When Lanik Mueller, the heir to the throne of a major monarchy on the prison planet Treason, is diagnosed with an incurable genetic disease that causes him to mutate uncontrollably, he is cast into exile. During his journey across the world, though, Lanik learns new, strange abilities that help him discover the secret history of Treason and unearth a nefarious plot being orchestrated by a clandestine group who plans to take over the world.

If there's one thing Orson Scott Card is good at, it's efficient storytelling without significant drops of quality in the story. Treason is a relatively short book, with only 15 chapters and about 290 pages. That's damn near a novella for seasoned readers used to chonky 1,000 page tomes. Nevertheless, Card manages to cram an epic, globe spanning yarn into those 290 pages, without losing a drop of story to unnecessary subplots or any other tangents. The characters, while fairly archetypical, are developed enough that you get a sense of their identity and motivations, although an unfortunate by-product of Card's efficient writing style is that the villains aren't given the spotlight whatsoever. We never know their motives or who they really are beyond their family name, just that they have a powerful ability and they are willing to use it to murder anyone who gets in their way, so the protagonist must stop them.

Speaking of which, Lanik's story starts off really interesting - a young prince, with regenerative abilities, begins to grow a pair of breasts, which is indicative of a disease known as "radical regeneration", where random limbs and body parts continually grow from a person until they begin to look like a biological abomination. The fact that breasts are the harbinger of such a hideous condition is... a choice. I was kind of hoping the story would become one of gender transition, similar to The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin, but no, not only is Lanik eventually restored to being a male, he basically becomes the "Kwisatz Haderach" (Dune's version of Nietzsche's "Ubermench") of this world, making his character a little less interesting along the way. When a character can basically do anything, experiencing less and less adversity, they also cease to grow, making their arch... well, pretty well finished.

All that aside, I still enjoyed this book as a nice, quick sci-fi read.

WOW.

I was so impressed by the imagination of this world, this premise, this history. Yes, there are some problems with plot, but I could not put this book down. I ignored my other responsibilities for two days to find the hours to read. :)

I don't often reread fiction, but this I know I will reread.

This book was ok. It reminded me a lot of his other non Enderverse works. Not his best but still a good read.

I have a complicated relationship with OSC. I think he's a great storyteller, but I can't help but feel like he's trolling me. His books are never categorized under YA, yet they're often written like they should be. The language used is rather simple, especially when it comes to "adult language" or cursing. But then you get titles like Speaker for the Dead which are very philosophical and much more deep.

Anyway, all that said - this reads like another one of his "YA" titles, but it's a good story. It's a bit weird and slow starting, but only a few chapters in and I was hooked, and very invested in the story and where things would go. The "magic" as it were is really interesting and well done, if not particularly unique. I like the idea of all the different "families" and their specialties.

I'd really like to see more from this world, and what other secrets it could hold, particularly in broader strokes; things like how things got how they are now, what the rest of humanity is doing out in space, stuff like that.

I was lost in the world that the author created. I was expecting an ender book and fascinated to discover the background of the novel’s inception in the forward. It was quite inspiring to now realize it was such an early effort. I am always amazed of the imagination to create alien world and then share with others. Truly an excellent experience.

Novel·la extensa que exposa el viarge iniciàtic que emprén Lanik Mueller pel planeta Traïció, on coneixerà les diverses Famílies que l'habiten, totes elles exiliades del seu planeta d'origen. La cosa més valorada és el ferro, amb el qual es podria fabricar una nau espacial per tal d'escapar-ne. Però durant el seu viatge descobrirà secrets d'altres gents que el deixaran parat. La novel·la es llegeix de pressa i no es fa mai pesada, i combina la fantasia amb la ciència-ficció i les aventures.

It's been years since I've read anything by Orson Scott Card, and this was an entertaining return to his imagination. The concept was engaging, but I found his world-building to be lacking (though that may be because of late I've been so immersed in works of the master world-builder Brandon Sanderson). The cultures that inhabit the world of the novel are monolithic and homogeneous, and therefore less credible. The protagonist's journey is nevertheless interesting. It is worth the read, but I wouldn't place it at the top of the pile.

This was a twisted, yet compelling science fiction novel. The author wrote a foreword stating that he wishes he could rewrite it in 3rd person, and add so much more to the story, but ran out of time with his publisher.

Orson Scott Card paints a gorgeous picture of the different species in this universe, and once you get past the first section that was a bit disturbing, you become invested in the lives and abilities that Lanik encounters.

This was a choice for our book club and while I ended up enjoying the last half of the book, I can't imagine adding more to it. I'd definitely read any spin-offs from it, as the other characters are vastly intriguing.

This book blew my mind in middle school.

This was recommended to me some time ago. And while I liked the story, the writing style just wasn't for me. It's one of OSC's first novels and that's apparent. The plot moves right along, so the pacing is good. It's a fascinating world, so that part is good. Lannik's character is well-fleshed out, so that's good.

So I'm not sure what didn't click for me here. Stefan Rudnicki was excellent on audio. I just didn't get as emotionally involved in this story as I usually do. There isn't really any emotion going on here anyway - it reads kind of like a travelogue. I never felt like I really got inside Lannik's head, felt what he felt, etc. I do think this is a great story by a very accomplished author. But it's apparent that it was one of his very first works.

This book was...difficult to explain. But I'll give it a go--it deserves that much.

The setting is that of a prison planet, inhabited by family-based clans that have all been exiled--paying penance a thousand years after a failed uprising. Each family has advanced dramatically in a particular area of specialty ranging from physics, to philosophy, to genetics, and offer their particular/peculiar services in exchange for an element that is critical to their eventual escape, but not conveniently native to the planet – Iron.

The story itself follows a young man named Lanik, who's family have the genetic capacity to rapidly regenerate from almost any wound...though he possesses a particularly hyper-reactive version of this ability that, triggered at the end of adolescence, results in his impending doom as a multiple useless-limb growing hermaphrodite. (And you thought YOUR puberty was rough.)

Determined to be useful to his father for what little time he has left, Lanik sets off on a covert mission to spy on one of the neighboring families, which seems poised for uninhibited conquest of much of the planet. From there...Lanik's quest becomes more of an Odyssey. And one that traverses the manipulations of time, matter, and perceptions of reality.

Not entirely what I was expecting, yet wholly original. Orson Scott Card's pacing pulls you along at a steady clip. The world-building is vast and lurid...as is the array of moral and ethical questions that are inevitably raised. The concept itself is dense. To me, it felt almost too much so to be contained by a single book. Due to the more medieval feel and semi-mystical elements, it also spent a good deal of time feeling more like a fantasy than a sci-fi. The attempted 'romantic' elements really didn't do anything for me, personally. I don't think their removal would have lessened the piece in any way.

While this book wasn't really my thing, it won't stop me from checking out a few more of his books.

I'm not going to say this book doesn't have problems, but in spite of any problems it has, it is FUN. Lots and lots of fun. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.