I Read What?!

In a way, the first eleven chapters of Song of Homana are almost idyllic. It's all about our righteous heroes (...assuming you've never read Shapechangers anyway) and their subtextual love affair while they engage in guerilla warfare against a tyrant.

But that can't last forever, can it? And here is a point where things are going to start to change.



So we rejoin our heroes as they begin making their first strikes against the Solindish invaders. It's going well: they're taking patrols by surprise, killing everyone rapidly, and vanishing. Bellam's started putting up some defense, but more people are flocking to Carillon's side. We're told that initially, Carillon had 1300 men. Now he's got four times that.

Most of Carillon's attention is commanding the army. He rarely gets to fight himself, though he keeps in practice with Finn (I'll bet), Rowan, and so on. Zared, the soldier who had been racist before, is a regular partner. He's apologized for what he said about Rowan, both to Carillon and Rowan himself. Now they're on friendly terms.

Zared has a unique role for Carillon because he's a veteran of the earlier battles and actually knew Fergus, Carillon's father. Carillon still has some issues about his father's death, because he was spared. His status as Shaine's heir made him unexpendable. I wonder why Fergus wasn't Shaine's heir.

So anyway, Zared and Carillon are training together. Carillon is shirtless, and we're told that he towers over Zared and outweighs him considerably. I think Roberson might have a bit of a size kink. Zared is a helpful duelling partner because, unlike Finn who has taught Carillon most of the tricks he uses, Zared uses a sword.

But then, something changes. Zared stops fighting, his expression filled with shock and awe and utter desire. When Carillon turns to look, he sees what caused it: a woman.

A woman. Women are not unheard of in an army camp—even I had taken my ease in camp followers—but this one was different This one was no light woman or crofter’s daughter seeking a soldier in her bed.

I forgot I held a sword. I forgot I was half-naked and sweaty, wet-haired and smelling of exertion. I forgot who I was entirely, knowing only I was a man, and a man who wanted that woman.

I felt the fist knot up deep in my belly, making me aware of what I needed. Wanted, aye, but needed as well. With the sudden recognition of such things, I knew I wanted to bed the woman before the day was done.

Carillon, you don't even know this woman.

Anyway, this woman is actually a captive, brought by Finn: (I had never seen him so pleased before, and yet his pleasure was not something others—certainly not the woman—could see. It showed only in the deep feral light in his eyes and the set of his mouth, too calm for Finn. He did not smile, but I saw the laughter in his soul. I'm glad you haven't forgotten your true love here, Carillon.)

That said, Carillon is actually displeased with Finn. He doesn't like that the female prisoner is seeing him shirtless and sweaty. He would have wanted to clean up for her. Dude, judging by the constant emphasis on your physique, I'm not sure you have anything to worry about. We get a description of the woman:

She was stiff and clumsy with rage. White-blond hair spilled free of its sheer silken covering, tumbling past slender shoulders clad in slate-gray velvet. Her gown was torn and stained; flesh showed through the rents, but her pride was undiminished. Even as she stood before me in obvious disarray, in the open for all to see, the sight of her pride struck the smile from my face.

Her eyes fixed themselves upon me. Wide-spaced eyes, gray and cool as water, long-lidded and filled with virulent scorn. An apt emotion for the man who stood before her, rank from exertion, a bared blade in his callused hand.

It's funny to me that the first thing that Carillon hones in on is the woman's pride and scorn. Carillon has a type.

Anyway, the woman is Electra, Bellam's daughter. She calls Carillon a "pretender-prince", but Carillon points out that it's actually his throne first.

Her teeth showed briefly in a faint, feral baring, much as I had seen in Finn from time to time. But there was nothing of the Cheysuli in her. She was pale, so pale, like winter snow. White on white, with those ice-gray eyes. Gods, what a woman was this!

“Electra,” I said again, still smiling. Then I gestured toward Finn. “Take her to my tent. Guard her well—we dare not lose this woman.”

“No, my lord.” I saw the appraisal in his eyes. No doubt it was obvious what I wanted. To her as well as him.

...maybe I'm wrong, Carillon, but it kind of seems like the traits that attract you to Electra could also be found in a more willing partner? Who's standing right over there?

When Carillon gets to the tent, Finn appears to be irked by something. Electra complains about having been taken from her women and left with a shapechanger. Um. Electra, you ARE a prisoner.

Carillon sends Finn away in a way that foreshadows later tragedy:

“See to your men,” I told Finn briefly. “You may leave her with me.”

