Ogres, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian has established himself in my mind as a science fiction author who likes to walk outside of trodden down paths. Just take a peek at my review of his excellent time travel story, One Day All This Will Be Yours. Heck of a good – and funny – story.

Ogres is a bit more chilly, with some darker undertones. This time, Adrian takes the fantasy genre and gives it a good spin. And that starts with the perspective of the narrative, because this is one of only two novels I’ve ever encountered written in second person. (I think the other one was Charles Stross, Halting State, which I had been gifted in its German translation and never finished; I should revisit this book in its English original.)

In case you don’t know what I mean by a second person perspective: If you ever played a “choose your own adventure” book, you’ll be familiar with the style. Only with a lack of choices, in this case.

This being a Tchaikovsky novel, you know right at the start there will be a major twist coming up. And there it is, beautifully executed – he’ll probably catch you with that one.

Not me, though, because like I said – I expected something, and I was aware of some dubious word mincing right from the start. But it was a pleasure watching this twist enfold itself, it being a beautifully crafted piece of literary art, if I might say so. (And I just will, because this is my review. Go write your own if you want to oppose me.) That being said, the final narrator, revealed at the end, did surprise me a little bit. The twist in the twist, if you will.

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A remarkably good book that doesn’t fail to raise some social questions, if you’re into that stuff. Also an enjoyable read if you don’t want to think about it too much and just enjoy a little revolutionary (see what I did there?) tale.