Treason

Treason by Orson Scott Card is an amazing science fiction novel without an emphasis on the science fiction like his better known novel Ender's Game. The story feels more fantastical than science fiction, but still retains a plausibility in its nature that one could suspend belief just enough to think it a possible future. It follows the life of Lanik Mueller (from his point of view, partially), the exiled heir to one of the strongest/most powerful Family on the planet Treason. The reason for Lanik's exile is that he's a "rad," a radical regenerative. In the Muller family, members are able to regenerate lost limbs or heal at incredible rates, but "rads" have no control over this skill and create extraneous limbs and organs. The planet itself is actually a prison of sorts that certain treasonous families were exiled on and left without any kinds of technology or resources to allow them to advance. Due to this lack of resources, iron is a coveted commodity and the two strongest Families go to war over iron. Despite being exiled, Lanik is still sent on a mission by his father to spy on the warring Family, the Nkumai, and learn what they are selling the Ambassadors in order to obtain iron from Offworld.

Card creates an incredible world with extremely diverse environments; there are cities high above the ground in the tallest trees to vast deserts with living stone. Not only is the planet Treason an incredible place, but the characters themselves are all unique and incredibly complicated. Lanik goes through several transformations, from starting off being a prince of sorts to an exiled abomination, a monster, an angel, and then an almost god/savior being. What struck me the most of all of Lanik's stages was the very first when he was essentially a hermaphrodite, possessing sets of male and female reproductive organs. For a large portion of the story, he pretends to be a woman in order to survive. It brought up an interesting internal conflict. Then there were the characters of the people he met and affected him in one way or another. Each person had their own back story that may or not be completely explored.

The narration of the story cannot be completely trusted since it is told from Lanik's point of view, but Card makes a good use of Lanik's senses to portray what his life was life in the few years that the story takes place. What he does interestingly is the passage of time during times of extreme confusion, pain, exhaustion, etc. He has memory clearly flawed and explores the tricks the mind will play when a person is confined physically and mentally. Due to the fact that the story is told form Lanik's point of view, there is a colloquial diction with certain words that apply only in the world of Treason. These words are well explained either directly or in context that the reader is not lost.

The overall plot was extremely interesting in the way Lanik's goals shift organically from one to the other. Lanik's character definitely grew as the story progressed, marked by the different sets of skills he obtained during his travels. I would say the bulk of the story's tension doesn't come from the conflicts occurring around Lanik, but the conflicts occurring internally. The ending wasn't what I had expected, nor was it what I had wanted, but it still fit in context to Lanik's character. I was still left with the joy of reading a fun and interesting story that was insightful and thought provoking as well. I enjoyed reading Treason and Orson Scott Card still proves to be one of my favorite writers.