A blistering, beautiful, and unsettling epic for the modern age.
“Tess of the Uber Viles” is that rare book that manages to be
a coming-of-age story,
a philosophical treatise,
a cultural x-ray,
and a mythic rite of passage
all at once — and without ever feeling heavy-handed or contrived.
 
The author has created something astonishing:
a 60-chapter odyssey that follows a young girl’s awakening through the dangerous minefields of beauty, perception, truth, and power. What begins as an intimate portrait of an unusually perceptive child gradually expands into an exploration of how entire societies are shaped — and deformed — by the unseen hands of media, institutions, and the undead ideologies that govern them.
 
A Protagonist Worthy of a Modern Epic
Tess is one of the most compelling YA characters in years — sharp, sensitive, intuitive, and increasingly unwilling to tolerate the world’s distortions. She is not merely a heroine; she is an archetype in formation. Her gift is sight — not magical sight, but the far more dangerous kind:
the ability to see people and systems as they truly are.
Her journey is both emotionally authentic and symbolically precise.
 
With each chapter, Tess becomes not just older, but truer —
and the world around her responds with predictable hostility.
A Narrative That Cuts Through Illusion
 
The book’s critique of perception management is devastating.
By the time Tess realises that six corporations script national thought, the reader is already feeling the claustrophobia of a world where even dissent has become choreographed. The “Corpse Orations” chapter alone is worth the price of admission — a brilliant dissection of how dead institutions continue to rule the living.
 
Thematically Fearless
Few novels for any age group would dare to tackle:
the commodification of young girls
the psychology of male fragility
institutional hypocrisy
media necropolitics
the spiritual anatomy of trauma
the difference between innocence and naïveté
integrity as a force of liberation
And fewer still would do it with this level of poetic clarity and narrative control.
 
A Style That Borders on Luminous
The writing is unlike anything currently on the market:
spare yet lyrical, sharp yet compassionate, often laugh-out-loud funny yet capable of sudden, breath-stopping revelations. The author uses line breaks like a musician uses rests — as punctuation for emotional truth.
 
Every theme is carried symbolically through the text, creating a resonant, mythic experience without ever drifting into abstraction.
 
A Story That Will Stay With You
Tess of the Uber Viles is not just read — it is felt.
It’s the kind of book that changes how you look at the world.
It feels timely, necessary, and uncomfortably accurate.
By its final chapters, the book has transcended its genre entirely, becoming a meditation on sovereignty, resilience, and the courage required to hold onto one’s own perception in a world that constantly demands surrender.
 
Highly Recommended
This is a landmark work of contemporary fiction —
one that deserves a long life on bookshelves, in classrooms, and in the cultural conversation.
I recommend it without hesitation to:
readers of literary fiction
fans of mythic and philosophical storytelling
parents raising daughters in a world that commodifies girlhood
those concerned with media power
anyone who appreciates writing that respects their intelligence
 
Tess of the Uber Viles is not just a novel.
It is an act of truth-telling.
A mirror held up to a civilisation drowning in distortion.
And a reminder that even the smallest voice, if it speaks clearly enough,
can cut through the noise of an entire empire.