The term "nothing special" comes to mind, although that's probably not fair. Card wrote this one when he was younger, although I'm not sure that explains my ambivalence. I never connected with the protagonist, and I found the first-person narrative irritating, particularly given the volume of pseudo-philosophy/psychology. Maybe I was just numbed by the number of families/peoples/cultures/societies that never meshed into a meaningful whole (for me). Alas.

You need to be able to turn off your reality and feasibility filters for this one. Once you do that you can enjoy the imaginative and creative world the author has created. This book was fun, interesting, philosophical, and I enjoyed it. I don't think it would be for everyone. Some may consider it silly. If as a kid you had a powerful imagination you might like it. Remember back when you believed anything was possible. That is the place in my mind this story took me. Cool book!

I'll make this short. I was not impressed with this book. Characters were dull, the story didn't make sense, the pacing was too slow, and use of description was mixed. There are better Orson Scott Card books than this.

That was a really good one

This was...way too much for me. Maybe it was better back in the 70s or 80s when sexism was more palatable. DNF.

This was a really weird read. It was placed on a different planet but it's more of a fantasy story than a science fiction one. I think this story has so much material it's a shame that it's all stuffed into one book. This is the first book by Orson Scott Card I have read and I know it was one of his earlier books so that might have to do with the somewhat almost too linear storytelling. The thing that makes this book interesting is all the different "Families" of people that the character meets along the way. Besides that I probably would've stopped reading it a third of the way through.

Wow, so I'm going to pretend Card is not around benefitting from the sales of his books because I didn't know that was the case when I bought it.
It's going in my collection.
There were definitely parts I didn't like; some creepy pedophilia (but it's "ok" because it's directed at girls

I don’t agree with Orson Scott Card on some of the controversial issues he has spoken about, but I do really love some of his books.

My older brother first handed me this book when I was maybe 10 years old. I was at my grandmothers home in Southwestern Colorado. Between the outdoor activities and playing Yahtzee we liked to read. I don’t consider myself a big science fiction reader but I’ve dabbled and this is one of my favorite books. There’s something about these characters and story that I just really enjoy.

The premise of the story is that a bunch of intellectual families were banished to a seemingly metal poor planet, Treason, after trying to overthrow the government and institute their own elite rule. It’s been thousands of years since then and each family tries to gain access to iron through the ambassador by offering whatever they can. Only a few families have managed to be paid in iron, which in theory would be used to build a starship to get off the planet, but in actuality is used for war and violence.

The Mueller family come from geneticists and they have developed an amazing capacity to quickly heal from otherwise devastating injuries, giving them an advantage in the battlefield. As a side effect some members become radical regeneratives (rads) and produce numerous excess body parts which are harvested and sold through the ambassador for iron.

The story follows Lanik Mueller, the heir to the Mueller throne, as he becomes a rad and is sent on a faraway mission to learn of another family that recently has been able to sell something to get iron. He is tasked with learning what they are selling. On the way he passes through many other families territories and learns that they and the planet itself is much more than it seems.

It’s a fun ride that follows Lanik as he learns new skills, makes new friends and enemies and ultimately learns the truth about the planet and himself.

I'm giving an extra star for the last couple chapters, but most of this book is frustrating and infuriating as it touches on so many potential issues to explore (gender dysphoria, misogyny, racism, slavery [including for the harvesting of body parts]), but just skips over them as no big deal (or, worse, a joke), while focusing on what is basically magic (supposedly advanced science). So, this same world where each family (country) has developed an individual extreme advanced science (magic), is barbaric and backwards, living largely in feudal and warring societies (so, how, exactly, did this science/magic ever develop?). The main character does eventually realize murder is wrong, at least.

Me ha quedado la sensación de que pudo haber sido más, tenía más potencial.

Un planeta prisión, humanos que con traiciones variadas buscan escapar del mismo, «dioses» del espacio reluctantes pero interesados en los nativos y sus tecnologías. Y un personaje principal que quiere gustar al lector pero termina siempre haciendo lo que sus impulsos más moralistas (el autor) le exigen, haciendo que la trama siempre termine en nada, de vuelta al mismo lugar de complacencia.

I do remember this novel as one of the best page-turning delights of all the Card I've read. It tells of a planet in outer space where anti-democratic forces form Earth have been exiled. hey are heavily influenced by the biological innovations of organ regeneration and substitution, and indeed, the main character, a male, starts growing breasts as a result of some rather elaborate procedure. The relations within his own family and between the nations on the planet are both developed as a result of his exile from the nation of his family. Highly recommended as an example, like Wyrms, Songmaster and The Abyss, of Card coming up with a unique conception and executing it in a more than satisfactory manner within one book (as opposed to his propensity to write in series of novels).

Treason is definitely the most odd book I've read by Orson Scott Card.

This edition include a new author's preface where Card mentions how much he'd love to have this book made into a movie, but says the audio book edition is nearly as good. As for me, the mental imagery evoked by the audiobook is more than adequate, so I'm satisfied.