A Planet Called Treason
by Orson Scott Card
On This Page
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
In one of his early works, Orson Scott Card has written about a planet named Treason in which various revolutionaries were imprisoned. The first family to build a spaceship would get many rewards. Families could sell things via an ambassador from their home planet and would receive iron in return, a metal lacking on Treason. The problem was in finding a product that would sell. Lanik is born into the house of Mueller, which specializes in genetics. The family grows extra body parts which are removed and sold for iron, making them a powerful family. Each of the other families has its own unique specialty. Lanik is forced to flee Mueller when he starts growing body parts which are deemed regenerative, going to many different parts of show more Treason. Here he discovers several secrets.
Card does a wonderful job imagining the planet and its different specialties. One is religion, one history, another physics. The inhabitants live in so many different ways, from farmhouses and cities to a city entirely in the trees. He also prvides a map so you can follow Lanik in his travels.
An enjoyable novel from one of the masters of science fiction. show less
Card does a wonderful job imagining the planet and its different specialties. One is religion, one history, another physics. The inhabitants live in so many different ways, from farmhouses and cities to a city entirely in the trees. He also prvides a map so you can follow Lanik in his travels.
An enjoyable novel from one of the masters of science fiction. show less
Kind of a bumpy start, which was a bit too freakish for me. However, the farther you read, the better it gets to a point. The concept of every 'country' having a specialty was clever, and quicktime is fabulous. I wish there was more explanation of the backstory to this book, which may well be included in the updated version "Treason."
As a huge fan of Card, I was still somewhat leery of reading one of his earliest works. I've been disappointed before when reading authors I love at the beginning of their craft, Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain for example. Still, the premise was exciting.
The novel's premise is based on the idea that a future society has banished all of its best minds to an isolated planet called Treason. All those who rebelled against what seems, from my reading, a communist government were then permanently cut off, save through robotic Ambassadors. But that is the least important part of A Planet Called Treason. The book takes place three thousand years after these events, when we see the descendants of these geniuses and the strange societies show more that have been shaped around them. We see them war and struggle from the perspective of a violent nobleman named Lanik Mueller. We see his transformation as he sees what other societies have been able to accomplish and learns an awful truth about Treason.
Fans of Card's other books, especially the Alvin Maker series, will recognize themes and plot devices from A Planet Called Treason. That's not to say nothing is original, but you will definitely recognize ideas Card put to better use later in his career.
The book works though, as a whole, and I was not as disappointed as I feared. A Planet Called Treason is certainly no Alvin Maker or Ender's Game, but it is a quick, fun read. show less
The novel's premise is based on the idea that a future society has banished all of its best minds to an isolated planet called Treason. All those who rebelled against what seems, from my reading, a communist government were then permanently cut off, save through robotic Ambassadors. But that is the least important part of A Planet Called Treason. The book takes place three thousand years after these events, when we see the descendants of these geniuses and the strange societies show more that have been shaped around them. We see them war and struggle from the perspective of a violent nobleman named Lanik Mueller. We see his transformation as he sees what other societies have been able to accomplish and learns an awful truth about Treason.
Fans of Card's other books, especially the Alvin Maker series, will recognize themes and plot devices from A Planet Called Treason. That's not to say nothing is original, but you will definitely recognize ideas Card put to better use later in his career.
The book works though, as a whole, and I was not as disappointed as I feared. A Planet Called Treason is certainly no Alvin Maker or Ender's Game, but it is a quick, fun read. show less
An imaginative and well-written book about various branches of science developed to an unheard-of degree by the descendants of rebels on a prison planet. Quite a memorable work. Unfortunately Card rather ruined it in a later re-write under the name Treason.
This is really one of my favorites. The qualities that were developed by each group of people really captivated my imagination. I didn't feel quite satisfied with the ending though.
Read prior to 2004.
Molto carino, avvincente e scorrevole.
Una bella storia ricca di avventure e situazioni con molte idee originali che permettono anche riflessioni di una certa "importanza".
Un po' esagerati alcuni "poteri" acquisiti dal protagonista ... ma direi che sono finalizzati alle riflessioni suddette.
Una bella storia ricca di avventure e situazioni con molte idee originali che permettono anche riflessioni di una certa "importanza".
Un po' esagerati alcuni "poteri" acquisiti dal protagonista ... ma direi che sono finalizzati alle riflessioni suddette.
Apr 3, 2013 (Edited)Italian
Members
- Recently Added By
Lists
Life on the Prison Planet
18 works; 10 members
Space Colonization
100 works; 26 members
Author Information
575+ Works 213,460 Members
Orson Scott Byron Walley Card, was born in 1951 and studied theater at Brigham Young University. He received his B.A. in 1975 and his M.A. in English in 1981. He wrote plays during that time, including Stone Tables (1973) and the musical, Father, Mother, Mother and Mom (1974). A Mormon, Scott served a two-year mission in Brazil before starting show more work as a journalist in Utah. He also designed games at Lucas Film Games, 1989-92. He is best known for his science fiction novels, including the popular Ender series. Well known titles include A Planet Called Treason (1979), Treasure Box (1996), and Heartfire (1998). He has also written the guide called How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (1990). His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead, both won Hugo and Nebula awards, making Card the only author to win both prizes in consecutive years. His titles Shadows in Flight, Ruins and Ender's Game made The New York Times Best Seller List. He is also the author of The First Formic War Series, which includes the titles Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, and Earth Awakens. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Work Relationships
Is expanded in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Planet Called Treason
- Original title
- A Planet Called Treason
- Original publication date
- 1979
- People/Characters
- Lanik Mueller
- Important places
- Treason (planet); Mueller; Nkumai; Ku Kuei; Schwartz
- Dedication
- To
MaryJo, who turned me on to Bradbury,
Laura Dene, who loaned me the Foundation trilogy,
Dale and Maria, who made me read the
Chronicles of Narnia,
and the four thousand people who urged
me to read T... (show all)olkien:
It's all your fault. - First words
- I've endured having four arms, an extra nose, and two hearts pumping away before the surgeon took me under his knife to cut away the excess.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And when a life ends as mine will end, no one can persuade me that the cost was not worth what it has brought me at last.
- Disambiguation notice
- Do NOT combine with "Treason" -- that later book is a reworking of this one, and roughly 10% of it is new material.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 509
- Popularity
- 58,755
- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.77)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 6
