The Song of Homana

Chronicles of the Cheysuli #2

by Jennifer Roberson

1st edition paperback, fine (as new)

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Adult, Shapeshifters

347 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Over a 40-year career (so far), Jennifer Roberson has published four fantasy series, including the Sword-Dancer Saga, Chronicles of the Cheysuli, the Karavans universe, and urban fantasy series Blood & Bone. Other novels include historicals LADY OF THE GLEN, plus two Robin Hood novels, LADY OF THE FOREST, and LADY OF SHERWOOD.

New novels are percolating in her always-active imagination.

Hobbies include showing dogs, and creating mosaic and resin artwork and jewelry.  She lives in Arizona with a collection of cats and Cardigan Welsh Corgis.

Reviews

[Richard Houchin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Chronicles of the Cheysuli series is the first fantasy epic I read. In fact, it's one of the few series I read repeatedly, likely due to my young age and limited literary horizons.

Nevertheless, these books shaped my first views on philosophy, religion, sexuality, racism, and sexism. The responsible way Roberson handles these issues is inspiring and commendable.

On returning to read these books in later years, some of the characters and plot devices appear hackneyed and cliched, and some of themes aren't exactly as I remember them. But still, these stories provided the scaffolding on which I built my literary future.

[Nieva21 · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few engaging parts in this novel. Carillon's voice narrating the story was a switch from Alix's and took me a while to adjust to his perspective. Too many of the women, Alix, Electra, and Torrey were impregnated by Tynstar.

Some surface things change; Alix mostly accepts her heritage, Carillon grows older and becomes king, but no one ever fundamentally changes. Oh, except Finn, who by the second book finally stops trying to rape Alix. (What a terrible character! Even after she becomes wife of the clan leader Duncan (his own brother), he continues to call her the Cheysuli equivalent of "whore," all the time, to her face. And we are supposed to LIKE him.
There is a very myopic view of the world. For example, we have two main locations in these books, the Cheysuli Keep and the Homanan palace. Both are places where the main characters live and spend a lot of time but somehow we don't know anyone else who lives there. Not only do we not know their names, but they're barely even mentioned as being present. It's almost Twilight-Zone-esque - "where is everybody?" Roberson has some okay physical descriptions of people's looks, clothes, and immediate surroundings, but she doesn't seem to know how to look around and describe the world and its people besides her few main characters.

None of these characters are very likable in this book. Alix is irritating *I actually liked her in the first book, but in this book she's incredibly stubborn, kind of dumb, and super naive. Duncan is sexist, unyielding, and boring. Finn is a perpetual teenage would-be rapist, until he stops, and then he's just kind of mopey since he has no one to bang, until he leaves Carillon after his oath-blood pledge to be his leige man. Carillon is bland and dumb and extremely snobby. Rowan and Lachlan are actually okay, if still also caricatures.
Finn is replaced by Donal and the ending concludes with hope for Carillon and Homana because Donal pledges to carry on the broken promises to serve Carillon by his uncle and his father.

It seemed to drag on for too long, but still I read the whole book. I guess I just had to know how it ended. I don't plan on reading book three.

[Evanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s better than the first book, but that’s not exactly a high bar to set. I have a theory (ok my wife has a theory) that the biggest problem in movies is that white people don’t talk to each other. In this book, they’re all talking but no one is listening. The dialogue is slightly less stilted, probably because the two main characters are both men, so there’s no one to talk down to. For that alone, I’m on team Electra. Yeah she’s a sorcerous bitch, but she never claimed to be anything else. When I first read this in high school, I always thought Finn and Carillon were secret homos. The subtext reads true as an adult, too. Bonus: I’m not usually a fan of descriptions of clothing and appearance, but the women’s wardrobe is pretty dope. Lots of braids and bejeweled girdles and kilted skirts and tall boots. Action-oriented but still fly.

[Slorglord · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well-written. Barf react for Another fantasy novel featuring rape
Only writing this to warn others

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rather struggled with this one and I don't know why. It's still a good book and I definitely enjoyed it, especially in the second half, but I got stuck for a while in the middle. I was enjoying it while I read it, but not rushing to pick it up again. Once I did settle back into it - which seemed to be helped by a bit of skipping ahead and then going back to read properly - I was very pleased to do so and got it finished in the last few days.

