Lanik Mueller's birthright as heir to planet Treason's most powerful rulership will never be realized. He is a "rad"—radical regenerative—a freak who can regenerate injured flesh and trade extra body parts to the Offworld oppressors for iron. On a planet without hard metals, or the means of escape, iron offers the promise of freedom through the chance to build a spacecraft. But it is a promise which may never be fulfilled, as Lanik uncovers a treacherous conspiracy beyond his imagination. Now charged with a mission of conquest—and exile—Lanik devises a bold and dangerous plan to break the vicious chain of rivalry and bloodshed that enslaves the people of Treason.
Treason
Orson Scott Card
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Space opera without the space travel
This is one of Orson Scott Card's earliest novels. It's well worth the read. Lanik Mueller is exiled due to his freakish mutation, and travels across the planet Treason seeking to vindicate his existence and support his nation's bid for power. In his travels, Lanik encounters various cultures that have developed incredible abilities to manipulate biology, matter, and time. These abilities have developed as the inhabitants have attempted to find ways to trade with the evil, off-world Republic for iron, which Treason lacks in any significant quantities. The cultures Lanik encounters are interesting, and the opening interview with Card provides a good deal of interesting background for the writing and re-writing of the novel. Treason requires some significant stretches from the reader. The biology (human penal colony survives on planet lacking significant iron for hemoglobin) is just one of many that gave me pause regularly. Still, it's a fun story.