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Alif the Unseen

by G. Willow Wilson (Goodreads Author)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 3,472 ratings · 795 reviews

In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, Islamists, and other watched groups—from surveillance and tries to stay out of trouble. He goes by Alif—the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, and a convenient handle to hide behind. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her p...more

Hardcover, 433 pages

Published June 19th 2012 by Grove Press

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Apr 21, 2013 Keertana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Alif the Unseen is one of those obscure novels that not many people have actually heard of, but, thanks to my numerous GoodReads friends who read such varied genres, it somehow came to my attention. Needless to say, all my friends have LOVED this book. For me, though, Alif the Unseen was slightly boring, hard to get through, and dragged ever-so-slightly. I thoroughly enjoyed the second half the book, but I wasn't as impressed as everyone else. While Alif the Unseen remains to be...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Gary McTiernan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This one is hard to nail down. It evokes Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Aladdin while remaining fresh and unique. Alif, a hacker genius and Dina, his veiled Moslem sidekick, take us on an odyssey between their world, an unnamed Arab state which is about to explode, and the world of the supernatural. Along the way they pick up a holy book and lots of jinn helpmates, including an honest-to-goodness genie. They step into one bad situation after another and manage to survive only because they re...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Jenny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, netgalley, read2012, sci-fi-fantasy

Alif is the handle for a teenage hacker living in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, one where the flow of information is controlled and monitored by the state. He has made a name for himself (not his actual name, obviously) by helping various groups subvert the system at various times. He becomes an unknowing rival to someone known as The Hand, and as he tries to escape he ends up in a world where jinns exist.

This novel is an entertaining read combining hackers with partially unseen beings, le...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Jonathan Strahan rated it 4 of 5 stars

One of the most interesting and rewarding books I've read in 2012, G. Willow Wilson's debut novel Alif the Unseen is ostensibly a contemporary young adult fantasy novel about a dissident computer hacker set in an unspecified Arabic country at a time of rising civil unrest. The book has a lot to recommend it - engaging characters, a fast-paced narrative and so on - but what makes it most interesting is the way it interrogates the boundaries between science fiction and fantasy, between secular and...more

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May 17, 2013 Simon rated it 2 of 5 stars

VAGUELY SPOILERISH (though nothing major).

In the introduction to his magnificent book The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea, Arthur Lovejoy turns a memorable phrase when he describes those who thrill to "the metaphysical pathos of obscurity." This book, I fear, is subject to that particular weakness. There's lots of stuff about stories/computer code/metaphor/multiple interpretations/multiple realities that just doesn't make any sense (at least, not to this heathen). When Al...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Yahya rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a truly genre-bending Islamic hacktivist jinn fantasy cyberthriller, which has to be the most original novel in English in 2012. It is a surprisingly seamless melange of American comic-book sensibility (a fast-moving plot; a coming-of-age storyline) within an Islamic setting, contemporary (a corrupt unnamed Gulf city rife with repression, and ripe for revolution) and imagined (an alternate genie (or jinn) universe). At the same time, amidst all the furious plotting, it asks deeper questi...more

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Jul 05, 2012 R.H. Watson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson takes place in a fictional contemporary Arab emirate that's on the boiling point of the Arab Spring. Alif is a young guy, a hacker, who makes a shady, but honorable living hiding his clients'---bloggers of every subversive type: Islamists, secularists, communists, whatever---Internet footprints from the emirate's state security, run by a man who Alif and his digital friends have nicknamed the Hand of God. Alif falls in love with a highborn girl. They meet, spe...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Cassi aka Snow White Haggard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, galleys

Alif the Unseen is such a unique book. It's a computer-science heavy fantasy novel set in the modern Middle East. There is coding, firewalls, cloud servers and genies, all in the same book. Doesn't that sound amazing? This book is fantasy blended with real science, something that I've never seen before. It's a big risk that pays off.

Very rarely to I go quite as highlighter happy as this book made me. It was smart, clever, funny and thought-provoking.

