The Song of Homana takes up five years after Shapechangers ends. Homana was conquered by neighboring kingdom Solinde, and their allies, the Ihlini. But now it is time for Prince Carillon to return and reclaim his throne. Finn, his Cheysuli liege-man, has remained faithful to him throughout the years of exile.

The challenge of this book is pretty typical of this kind of story. Prince Carillon has to find a way to raise an army to reclaim his throne in a land hostile to his strongest allies, the Cheysuli. The conquerers have continued the purge against the Cheysuli, and many of the people of Homana fear and hate the Cheysuli.

Carillon isn't the nicest of heroes. When he captures the usuper king's daughter, Electra, he tells her that he will kill her father and take her in marriage. She is, of course, defiant, but when he reconquers his kingdom he makes good on his threat. He does treat her with relative kindness, being a fool in lust for her despite knowing that she has been the mistress ("light woman") for Tynstar, the most powerful of the Ihlini sorcerors, who has given her the illusion of youth. She appears much younger than her true age.

Electra is no passive queen. She fools Carillon by claiming that she was given to Tynstar in exchange for his support of her father, and professes relief that Carillon will treat her better. But she in fact maintains her connection to Tynstar, betraying Carillon.

This story is pretty good... not my favorite fantasy epic, but not bad. The characters are not all admirable people, even the heroes. However, once I got started on the series I felt the urge to keep going, which says something.