives me chills.
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Ooh, what a fabulous take on this week’s topic – I love it!!! Excellent choices all around, too!
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Thank you! There are surprisingly a ton of great books to choose from. 🙂
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City of Dark Magic is one that I’ve been meaning to check out!
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian
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It’s a crazy read. I hope you enjoy it!
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City of Dark Magic is such an interesting experience. It was so fun to read!
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It’s so different! I get why it’s not for everyone, but it really was a lot of fun.
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I completely agree!
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Your answer lifts the innetligelce of the debate.
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Someone I don’t know recently did “Heaven,” by Brian Adams. The tempo was different, but I kinda liked it! Then again, maybe it’s just the song. I loved that song in junior high.And I’m totally awed at your music knowledge.
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It’s nice to be home .. came home to snow and more has fallen today – love it. The envelop is ready to go .. it’s a true pleasure. I will ready your whole story … when I done all my Christmas cards .. not many days left now.
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Ah, I wish I participated in this week’s T10T! It was so unique and would have been a great way for me share my love for music on the blog. Oh well. I love the books your chose though! I still have to read The Name of the Wind. Rothfuss is so respected by the bookish community! And I really, really want to read The Darkest Part of the Forest! It’s right up my alley and I love Holly Black. Awesome list, Kimberly!
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You should definitely read Name of the Wind, it’s amazing. Back when I was a bookseller, I hand-sold 100 copies of it, and the majority of those were by handing someone a copy and telling them to read the first page. The prologue (six paragraphs long) is enough to hook most people. (You can read it here, if you want to give it a try.)
Holly Black is awesome. I’ve been a fan since the Curse Workers Trilogy. 🙂
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The City of Dark Magic is definitely a read. Will check that out some time.
Kudos to Soul Music. A very, very funny novel.
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Terry Pratchett isn’t always my kind of humor, but the idea of music with a mind of its own is just irresistible. 🙂
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Ah yes, nicely put, evroyene.
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