Treason Orson Scott Card 1990 Science Fiction
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 among people who can regenerate injured flesh and trade extra body parts to the Offworld oppressors for iron.
For, on a planet without hard metals or the means of escape iron is power in the race to build a spacecraft.
Iron is the promise of freedom 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 a quest that may finally break the vicious chain of rivalry and bloodshed that enslaves the people of Treason as the Offworld never could.