"How dense and literal it is. I thought it had...more Alif the Unseen is such a unique book. It's a computer-science heavy fantasy novel set in the modern Middle East. There is coding, firewalls, cloud servers and genies, all in the same book. Doesn't that sound amazing? This book is fantasy blended with real science, something that I've never seen before. It's a big risk that pays off.

Very rarely to I go quite as highlighter happy as this book made me. It was smart, clever, funny and thought-provoking.

"How dense and literal it is. I thought it had a much more sophisticated brain."
"Your mother's dense," Alif said wearily.
"My mother was an errant crest of sea foam. But that's neither here nor there."

This book just goes. It doesn't stop to explain everything. I appreciated the respect it showed it's reader. Admittedly I don't know a lot about Middle Eastern folklore or legends. Anything I need to know I can research. The book doesn't info-dump, yet I had no problem following the story.

This book talks about how sometimes religious people pick and choose what to believe. In this instance, it's talking about the Quaran and how people tend to ignore the references to jinn (genies) even though it's throughout the text. However I think it's something interesting that applies beyond just one faith group.

Superstation is thriving. Pedantry is thriving. Sectarianism is thriving. Belief is dying out. To most of your people the jinn are paranoid fantasies who run around causing epilepsy and mental illness. Find me someone to whom the hidden folk are simply real, as described in the Books. You'll be searching a long time. Wonder and awe have gone out of your religions.

For me the highlight of the book was Dina. Alif's neighbor, she's tremendously stubborn, intelligent and very pious. She decided to veil her face, against the wishes of her family and everyone who knew her. Normally it would be easy to write off such a character as an oppressed woman. But Dina is too awesome for that. She's one of the bravest and most intelligent characters, always having foresight when everyone else just runs around panicking. She's a complex character, a mixture of faith, practicality and intelligence.

"Maybe you should stay here until this has blown over," he said. It's going to be dangerous."
"I know. That's why I wore sneakers." (Dina)

I want more books that dare to be different. I'm not saying this book is perfect. At times it's a little slow, the prologue is especially weak and it talks about urinating a lot. But sometimes that doesn't matter! What matters is that it tells a story that completely surprises you and that you can stop reading.(less)

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Jan 02, 2013 Wendy B rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi-fantasy

My friend and I were discussing the problem of finding books featuring non-White protagonists written by non-North American descended authors. We noted that, more often than not in our limited scope, we’d find non-White protagonists written by White authors, or, White protagonists who find themselves in non-White environments, written by White authors. Generally speaking, the result are hit-or-miss when it comes to a respectful representation of a culture that one is not raised in.

Shortly after,...more My friend and I were discussing the problem of finding books featuring non-White protagonists written by non-North American descended authors. We noted that, more often than not in our limited scope, we’d find non-White protagonists written by White authors, or, White protagonists who find themselves in non-White environments, written by White authors. Generally speaking, the result are hit-or-miss when it comes to a respectful representation of a culture that one is not raised in.

Shortly after, I started reading Alif the Unseen and, after confirming the heritage of G. Willow Wilson, was impressed by her handling of the Middle Eastern culture - from dialogue, to religions, to terminology, to class and more. She also did an effective job of portraying the hacker culture within that cultural environment. The writing and dialogue presented aspects of the culture in ways that I could easily understand, without things being spelled out completely. Meaning could be inferred without much effort. Of course, I am not familiar with the Middle Eastern or hacker cultures, so I am assuming the portrayal did them justice.

The book moved smoothly through the main character’s introduction – his risqué profession his forbidden love and the girl next door – and then moved just as smoothly from the seen into the unseen, namely the world of the jinn that exists amidst our own, if only we are willing to believe.

This transition is where my only real disappointment in both the book and the author arrives, taking shape as the character called “the convert,” an American woman who has converted to Muslim and, for some reason, is the only person Vikram, the jinn Alif’s future now depends on, decides can identify the source of the mysterious book Alif has been given. In an interview, Wilson claims that the convert is “not really” herself, but “the place she ends up in the book is where I have ended up.”