Like the other 70s and 80s books I've been rereading, it's frustratingly male. The protagonist is male, most of the characters are male and all the female characters that are there, are there to be related to a man. There's also a huge focus on heirs and women having children (which I acknowledge is unavoidable when the thrust of the series is to work through generations to a specific descendant) and that is also all in relation to men, not the women themselves.

I remember I wasn't bowled over by this one when I first read it either; going from Alix as the protagonist (even in relation to men) to Carillon, who hadn't impressed me greatly in the first book, bothered me 30 years ago and he's still far from a favourite character now.

The first half was definitely better than the first and I am keen to keep on with the series now, where for a while there I was considering giving up.

I do remember the series as a whole as being set up that terrible things often happened to the characters in each book, but they did tend to have happy lives in the spaces between the books. I'm interested to see how that has held up between here and the start of Legacy of the Sword, and how I feel about Donal in that book. I do remember liking him more than I did Carillon.

I'm still way behind the Tor.com reread, but I shall continue to chug along at the back.

[Ameena Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I was so thoroughly disappointed with the books I read last year, I'm doing a reread of old favourites. This one is even better than I remembered.

Such soul in this book, I have no words. Carillon grows so much as a character. Can't wait to start the next one.

[James]

For five long years the land of Homana had been strangling in the grasp of a ursurper king—its people ravaged by strife, poverty and despair; its magical race, the Cheysuli, forced to flee or face extermination at the hands of their evil counterparts, the sorcerous Ilhini. The time had come for Prince Carillon, Homana's rightful ruler, to return from exile with his Cheysuli liege man, free his land from the evil dominantion of the tyrant Bellam and his villainous magicians, restore the Cheysuli to their rightful position of grace, and claim his birthright. To do this, he would not only have to raise an army, but overcome the fear and prejudice of an ignorant population and answer the call of a prophecy he never chose to serve!

[greeneyes9999 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is like a long lost friend!

I’ve reread this series multiple times over the last 20 yrs. I still remember waiting outside Walden Books to open so I could get the newest published book in the Series.
I recently gave across Book on in Kindle and I jumped at the chance to visit a very long lost friend. I love this Author and all her books. She’s able to grab your attention and next thing you know, you are at the final page of the book. The ongoing story of Carillion, Lachlan, Tory, Finn, Alex, Duncan continues on to the next book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! It’s always worth a second read or more! Enjoy!

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The storytelling has improved over that in "Shapechangers". Namely the characters don't tend to be nearly as irrational. There is now some consistency in their mannerisms and behaviours. The scope of the world being created by Jennifer Roberson is continue to expand as new realms and politics are brought to light. If there is to be a negative comment with this story, it would be the speed with which conflict is resolved (e.g. Tynstar in Homana-Mujhar, freeing Alix from Valgaard -- even the finding of Alix within the entirety of Valgaard).

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-3.75? Better than the first book in the series… & I hate to say it but it’s probably because Alix wasn’t the narrator this time. I liked that we got to see more action in this book as well as more development of characters like Carillon, Duncan, and Finn. Went thru a good portion of the book with Carillon as my favorite character, but towards the end I hated the decisions he was making. Jaw dropped with the character ends we saw in the last chapters. I think overall my favorite character in this book was Lachlan. Also there are so many concerning parts in this series ngl

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

6 I think I have worked out what I don’t like about these books. I don’t think it has to do with the fact that it was written way back when or that it’s oldschool fantasy. It has to do with the dialogue which is just so clumsy. I never realised it before in her other books, and maybe it was just this particular one. But unable to recommend to the normal crew at this time.

[Jenette Skees · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is she such a good writer?
Roberson has a way a pulling your heart strings. Love all her books.

[Carlie]

wowza

I audibly gasped at so many parts. That was insane and i cant even imagine how crazy the third books gonna be

