The world in which this story is set is made up of a ruling class of tyrannical ogres and their vegetarian serf humans, who sometimes also serve as their food. Tchailovsky's excellent storytelling skills soon have you invested in the world of the ogres and I found myself rooting for Torquell, the roguish teenage human son of the village headman, who loses his temper and punches Gerald, the malicious son of the village's landlord. The cruel landlord, Sir Peter Grimes has come to collect taxes and assure himself that all is running smoothly in his villages. Torquell finds himself on the run, hiding out in the woods with Roben and his band of outlaws, in order to preserve his mortality.
On returning home a heart-breaking and somewhat jaw-dropping tragedy unfolds which leads to Torquell losing his temper once more with Gerald and killing him. This time when he flees into the woods its as a bone fide outlaw and he quickly joins Roben's band. His story does not end there and the remainder of the narrative explains the further stages of this hero's journey.
Soon Torquell is captured by a brutal bounty hunter and eventually taken into the household of the unusual ogre, Lady Isadora, where scientific research and genetic study are the main focus of her life and he finds himself intrigued by history having seen a book with photographs of scenes without any ogres present and with cities full of hundreds of humans. How did society go from that to what is now the status quo with a ruling class of ogres and no more meat eating allowed for humans? Could the humans have brought this upon themselves somehow? We discover these possibilities along with Torquell at about the halfway point in the narrative and the story became much more intriguing and compelling for me at this point.
This short story is clearly a clever allegory for a possible future if we humans do not mend our ways and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it!