Unfortunately, the convert and her sentiments come across, for me, like a raging opinion piece where Wilson denounces Western culture for being so blind. I found it particularly disturbing that, despite it being made clear that Alif enjoys reading fantasy novels from Western culture, it is stated in the book that Americans specifically can’t grasp the unseen world of the jinn. The convert also denounces non-Western culture for denying the Westerners who truly try to understand. The convert proclaims that non-Westerners are able to move freely between cultures, citing Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Remains of the Day, as an example of a person from non-Western culture writing about life in Britain. A very poor example, considering Ishigoro was raised British. The convert laments that no Westerner has successfully written an epic tale that works in the other direction, and I consequently got the distinct feeling that Wilson hoped to become that person who succeeded.

I had hoped the convert was just an interlude that allowed Wilson to express her feelings, but annoyingly, the character continued on with the main group, providing little purpose. Not even in the end when her beatific pregnancy was supposed to have commanded attention. I read the acknowledgements which referred to Wilson’s own pregnancy during the writing of the book and have concluded that Wilson’s claim that the convert isn’t really herself is slightly delusional.

Aside from this, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the use of and discussions about language and how mutable it is. I appreciated that the step into the fantastical was gradual and that the characters each displayed interesting and varying reactions to the discovery of the unseen world. I liked the religious comparisons and the questioning of beliefs, but respected that the characters that did have their own religious beliefs, remained true to those beliefs, while still being able to accept the unseen. I enjoyed that the main character was an annoying, whiny creature who did not suddenly find a backbone and become a respectable hero. And in a culture that Westerners believe poorly treats its women, the character of Dina serves as an interesting insight.(less)

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Oct 09, 2012 Nnedi rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review will be scattered because I don't have much time. So be it. I really enjoyed reading a fantasy novel that truly wove in culture (politics, practices, cultural conflicts, words used, and all). This novel read like it was written by someone closely connected to its setting. I like that. There's an ambitiousness in it. It's not afraid to comment on things (and not afraid to show the negative sides. It's sure that it will not fall into cliche) and it's thoughtful and loving in how it goe...more

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May 09, 2013 Clif Hostetler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novel

I became interested in this book because it appeared to be a novelist’s interpretation of the Arab Spring. The story involves a young computer hacker living in a totalitarianly governed Arab state who clandestinely provides online firewall protection to dissident groups. The hacker is known by his online handle, Alif. The country’s rulers consider him to be a terrorist; in his own mind he’s a “gray-hat” -- a principled hacker using illegal methods to protect freedom of speech (i.e. a hacktivist)...more I became interested in this book because it appeared to be a novelist’s interpretation of the Arab Spring. The story involves a young computer hacker living in a totalitarianly governed Arab state who clandestinely provides online firewall protection to dissident groups. The hacker is known by his online handle, Alif. The country’s rulers consider him to be a terrorist; in his own mind he’s a “gray-hat” -- a principled hacker using illegal methods to protect freedom of speech (i.e. a hacktivist). Alif is in a life-and-death battle with State security’s online censor known ominously as “The Hand.”

Alif is a whiz-bang computer coder. Any reader who considers computer coding to be a spiritual experience will find this to be a spiritually uplifting book. As a matter of fact, Alif’s computer code becomes so advance that he enters the world of the jinn (genie). The plot involves his coming into possession of the last surviving copy of the original jinn inspired version of the Thousand and One Nights which if analyzed correctly will enable the development of code to permit computers to think and have intuition similar to that of humans. It becomes important that this book not fall into the hands of the state’s online censors. A cyber-thriller ensues as Alif runs for his life from the state police.

