In The Paladin the reader was introduced to Elinor Whiteblade a rebellious young woman more interested in escaping to the arms of her piratical lover than pursuing an arranged and dutiful marriage. Her rebellion sees her banished from home and set out on an epic journey that culminates in her becoming the saviour of a race of mutants - half- human, half-animal - and the wielder of the magical sword Whiteblade. In The Songster Elinor faces the trials of life as an exile, as a legend she would rather not personify and worse still as the sworn enemy of one of the most powerful and violent sorcerers the land has yet seen.