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A review by adancewithbooks
Ogres by Adrian Tchaikovsky
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thank you to Rebellion, Solaris and Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.
Ogres threw me for a while with what kind of a book it was going to be. Ogres suggested fantasy and the cover showed modern technology so one would think it was set in our time. But it isn't, not really. The story starts with a rural area with landlords, straight out of a medieval setting. So I had no idea where we were going with this.
Add on to that is that this book is written in the second person point of view. Someone is telling Torquell's story to him really in you format. It threw me for a while but after a while I got quite used to it.
The landlords are the ogres and the humans are being oppressed by them. When Torquell steps out of line and runs, his family gets punished for it. Literally eaten. There is certainly quite a bit of gruesome takes in this book. And Torquell certainly does not keep his hands clean. But one feels for him as one does for the oppressed.
As we dive deeper into the story and learn the origins of the current world one sees the fantasy crack away to leave room for something perhaps more realistic. I won't give that away but I will say that it made me crawl deeper into the story. I wanted to find out more like Torquell.
In the end I enjoyed this story of Torquell the hero who started a new revolution.
Ogres threw me for a while with what kind of a book it was going to be. Ogres suggested fantasy and the cover showed modern technology so one would think it was set in our time. But it isn't, not really. The story starts with a rural area with landlords, straight out of a medieval setting. So I had no idea where we were going with this.
Add on to that is that this book is written in the second person point of view. Someone is telling Torquell's story to him really in you format. It threw me for a while but after a while I got quite used to it.
The landlords are the ogres and the humans are being oppressed by them. When Torquell steps out of line and runs, his family gets punished for it. Literally eaten. There is certainly quite a bit of gruesome takes in this book. And Torquell certainly does not keep his hands clean. But one feels for him as one does for the oppressed.
As we dive deeper into the story and learn the origins of the current world one sees the fantasy crack away to leave room for something perhaps more realistic. I won't give that away but I will say that it made me crawl deeper into the story. I wanted to find out more like Torquell.
In the end I enjoyed this story of Torquell the hero who started a new revolution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Death of parent
Moderate: Blood and Cannibalism