Needless to say, this book will be most enjoyable to those readers who are willing to accept the premise that the world of the jinn is real. All main characters in this novel are Muslims, and religion is dealt with front and center as part of the narrative. The plot includes having jinn play a significant role in the plot. I suppose this can be considered consistent with orthodox Islam since the Quran (Koran) makes frequent reference to jinn. It’s sort of equivalent to the role of angels in Christianity. However, the experience for the typical reader of this book will be similar to that of reading Harry Potter books.

The fictional country where the story takes place is unnamed, but it is clearly ruled by an emir. I pictured it in my mind as one of the more conservative Arab Emirates, perhaps Ajman or Sharjah (although the “empty quarter” described in the book sounds more like Abu Dhabi or perhaps even Saudi Arabia). The author describes a social environment that includes many expatriate workers performing menial tasks while native born Arabs fill the more prestigious positions of banking, finance and government. Alif is of mixed heritage with a Bedouin father and Tamil (i.e. east Indian) mother. His mother is a second wife (and less favored) living separate from his father. Alif is thus considered of “low birth” with few future prospects.

As with most thrillers, there is a boy-girl romantic element to the story. Alif's two girl friends comply with traditional Arab customs including being fully veiled (bare toes are a turn on). I hope the exposure of readers from the western world to this story about Islamic young people may help cross cultural relationships and diminish Islamophobia.

The author is an American who converted to Islam, so she has every motive to portray it in a positive light. Her American background also provides an understanding of ways to engage the western mind. The literary reputation of the author is primarily one of being a comic book author. I didn’t think of it before I knew of the author’s background, but this book would make a good graphic novel.

Ironically, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, plays a role in this story at a time while I am currently trying to read the 2,784 paged unabridged edition of that book. It will be interesting to see if I come across some of the stories from that work that were retold in this novel.
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Jun 20, 2012 Martin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Final review:
Alif The Unseen is an incredible fiction debut. The story of a middle eastern hacker on the run from the authorities, Alif is one of the best books yet about the passions and frustrations that led to the Arab Spring(s). It is also a welcome, and long overdue, use of middle eastern culture, legends, history, and other story elements in popular literature. There were moments in ATU that made me pit the book down, to let what I'd just read sink in. Based on her first novel, G Willow Wi...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Emily Crowe rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good folks of Goodreads, please consider this a 3.5 star review.

I've had a tough time composing my thoughts on this book. I started reading it quite a few weeks ago and didn't get very far, and then I finished reading it, lickety-split, over the last four days. Since the book weighs in at over 400 pages, that's a lot of lickety-splitting, though admittedly I did some heavy skimming.

As in so many cases, I was originally drawn to Alif the Unseen by the cover. I am very judging when it comes to boo...more Good folks of Goodreads, please consider this a 3.5 star review.

I've had a tough time composing my thoughts on this book. I started reading it quite a few weeks ago and didn't get very far, and then I finished reading it, lickety-split, over the last four days. Since the book weighs in at over 400 pages, that's a lot of lickety-splitting, though admittedly I did some heavy skimming.

As in so many cases, I was originally drawn to Alif the Unseen by the cover. I am very judging when it comes to books and their covers, and I think anyone who feebly claims otherwise is full of fewmets, a term I intentionally use as a double-entendre, as an allusion to one of my favorite books, and for its alliterative bonus. Yeah, I guess I'm feeling a little pretentious today. It happens.

Anyway, the cover: I don't know if it's an existing typeface, but the word Alif is nicely lettered & spaced, and it looks like it could be calligraphed. What's more, upon closer inspection, the decorative lines & dots within the letters resolve into circuitry, so it's a nice design AND it reflects back on the text itself. Already I was intrigued, so when it was described to me as an Arab Spring-meets-the DaVinci Code, I had to give it a try.

I can see why the publisher would want to market it as Da Vinci Code-like, but in my opinion that's selling the book far too short. Yes, there are moments of fast-paced chase for artifacts that may or may not be of great doctrinal import with characters who may or may not be what they seem, and readers who like Dan Brown's books will find much to enjoy here. But Alif is so much more than that: it's a contemporary fairy tale for our time, with all of the original fairy elements that were once familiar to peoples the world over before Disney decided to bowdlerize them into unrecognizable, milquetoasty wholesomeness.