He knew dismissal when he heard it. More often than not we played at lord and liege man, being better friends than most men of such rank, but this time he heard the command. I had not meant it to come out so baldly, but there was nothing for it. There was no room for Finn in this.

(Actually, Carillon, I'd much rather hear about your roleplaying sessions with Finn than see the rest of this scene.)

Finn warns Carillon to "beware [his] weapon", a euphemism that angers Electra. Carillon, rather grossly, thinks that she's probably not a virgin: "She was angry still, and defiant, but there was also the look of a woman who knows she is wanted by a man."

So they talk. Carillon asks if she knows what men call her. She does: Tynstar's light woman. Electra is amused by this. And Electra and Carillon do have a certain amount of chemistry:

Her pale eyes were still and cool in her flawless face. She appraised me from head to toe, even as I assessed her, and I felt the heat creep up from my belly to engulf my face. It was all I could do to keep my hands from her.

“You are a princess of Solinde,” I reminded her, perhaps unnecessarily. “I know it, even if you have forgotten. Or is it that Bellam does not care what men say about his daughter?”

Electra smiled. Slowly she reached out and took up the forgotten wine cup, lifting it to her mouth. She held my eyes with her own and drank three sips, then threw down the cup with a gesture of condescension. The red wine colored her lips and made me all the more aware of her, when I needed no reminding.

“What else have they said, my lord?” Her tone was husky and slow. “Have they said I am more witch than woman?”

Electra asks Carillon how old he thinks she is. He guesses twenty. But no, actually. When Lindir was betrothed to Electra's brother, Electra was ten years old. Which means she's actually forty.

Honestly, it seems like there are a lot more perks to banging an Ihlini than to banging a Cheysuli, I'm just saying.

So they exchange words about the throne and whether or not Carillon will take it. On Carillon's side things get more heated:

I saw the subtle change in her mouth; in the shape of her jaw. She had me, not I her, and she knew it. She smiled. It was a faint, slow, seductive smile, and went straight to the knot in my belly. The long-lidded eyes took their measure of me, and I wondered if she found me lacking somehow.

Then Electra dives for Carillon's sword. And this happens:

I released one of her arms and smoothed away the hair from her angry face, drawing her inexorably closer. And then, even as she caught my neck in her arms, I ground my mouth onto hers.
She was like the finest wine, subtle and heady and powerful. She went straight to my head, blurring my senses and addling my wits. I could do nothing but drown, drinking more even as I drowned, wanting only to take her with me. I could not think of letting her go. And she did not insist upon it, reaching up to catch my damp hair in two doubled fists. But her teeth sank into my bottom lip, tearing, and I cursed and jerked my face free.

“Rape?” she demanded.

“Who rapes?” I asked. “You or I? I think you have as much interest in this as I.”

I had not let her go. I did not, even as I set the back of one hand against my bleeding lip. The other hand was caught in the fabric of her gown, one arm locked around her spine. I could feel every line of her body set so hard against mine. Gods, but it would be easy to simply bear her down and take her here—

And there falls the only not-rapey man in Shapechangers. It's a tragedy.

So anyway, Carillon doesn't actually go further, thank god. He basically tells her he's going to ransom her, and she turns the tables on him:

She smiled. “I do what I can.” She touched my lip with a gentle finger. “Shall I take the pain away?”

“Witch,” I accused.

“Woman.” This time she was the aggressor as much as I, and she did as she had offered. She took the pain from my mouth and centered it much deeper, where I could not control myself.
“How much will you ask for me?” she whispered against my mouth.

I will grant Roberson that this is much better written than Shapechangers, but I'm quite disappointed in Carillon.

As it turns out though, Carillon's plan is simple: he intends to trade Electra for Tourmaline. Fair enough. But then.

“No rape,” I told her, “though I doubt—judging by what I have tasted—you would be so unwilling. But no rape.” I smiled. “I do not rape what I will have in marriage.”

“Marriage!” she shouted, and I knew I had broken through her guard at last.

“Aye,” I agreed calmly. “When I have slain your father—and Tynstar—and once again hold my throne…I will make you Queen of Homana.”

“No!” she shouted. “I will not allow it!”

“Do you think I care what you will allow?” I asked her gently. “I will take you to wife, Electra. None can gainsay me, now.”

Um, Carillon. Marital rape is still rape.

I'm still on your side for the overall story, since you want to stop a genocide, but on a personal level, I'm #TeamElectra here.