[Wendy Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carillon and Finn have returned to Homana after a five year exile to attempt to reclaim the throne taken from him by Bellam of Solinde and Tynstar of the Ihlini. To do so, Carillon and Finn must amass an army of both Homanans and Cheysuli, a difficult task, given the prejudices of both. Carillon must also save his sister and mother who are both held captive by Bellam, but he is given the opportunity when his soldiers capture Electra, Bellam's daughter and Tynstar's "light woman". Will Carillon and his army of Cheysuli and Homanans defeat Bellam and Tynstar and again claim Homana as their rightful home and will there be any repercussions from capturing Electra? Find out by reading this exciting sequel to Shapechangers.
Like the original, I really enjoyed this book. Carillon is no longer the naive prince of Homana, but a grown man worthy of reclaiming the throne and taking his place in the prophecy. Alix and Duncan now have a young son, Donal, who is also of great importance to the prophecy. This installment in the Chronicles of the Cheysuli also gives us a lot more of Tynstar, the leader of the magical Ihlini, who have a much greater role in future books. Readers of the sci fi genre, as well as readers who enjoy shifter books will enjoy this series, while romance readers will enjoy the story line involving Alix and Duncan that was so prominent in the first book.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second novel in Roberson’s Cheysuli Chronicles series is a lot stronger than the first (Shapechangers). The focus shifts from Alix to Carillon and it is through his eyes that this sequel unfolds. The pacing rushes past a few details, but overall this is an exciting novel and a much fuller one than its predecessor in the series. Tynstar’s villainy steals the show a bit and the scope of the setting widens with more descriptions of other lands in Roberson’s universe. The very memorable Electra joins the story here and more pieces of the all-important prophecy come into play.

Re-reading this series for the first time as an adult has been a lot of fun so far. Though it isn’t as exciting as when I first devoured them, it is fun to experience these events unfold all over again. Especially when armed with the knowledge that the writing improves with each book (though when I was younger the rather simple style never bothered me).

[Knitwit Tarvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 takes place from Carillon's point of view, and I really enjoyed the shift in perspective from Alix to Carillon. Finn remains one of my favorite characters, though I don't think I admired him as much when I was younger. Even though it has been over 10 years since I've read these books, some of the storylines are coming back to me as I'm reading. But it has been long enough, that I am enjoying the story once again. I wish I could get these on my nook, so I could recycle my old copies that are yellowed and beginning to fall apart. Guess that's what happens when you move every 2-3 years!

[Kate Millin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carillon returns from exile with his Cheysuli right hand man with the aim of gathering supporters to help him regain his throne. Along the way he finds it hard to decide who he should trust, other than the men who were in captivity with him and his Cheysulis supporters. They all go through some difficult up times, especially when up against the Ileni sorcerer who has enraptured the current usurper King on the throne.

[Sandy Millin · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I wasn't sure whether I could be bothered to read this, as I've read a few same-y fantasy books this year, but by about 50 pages in I wanted to know what happened, and that kept me going until the end. There were some good twists and turns in the story, and the author chose not to describe some key events, but just to focus on the lead-up to them and the consequences, which was an interesting choice. An enjoyable read.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating

Always a wonderful read. The characters are living in me. I never tire of her stories. Onto book three. You will not be disappointed.

[Victoria Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this as much as the first one, probably because I loved Alix as the main character. She was witty, loyal and determined. I also loved reading about the story from a perspective of a shapechanger. In The Song of Homana, we have to follow Prince Carillon around. Though no doubt determined and brave, I've read about enough exiled princes retaking their thrones. The whole adventure would have meant more coming from Alix. Still a good story promising more to follow.

[Sunsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dank des langen Wochenendes habe ich nicht lange für die 461 Seiten gebraucht. Das Buch konnte mich erneut fesseln und gefiel mir noch etwas besser als Buch 1 der Reihe.

Mehr könnt ihr in meinem Blog lesen: http://sunsys-blog.blogspot.de/2015/0... . Ich gebe 08/10 Punkte

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I often think that the first book in this series was the best, but that's probably because I like Alix more than all her various male relatives. But this is still one of my favorite series from teenagerhood, so I'm enjoying rereading it.

[Leslie Wiederspan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great follow to a great first story! This one is from the viewpoint of Prince Carillion. Very fascinating story! Im looking forward to reading the third book to see who tells the story and what happens to the characters. Very sad ending though.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ratings - abandoned series:
#1 The Song of Homana: ★★★☆☆
#2 Shapechangers (this book): ★★★☆☆

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd in series

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review of the first book, Shapechangers.

[Iska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Couldn't wait to pick up the next one!

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

this one's from carillion's perspective. well-paced, lots of twists. his character development is a bit shallow, for all that he's the narrator. still lots to like about this series.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, a series I was completely hesitant to take on...specially after having loved the Dragonlance charcters so much...I never thought I would care again...but there you go. Great series.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this series when I was in high school and tried to re read it now. It wasn't nearly as engaging as I'd remembered, but the story was still fun. Don't think I'll pick up 3-8 quite yet.