Set in an unnamed Arab country, Alif is a novel of the downtrodden people, the theocratic State, a cautionary tale, a revolution in the making, and a quest that is both intellectual and spiritual. Alif the character is a clever but somewhat weak-minded computer hacker who sells his skills to the highest bidders, be they Islamists, Communists, feminists, or terrorists; he simply has no belief in any cause beyond generally valuing freedom of speech and not getting caught for his "gray hat" activities. His confidence exceeds his ability when he decides to write code for a new program called Tin Sari, an acronym for the lover who spurned him for her arranged husband, which draws the attention of the Hand, the head of State surveillance and, incidentally, his lover's new husband-to-be. He goes on the run with his best friend from childhood, and forthwith they encounter the various levels of the literal and metaphorical Unseen: djinn, demons, fabled texts, a Western Islamic convert, a quartz city in the middle of the desert, a Mos Eiseley-style cantina, and a political torture center.

To say more of the story would do a disservice to the reader, so I'll only say that the reader should expect heavy infusions of pop culture allusions, a humor that occasionally reminds me of Joss Whedon's, and lots of discourses on religion and technology that aren't always mutually exclusive. Alif the Unseen feels both startlingly fresh and intimately familiar, and I think it's a stroke of brilliance on her part to pair the world of fairy tale contained in our collective unconscious with the world of technology and its exponential capacity for change. Anyone who doubts Alif's ability as a hacker to change the world as he knows it has had their head up their ass for far too long, and anyone who doubts that the youngest minds of today are disengaged from politics should read this book.

I do think the book could benefit from some culling and scuttling, and the writing itself is a little uneven, but I think I understand the author's urgency to want to put everything in there. G. Willow Wilson says in her introduction that writing Alif was born of a rage that she had to address her three main audiences separately: comic book geeks, literary NPR types, and Muslims. It's an impressive amalgamation of subjects I've never seen married together in one novel, and if the author's reach occasionally exceeds her grasp, it's only because her reach is so very ambitious.(less)

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Jun 18, 2012 Catie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, for-review, read-in-2012

Just when I think that young adult fantasy has nothing new to show me, this one comes along to change my mind. Granted, this is being marketed as an adult novel, but I would disagree with that classification. If anything, this is more of a hybrid. The main character is an early twenties hacker/activist (“hacktivist”) who’s living at home and dealing with his over-attentive mom, the annoyingly devout girl next door, first heartbreak, and an all-powerful instrument of the state who wants nothing m...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Summertime reading for me is a time to revisit old favorites or read the "new in paperback" titles that I missed in hardcover. "Alif the Unseen" is the exception! Just released in hardcover this is a must-read, not-to-be-missed summer read. The title character, Alif, is a young hacker living in the Middle East fleeing from a state security thug known only as "The Hand". Unfortunately his childhood friend, the devout Dina, gets swept up in Alif's troubling adventure and as they run from the gover...more

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Jul 25, 2012 Malakalima rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, magical-realism, read-2012

So fun! I thoroughly enjoyed this read! It combined so many things that really pique my interest, so it was a definite must read. I ordered it pretty much right away after I first saw it, and I'm so glad I did!
Got to say I really enjoyed the witty/funny parts of the dialogue. I smiled and laughed many times while reading this book.

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Jun 03, 2012 Phil rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was reminded a little of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman but this author has her own voice and her interests and research into history, computer science and the Internet shine through the material and characters. I thoroughly enjoyed Alif the Unseen and would highly recommend it.