Leave the woman alone and go bang Finn, you're just as much in lust with him, and he's actually willing.

Speaking of Finn, he's NOT on board with Carillon's marriage plan:

“Bed her,” he said curtly. “Use her, but do not wed her. The Mujhar of Homana wed to Bellam’s daughter?”

“Aye,” I agreed. “That is how alliances are made.”

“Alliance!” he lashed. “You are here to take back the throne from the man who usurped it, not win his approval as a husband for his daughter. By the gods, what has put this foolishness in your head?”

This bit of dialogue read a lot differently to me before I read Shapechangers. When I first read Song of Homana on its own, I'd thought that Finn was reacting to the obvious complicated sexual charge between Carillon and Electra in the tent. (There's an exchange later on where Carillon says that marriage is the only way he'll be able to have Electra, Finn tells him to just hold out his hand and she'll come like a cat to cream.)

The power dynamics involved in the prisoner-captor dynamic pretty much mean that no matter what, the consent would be dubious at best. But I can understand why characters in this different time and space wouldn't necessarily appreciate that. For what it's worth, young me did not read this section as Finn saying "just rape her."

Of course, having read Shapechangers....

So anyway, Carillon's offended. He explains his decision as being the way to obtain peace with Solinde. But unfortunately:

It was Finn’s turn to scowl. His wine was untouched. “Do you recall, my lord, how it was the qu’mahlin was begun?”

“I recall it well enough,” I snapped impatiently. “And I do not doubt Electra will also refuse to wed with me, as Lindir refused to wed with Ellic, but she will have no choice when the throne is mine.”

Finn said something in a tone of deep disgust, but it was in the Old Tongue and I could not understand it. He reached down and tugged at one of Storr’s ears as if seeking guidance. I wondered what the wolf told him.

Again, if I go into this without thinking about Shapechangers, it reads a lot like Finn disapproves of Carillon's desire to force Electra into marriage. Shapechangers ruins everything.

Finn also makes a pretty good point: how does Carillon know that Electra isn't working with Tynstar?

Carillon says that when he's done with the war, Tynstar will be dead. Finn asks what he plans to do with Electra before that. Carillon explains his plan for the trade. Finn approves of that, but urges Carillon to seek his wife elsewhere.

Carillon wonders if he means that Carillon should marry a Cheysuli woman, and Carillon notes the Homanans would never allow it. And I'm reminded that, except for Raissa, no full blooded Cheysuli woman ever gets a speaking line in this series. It's an uncomfortable realization.

Anyway, we get another potential soft retcon here:

“Cheysuli women wed Cheysuli men,” he said flatly. “No woman would look outside her clan.”

“What of the men?” I asked. “I have not seen the warriors keeping to their clan. Not even you.” I smiled at his wary expression. “There was Alix, only half Cheysuli, and not knowing it at all.” I paused. “And now, perhaps, Electra?”

Carillon is not incorrect about Cheysuli men and Homanan women. But the way he says it has an entirely different connotation than the fucked up "we keep Homanan women as sex slaves" bullshit in Shapechangers. Carillon's line seems to be about consensual liaisons.

Anyway, Finn is very disgusted by the idea of being attracted to Electra, but Carillon doesn't believe him:

I laughed at him. And then the laughter died, and I frowned. “Why is it we are attracted by the same women? There was Alix first, and the red-haired girl in Caledon, and now—”

“A liege man knows his place.” The comment overrode me. “Do you truly think he seeks what woman his lord will make his queen?”

“Finn.” I rose as he turned away. “Finn, I know you better than that.”

“Do you?” His face was uncommonly grave. “I think not. I think not at all.”

Carillon, Carillon. Maybe you're attracted to the same women so as to open up the possibility for a threesome?

Also, Carillon, Finn is CLEARLY into you.

We close out with a new rift between the two characters:

The wall went up between us, brick by brick. Where once its name had been Alix, now it was Electra. And, though I thought what he felt for Electra was closer to dislike than anything akin to love, I could not see the way of tearing it down again. Kingdoms take precedence even over friendships.

“There are things a king must do,” I said quietly.

“Aye, my lord Mujhar.” This time he did leave, and the wolf went with him.

I am very irked that the one non-rapist male character in Shapechangers has ended up just as bad as the others.

For what it's worth, though, Carillon isn't going to make it through this book unscathed. In a lot of ways, Song of Homana is about personal tragedy. Carillon will pay for this folly, dearly.

Good. #TeamElectra