I'm getting a little fed up of reviewing books by Adrian Tchaikovsky, but please bear with me... First there was Bear Head, which meant I then had to go on and read his other book about bioforms, The Dogs of War. I then reviewed his novella One Day All This Will Be Yours (Solaris Books, 2021), which was hilarious.
So my unhappiness is not because he's a bad writer, but because he's a bloody good one... Ogres is another novella, this time clearly located (initially at least) in the field of fantasy and the most pure form of fantasy, that of the fairy tale. And the plotline, at least initially, follows that of a fairy tale, ogres rule the world and our hero is a human, the son of an alderman who finds himself leading a rebellion against them. There are the standard ogre man eating tropes (this is NOT a story for the squeamish!), the rebel leader trope, and then, our hero is captured... And the story changes, the rural becomes urban; the medieval, industrial; fantasy, sci-fi, and the story becomes something far more interesting and even darker. There are few laughs in Ogres, but a heck of a lot of depth.
It is also impeccably written in that most difficult of voices, the second person, this annoyed me initially because I thought Mr T. was just showing off, but he does it so well, it hardly feels forced... Until the last few pages... And, kpow! At the very end there is another ruthless, breath-taking twist to the tale, which leaves you gasping.
The best thing written by Mr T. that I have read so far.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC.