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Apr 25, 2013 Ryandake rated it 3 of 5 stars

as a die-hard fan of cross-cultural sf, i was pretty happy to run across this book. there's a serious dearth of sf from any Muslim culture, even imaginary ones. pity there has not been more translated from the Middle East or any other Muslim culture or subculture.

the author, as one reads in the afterword, is a convert to Islam. i don't really know what her experience with Muslim cultures is, but to my limited experience, her invented culture in this book feels fairly authentic, with one exceptio...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Maria rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sf-fantasy

A boy with a computer program that can identify people on the Internet by their keystroke patterns. A girl with a book written by djinn entitled “The Thousand and One Days.” And outside their doors, it’s the beginning of the Spring Revolution all over the Middle East. Wilson finds the common thread between technology and mytholoy and wraps it all in a modern fantasy adventure that’s gripping and fun to read.

In Arab mythology the djinn are called the “invisible ones.” But Wilson quickly draws a p...more A boy with a computer program that can identify people on the Internet by their keystroke patterns. A girl with a book written by djinn entitled “The Thousand and One Days.” And outside their doors, it’s the beginning of the Spring Revolution all over the Middle East. Wilson finds the common thread between technology and mytholoy and wraps it all in a modern fantasy adventure that’s gripping and fun to read.

In Arab mythology the djinn are called the “invisible ones.” But Wilson quickly draws a parallel between the magical folk of myth and young people who spend most of their time socializing online. When the hero, Alif, is hunted down by State Security and forced to go offline, he wails to his two friends, Dina and Abdullah:

“And now I’m a ghost in the machine. By next week all the hacks and geeks and hats I call my friends will have forgotten who I am. That is the nature of this business. That is the Internet.”

“You still have real friends,” said Dina. The two men made identical derisive noises.

“Internet friends are real friends,” said Abdullah. “Now that you pious brothers and sisters have taken over half the planet, the Internet is the only place left to have a worthwhile conversation.”

But Wilson’s book doesn’t dismiss Islam in simple terms. One of the main characters is the Imam of the local mosque. And he has a very realistic view of what’s wrong with society:

“Oil,” the sheikh shook his head. “The great cursed wealth from beneath the ground that the Prophet foresaw would destroy us. And statehood--what a terrible idea that was, eh? This part of the world was never meant to function that way. Too many languages, too many tribes, too motivated by ideas those high-heeled cartographers from Paris couldn’t understand. Don’t understand. Will never understand. Well, God save them--they’re not the ones who have to live in this mess. They said a modern state needs a single leader, a secular leader, and the emir was the closest thing we had. So to the emir went all the power. And anyone who thinks that isn’t a good idea is hounded down and tossed in jail, as you have so recently discovered. All so that some pantywaist royal nephew can have a seat at the UN and carry a flag in the Olympics and be thoroughly ignored.”

The best parts of the novel involve the intervention of the unseen world into this reality, both the world of the djinn and the online world. Wilson makes strong connections between the zeros and ones that symbolize data and functions on a computer with the metaphors of mythology, literature, and the Koran which symbolize deeper themes, and have multiple meanings simultaneously. When her hero attempts to program a computer to understand metaphors, the narrative turns in a wild and unforeseen direction.

Even the characters themselves embody multiple meanings. Her hero, Alif, has two names: his online handle (Alif)--the first letter of the alphabet, shaped like a single vertical slash--and his given name, which remains unseen throughout most of the novel. He’s half-Arab and half-Indian, and is forced to master multiple languages: Arabic, Hindi, English, C++, and eventually the language of the djinn.

The unnamed city itself is a conglomeration, but not a melting pot, each area separate, but ultimately involved with the other: “The City, Abdullah had once quipped, is divided into three parts: old money, new money, and no money. It had never supported a middle class and had no ambition to do so--one was either a nonresident of Somewhere-istan, sending the bulk of one’s salary home to desperate relatives, or one was a scion of the oil boom.” Or one is like Alif, a child of two worlds, living with his Indian mother, but surviving on the “driblets” of money sent by his wealthy, absent father--a child of Nowhere-istan, unless you count the unseen world of the Internet.

