SFReader Forums

SFReader.com : Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Book Reviews & more

SFWatcher.com : Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Movie Review

Project Wonderful - Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0.00

SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Right Now I'm Reading.... > Orson Scott Card--Treason

Forum Quick Jump

[ << Previous Thread | Next Thread >> | Show Newest Post First ]

Edward Knight
Jack of all Trades and Master of None

Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1038

Posted 1/1/2008 12:41 PM (GMT -4)

I'm reading OSC's Treason. In the foreword the author says this was his second novel but the version I'm reading was revised in 1988.

I've always been a huge Card fan. Unfortunately, this is the first OSC book I've ever read that I don't like. He claims to have revised it because he realized the writing was poor in the original version and he had learned a lot since the original release--says he reworked almost every page and added 20% new material. If this is the improved version I'd hate to read the original.

I'm only about a third of the way in, but so far I'm not impressed.

I did read his new Ender Wiggins story--A War of Gifts. It came out around Thanksgiving. It was good. It's out in hardcover but it's just a short story--only took a few hours to read. I was able to get a signed copy though, so that made for a little more bang for my buck.

Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing

Order our newest anthology, Unparalleled Journeys II, now at:
http://www.journeybookspublishing.com

Bill Ward
Biblioholic

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1572

Posted 1/1/2008 5:32 PM (GMT -4)

Somewhere around here was another post on this I think. I really liked it myself, maybe because I first read it as a kid, I don't know. I do always tend to enjoy these kinds of episodic adventures.

billwardwriter.com

Edward Knight
Jack of all Trades and Master of None

Date Joined Jan 2004
Total Posts : 1038

Posted 1/2/2008 1:34 AM (GMT -4)

This can't be the book you read as a kid. Ender's game--maybe. A lot of kids read that. Treason is not a kid's book. The main character is a radical regenerant who starts out as a boy and developes female sexual organs after puberty, is then outcast by his father since he can no longer be heir to the empire, but is sent on a spy mission instead where he encounters a tribal leader who turns out to be a lesbian who keeps trying to get him/her in bed, but since he is posing as a woman but has both sets of organs he can't mess with her because it will blow his/her cover. The whole story revolves around the fact that all the people on the planet Treason are outcast from Earth who were exiled to this metal less planet because they were trying to rule the world. Now their ancestors have been on this planet for 3000 years. They'll do almost anything for a chunk of metal. Including sell body parts that they can later regenerate.

If I'd have read this as a kid my mom sure better not have found out.

I'm half done with it and that me be about all I can take. Pretty much a piece of crap. Speaking of crap, there is a whole segunce in which the lesbian is trying to explain to the transexual how her people relieve themselves from their tree dwellings that are nearly 300 meters off the ground. She swings her rear over the platform and cuts loose. They call it a drop rather than a dump. Of course the other is trying to figure out how he's going to do this without exposing him/her self to the whole tribe.
Some really fine reading. :-(

Edward Knight
Editor
Journey Books Publishing

Order our newest anthology, Unparalleled Journeys II, now at:
http://www.journeybookspublishing.com

Bill Ward
Biblioholic

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1572

Posted 1/5/2008 5:13 PM (GMT -4)

LOL, that's the one. When I said kid I meant early teens I suppose, but yeah that's the book. I read a lot of Card around the age of twelve or thirteen.

None of that stuff really stuck out in my mind though, then or now. What I remember is the various strange peoples he encounters, how he uses regeneration to get out of jams, and how he learns some other abilities later from different folk.

I always really liked the book.

billwardwriter.com

Forum Information

Currently it is Friday, July 04, 2008 8:46 PM (GMT -4)
There are a total of 78,037 posts in 6,074 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 23 new threads and 143 reply posts. View Active Threads