Ogres

Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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This was a surprisingly engaging and effective novelette. It was marked out by a surprising premise and a unique voice.

The voice was the second person - the story was told in the “you” voice as some unknown narrator tells the story about the main character seemingly to the main character. This technique worked for two reasons. First, a large part of the story defaulted to the third person, and, so, seemed conventional. Second, it didn't dawn on me to ask until the last page, “who was telling the story?”

The story itself was engaging. Torquell is a young peasant in a world where ogres rule. Ogres seem to be a different species that is twice the height, weight and strength of the human population. Ogres can eat meat and seem to have a taste for human flesh. The ogre population is the aristocrats and rulers of this world. They have beaten the human population into submission, but Torquell rises up and kills an ogre, and, finds himself an outlaw. Through this outlawry he discovers the truth of the world he inhabits.

The secret is kept well-hidden by author Adrian Tchaikovsky. I had the answer in view as one of my two possible solutions based on my earlier experience with reading Colin Kapp's “Manalive,” which had the same premise. This story is far superior to Kapp's story, however, because its ending hits like a prize fighter's fist and leaves the reader to reflect on the nature of heroism, compromise and victory.

This was a short read that moved at a good clip. It is well worth the read.