This is a fantastic work of fiction (in multiple ways), and takes us inside the hearts and minds of the young protagonists who fueled the Spring Revolution. And it gives us a beautiful peek inside the unseen world (at least in the West) of Arab mythology and cultural concerns.

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Apr 10, 2013 Sandra added it Recommends it for: mystery lovers

Recommended to Sandra by: no one; found at Library

Shelves: fiction, other-cultures, page-turner

I really liked this book; I'd give it 4 stars. What a lovely blend of fiction, mysticism, mythology and lyricism! While the book delves into a lot of computer terminology, it is comprehensible even to amateurs; at least enough to follow the plot line. The characters are interesting, some even funny, offbeat, and bizarre. Setting the book in a Muslim country gives a unique perspective. Demons, jinns, and other mytical creatures appear. Alif, the Arab/Indian hero is in love with Intisar, a girl of...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Christopher McKitterick rated it 5 of 5 stars

Speculative fiction has been undergoing significant changes lately, as significant and revolutionary in the genre as the New Wave or Cyberpunk. The genre has not remained stagnant since the 80s, but has matured and grown in subtle ways that have been difficult to track as they took place.

I refer to those two movements in SF because ALIF THE UNSEEN is very much a combination of them both.

Like the New Wave authors, Wilson's writing demonstrates a mastery of and love for language, human character,...more

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Mar 27, 2013 Jo Penney rated it 4 of 5 stars

The reader is first drawn in to a scene from long ago and then moved seamlessly to modern day. This is where we meet Alif, his neighbor, Dina and become aware of his high-born love who has been promised in marriage to ‘The Hand of God’.

There’s a nice little twist of romance there, but the story also introduces us to the world of computer hackers, and those who wish to float off the radar of government censorship. Alif is their protection until he hacks his love’s computer and finds himself on th...more The reader is first drawn in to a scene from long ago and then moved seamlessly to modern day. This is where we meet Alif, his neighbor, Dina and become aware of his high-born love who has been promised in marriage to ‘The Hand of God’.

There’s a nice little twist of romance there, but the story also introduces us to the world of computer hackers, and those who wish to float off the radar of government censorship. Alif is their protection until he hacks his love’s computer and finds himself on the run with Dina, now unwittingly involved.

There is much tradition woven into the story that gives the reader an insight of modern Arab life while still showing that young people have much in common the world over and it is this very point that makes the novel universally appealing.

We have government agents wearing sunglasses at night (let the Corey Hart rift begin) and modern men creating rooms with sheets to separate male and female sleeping quarters in a very traditional and moralistic gesture.

The chase for Alif and the book his beloved has passed to him via Dina, sees shootings, chases scenes (non-Hollywood style) that build tension nicely.

The added dimension of the Djinn or jinn is woven throughout the book, with characters questioning beliefs, looking beyond the seen, and deeper than the surface of their understand – hence you can expect to see a lot of character growth throughout this novel.

The novel is refreshing in its writing and plot details, well paced to keep the reader hooked and a mix of cultural views, given the very different positions the characters hold in society. The subtle commentary on this should not be over looked, as it is important to the storyline in many obvious and subtle ways.

I found the novel hard to start as I lack knowledge of hacking and many computer terms, and I am just as uneducated as to Arabic culture. However, if you have the same problem I suggest persevering for the first 50 pages or so and by then many of the terms have gathered enough context to be remembered and comprehended, not to mention the action that has started by then should carry you through until the end.

If you like young adult fantasy then this is something new and powerful to add to your collection. It’s a fantasy that will make you think as well as escape – I haven’t read a lot that do the too so well in quite awhile.

http://www.joannepenney.com/2012/08/a...(less)

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Mar 08, 2013 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Neophiles, neophytes, coders and decoders; djinn and afrits

Recommended to Alan by: io9's ten best of 2012, and numerous other sources

Celebrated Gregory Maguire is quoted on the dust jacket of this version of Alif the Unseen, "Open the first page and you will be forced to do its bidding: to read on." Maguire has it right... it's very, very hard to put this book down. I zipped through it within 36 hours of opening its covers for the first time, despite those hours being rather busy otherwise for me as well.

