A Planet Called Treason by Orson Scott Card

[Anthony G Williams]

I have just finished re-reading this novel after a gap of some 20 years. It concerns the adventures of Lanik Mueller on an isolated planet divided into states, each of which had specialised in a particular branch of knowledge and developed that to an extremely high degree. He sets off on an odyssey which takes him through many of these states, learning their skills and using that knowledge to fight for his own survival and, ultimately, attempt to end the conflicts which constantly raged across it.

This book is far less well known than Card's Ender series, but I have always preferred it and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Highly recommended. My full review can be read on my blog.

[Addy]

Does that one have something to do with Memory of Earth?

[Nesacat]

This is my favourite book by Card. It's not as well known and I've yet to see it in a bookstore here but I think it's well-written and a good read.

[Anthony G Williams]

Originally Posted by Addy

Does that one have something to do with Memory of Earth?

I don't recall that phrase, although the planet certainly had feelings...

[Addy]

I mean the Memory of Earth, the first novel in the homecoming series, by Orson Scott Card.

Here is a link.

Here is the Homecoming saga link.

I think they're not related at all though. It just sounded like it.

[Anthony G Williams]

No, it's unrelated.

[gully_foyle]

Yay! I just found a copy of Planet Called Treason at Canty's. I am very much looking forward to revisiting it.

I have never read the full Ender's Game, just the original short story. It seems pretty popular, so maybe I should give it a try.

I have a much loved copy of Songmaster in my library, don't know why it's my favourite card, it just is.

[beenorthern]

I've always thought Card owed a lot of this book to Cordwainer Smith's classic story "A Planet Named Shayol".

[Anthony G Williams]

Originally Posted by beenorthern

I've always thought Card owed a lot of this book to Cordwainer Smith's classic story "A Planet Named Shayol".

A part of it, anyway - I noted that in my full blog version of my review.

[gully_foyle]

I just finished reading A Planet Called Treason, similarly after a 20+ year gap. The book had stayed in my memory because of several vivid scenes, particularly when he is released from the hold of the ship. I'm not a big fantasy reader, although I grew up on both fantasy and SF, but I think this is a great crossover novel. It has the scale of an epic, but scaled into a good novel size. The themes of global justice in the book still echo, but I am unsure which way Card leans these days, as he is a political commentator who both criticises and supports Bush's quagmires. Anyhoo, it really is a great read and now sits comfortably in my top ten.