I have liked Shariann Lewitt ever since I met her at a signing years and years ago - she was just an AWESOME person.
Songs of Chaos is a fun, easy read - though not without its darkness. It's notable for it's colorful unusual influence - Brazilian Carnevale.
Dante McCall is a misfit on a future Earth where everyone is genetically engineered to be 'normal.' But when everyone - except him - from his halfway house dies in a suspicious fire, events lead him to escape off-planet with a plan to join the interplanetary Traders. But an encounter with the pirate/scavenger Malendros change that plan. His life saved by the girl Fatima - a misfit among her own people - he's adopted into this space tribe: the descendants of Brazilian samba students (?) who are seemingly obsessed with nothing but their preparations for their festive parties and Parades, and, oddly, the colorful parrots that have free rein on their spaceship. But there may be more going on here than meets the eye...

The book is short, and not that 'deep' - there were several elements that could have been more thought out, delved into, or just expounded on further... but overall, this was a very entertaining book. ( )