The Spellsong Cycle is a fantasy series written by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. Set in the fictional world of Erde, it is notable for its system of magic, based on music and song.
The main character of the first three books of the series is Anna Marshall, a middle-aged music instructor and small-time opera singer who is magically transported from Ames, Iowa to Erde, a fantastical world where songs have a magical power, and where she has the capability to become one of the most powerful sorceresses in the world.[1][2] The following books center around the actions of Secca, her adopted daughter twenty years later.[3]
It has been described as "feminist fantasy",[2] and compared favorably against The Saga of Recluce series of novels by Modesitt, his best known works.[4] A similar system of song-based magic appears in the Spellsinger Cycle by Alan Dean Foster.