This is one of OSC's early books. While some may say that it is not to the level of his Enders Game series, I 
disagree. Orson Scott Card tells the story of Lanik Mueller, a "radical regenerative" who is exiled from his clan of geneticists on a planet called Treason, the home of radical academics that were exiled from the Earth. In this book, while following Lanik Mueller we see a cross section of human life, but far in the future and on a different planet. For example, Lanik's clan started with the founder, Mueller, who was an exiled geneticist. Over the years they developed the means to regenerate any body part, making them almost immortal. Another clan conquers time and is able to move more quickly or slowly in time. OSC masterfully brings all of these together while looking at the nature of our world and how people treat the planet and each other. I recommend this book as a good introduction to OSC's later masterpieces.