Ogres

This wonderfully paced, steampunk-ish novella, written in the second-person singular point-of-view, places you, a human, directly into the driver's seat, on a collision course against the oppressive rulers of this dystopian world - the ogres.

I've heard it said about some of Adrian Tchaikovsky's lengthier works, that pacing can be a drawback, such as in the second and third volumes of the CHILDREN OF TIME series. Mundane world-building and long narrative backstories that step away from the action, seem to be common criticisms. With this book, Tchaikovsky scarcely gives you an opportunity to take a breath. Nonstop action, poetic prose and knock-you-on-your-ass reveals, make it impossible to put down.

The parallels between the world in OGRES and ours are plentiful, and they serve both as painful reminders of humanity's history, and as vivid prophetic warnings of its possible future, encouraging the reader to be cognizant of reality, even while enjoying a work of pure fiction.

It's difficult to say much about the story itself without spoiling the brace of earth-shaking revelations that you'll have the pleasure of hunting out on your own, if you choose to pick up this high caliber book; and so, like the carnival barkers of old, I'll put it to you this way: "Come one, come all! Enter Tchaikovsky's freak-show tent, and beneath its red and white striped canvas, you'll bare witness to the most astounding, the most stupefying, the most unnerving spectacles, sure to stretch your imagination to its very limits and haunt your dreams for many nights to come... OGRES!"

Devastatingly good.