I would like to thank Solaris for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Solaris

Published – Out Now ebook 17/3 hardback

Price – £7.99 Kindle eBook £23 hardback

Ogres are bigger than you.
Ogres are stronger than you.
Ogres rule the world.

It’s always idyllic in the village until the landlord comes to call.

Because the landlord is an Ogre. And Ogres rule the world, with their size and strength and appetites. It’s always been that way. It’s the natural order of the world. And they only eat people sometimes.

But when the headman’s son, Torquell, dares lift his hand against the landlord’s son, he sets himself on a path to learn the terrible truth about the Ogres, and about the dark sciences that ensured their rule.

A great story normally means you have a great villain and great villains tell us something about the worst sides of humanity. The casual and selfish cruelty of Prince Regal in Hobb’s Farseer trilogy; the calculating Georg in Claire North’s Notes From The Burning Age and many more all have people we can see in our real world and explain our fears and current issues in society. For all villains a hero will emerge and find a way to try and beat them. It’s a battle that has gripped readers through the ages and always has something to say about today’s world. In Adrian Tchaikovsky’s excellent novella Ogres we get an unusual tale of one such battle crossing the realms of science fiction and fantasy and raising some questions about how villains get in charge.

Torquell is the young son of his village’s leader. The kind of young man who plays pranks; gets scolded and then gets allowed to do it all again. His destiny awaits so he often runs into the forest and plays with Outlaws led by the cynical but kind Roben. But they all know the Landlord who owns the forest, the village and everyone in it will eventually come to check all is well in their world. But in this world the Landlord are Ogres – taller, stronger and in many ways crueller than the humans they manage. Torquell runs up against the younger son of the Landlord and a spontaneous act of rebellion leads to tragedy for the young man who is then once he finds a way for some revenge and ends up on the run in the forest. Torquell will find himself on a journey to finally understand his world; the secrets of the Ogres and how they may be finally beaten. But all such journeys carry a price.

This story very skilfully tells us a tale with huge relevance for today’s world. Initially you will be thinking Tchaikovsky has moved purely into fantasy territory and this does indeed look like an adult fairy tale. Villages: young sons with little sense and outlaws named Roben. Its all set up very well and yet grittily, soon things get very dark, and we then discover exactly how cruel the Ogres can be. But small discrepancies in the world start to creep in – the Ogres have cars, trains and even flying machines. There are stars in the sky that are artificial, and the humans cannot eat meat without being very ill. We soon realise that the pastoral setting is not all it appears to be. As the story progresses Torquell’s journey he is forced to stay in the Ogre’s company where we get to find out how this world has been changed and the Ogres rise to power is less magic and more the power of science and evolution serving the darkest of impulses - greed.

At this point gentle reader, I need to be a bit more careful what I share as you’ll enjoy the ride more with the surprises in store. I think it is safe to say in this story that capitalism and those who run the world and profit off it are the target of the story. This story is an allegory for how the powerful get power, use it to profit themselves and what that means for everyone else who serve the system from the economy to fighting wars. When we finally realise what has happened you may just want to take a moment to appreciate the message behind the science. The other exploration is that of the hero’s journey and unusually this story is all told in second person as someone relives with cynical commentary Torquell’s life story. We see a strong young man start to realise the world is not fair to him and he seeks revenge for the hurt delivered to him. Unusually compared to most fantasy the first step in fighting back here is via education via books and we see Torquell learning to understand the world, the science and also the weaknesses of the system allow the planning for a revolution to come to pass. Subtly changing him from warrior to leader. But Tchaikovsky does warn us that not all revolutions lead to better outcomes. How this story neatly wraps all the plot threads is very powerful and yet still very hopeful that change is inevitable.

Ogres is a brilliant and surprising novella that as well as delivering excellent science fiction with a splash of the fantastical also has a point to make about how monsters get into positions of power and what happens to us when they get there. As the world is very much seeing now what happens when monsters get far too powerful it’s a timely cautionary tale of why we have to be careful when those seeking power keep promising the world will be built back better in their hands that we need to be a little more questioning of what they really want to do once they sit on the throne. Highly recommended!