enne📚 reviewed Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Ogres
3 stars
This book follows delinquent Torquell in what feels like a rural fantasy pastiche of the peasantry against large ogre landowners. These ogres are at the top of the power chain, tithe the villagers, demand respect, and are the only ones who eat meat (and only sometimes people). Torquell kills the Landlord's son in anger, and while on the run he (and the reader) learn a lot more about how the world works. You can take a look at the cover to get a sense that all is not as it seems here.
This book is also written in the second person, which can put some people off. However, I feel like the reason for this choice, and the gut punch first person reveal is a good payoff. It reminded me quite a bit of how satisfying it was to learn why the Broken Earth series made the same choice.
This …
This book follows delinquent Torquell in what feels like a rural fantasy pastiche of the peasantry against large ogre landowners. These ogres are at the top of the power chain, tithe the villagers, demand respect, and are the only ones who eat meat (and only sometimes people). Torquell kills the Landlord's son in anger, and while on the run he (and the reader) learn a lot more about how the world works. You can take a look at the cover to get a sense that all is not as it seems here.
This book is also written in the second person, which can put some people off. However, I feel like the reason for this choice, and the gut punch first person reveal is a good payoff. It reminded me quite a bit of how satisfying it was to learn why the Broken Earth series made the same choice.
This is a book about extreme power dynamics, environmentalism, and a slow worldbuilding reveal. It's an "sff twist" sort of novella, but even if I saw part of it coming, the ending was quite satisfying.