I am a great fan of OSC's writing, he's written some of my favourite sf books of the last few years. So he's one of the authors I turn to from time to time when I need a good read.

I had had this book on my shelves for a number of years and never read it. No idea why but I hadn't. So I decided that it was time to pick it up and give it a read.

This is one of OSC's earliest books, written in the 1970's, so I thought it might be interesting to see how his writing back then was different to his current works. I have to admit also a little bit of trepidation with it. It could have felt insignificant when compared to his later books.

Well, it certainly was different to his later books. For one thing this book is a lot quicker. Each section of the story passes in far fewer words than later books. In his later works OSC has fleshed his characters and places out a lot more than you get here.

This isn't a bad thing by any means, this book is highly readable, and it is very inventive.

Treason is the name of a planet. Millennia before the world's founding father's were found guilty of treason and exiled to this world, a world almost completely devoid of iron or other metal deposits. The idea was that without these natural resources they and their descendants would be trapped there.

Each of the founding father's had a particular skill or knowledge, an area of expertise that their clan have refined over the generations. Lanik Mueller's clan's expertise was in genetics and pure blood Mueller's have incredible regenerative abilities, their injuries healing at a remarkable rate.

The downside of this gift is that a certain percentage of their children become Radical Regeneratives (or "Rads"). These Rads grow extra body parts, and as freaks are confined to Body Farms where their extra limbs are harvested.

But Lanik is the eldest son of the leader of the Mueller clan, so that when he is revealed as a Rad he is spared this fate, but instead sent on a mission to a rival clan who's power seems to be growing all to fast. So he sets out on a journey across his world, and through him we encounter many of the various cultures on his world.

This is certainly imaginative, the different clans' specialities are diverse as are the affects they have had on the clans.

Now when you compare this to his later works this book does suffer a little, but given the high standards OSC has achieved in his writing career, the fact that this book is one of his weakest is not a reason to avoid this book. It is a good read, and is a very comfortable read.