Alif the Unseen is an admirable mix of fantasy and cyberpunk, putting me in mind of writers like William Gibson and Neal St ...more

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Feb 28, 2013 Jason Speck rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that is described as 'genre-bending' because it defies our narrow attempts to describe it in a word or two. This may cause it to miss some readers, which is a true shame, because Alif the Unseen is an amazing combination of mystery, adventure, fantasy, religion, mythology, technology, politics, current events, romance, philosophy, and magic all rolled into a single narrative (and I'm sure I've left a few things out).

Early in the novel, half-Indian, half-Arab Alif is, b...more

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Feb 08, 2013 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Intensely similar to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash , G. Willow Wilson blends fantasy, technology, and politics into a surprisingly riveting coming-of-age story. Not only being a work intensely indebted to Middle Eastern myth and the Arab Spring, it is a love story, but it's also a meta-novel. So, now you know what it is; let me tell you why all of these things work, albeit some better than others.

It begins with an introduction that primes you for the fantasy element of the story: a book, the cou...more Intensely similar to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash , G. Willow Wilson blends fantasy, technology, and politics into a surprisingly riveting coming-of-age story. Not only being a work intensely indebted to Middle Eastern myth and the Arab Spring, it is a love story, but it's also a meta-novel. So, now you know what it is; let me tell you why all of these things work, albeit some better than others.

It begins with an introduction that primes you for the fantasy element of the story: a book, the counter part of A Thousand and One Nights , narrated by a djinn who lectures the transcriber on the nature of information. However, the following chapters are almost devoid of any fantastical element other than trace elements lurking in the religious customs/speech. This is a brilliant move, because you effectively forget about all of that when you get caught up in the introduction to Alif. Indeed, the fantasy element, one of the most effective uses of Middle Eastern myth that I've ever encountered, works because it is so subtle and spare. There are no grand spells or any old men in robes with a staff. The world of the djinn is presented as precisely that: another world entirely. They have different forms and animals play into the equation, but the fact that they exist in a mirror world ensures that the fantastical has a kind of normalcy to it. The magic isn't ostentatious, do you know what I mean? So you have an easier time suspending your disbelief.

The next element, the coming-of-age part, is slightly less well done. You buy into Alif, a romantic, if foolish boy for all of his computer coding, and, initially, his star-crossed romance with Intisar, a woman above his socio-economic level. The blending of this with Alif's work as a techie shield for dissident voices against the censorious government engages the interest. However, Alif's lovesickness grows a little tedious, but luckily the political stuff ups the ante. Intisar's fiancee, The Hand, is a formidable force. The man responsible for tracking down the rebels, causing the online community and Alif no small amount of worry, perfectly encapsulates that almost inexpressible terror that conflicts in the Middle East have. A government who shows no qualms about torture and has a heavy, invasive presence is a threat that is oppressive, even on the page. Once The Hand's state agents start to circle and Alif and his plucky neighbor Dina are forced to go on the run, Alif's lame devotion to Intisar is palatable as you realize just how young and unprepared for real life he is.

Wilson deftly weaves the fantasy back in and also the controlling thread of the meta-concept. Like Snow Crash , Wilson makes use of the inherent linguistic slipperiness and does a good job of explaining the tricky relationship with sign and signifier. This, like Stephenson's book, is related to the concept of language and the new language, that of computer code. Both concerned with the changing informational landscape, I think Wilson does a better job expressing this anxiety about the metamorphosis of our world into one of computers. Juxtaposed with Islam religion at almost every turn, the fraught relationship of the doubting Alif to his real life world, Dina's faith, and the djinn is engaging. All the on-point concepts of translation vs. interpretation, the historical weight of words as well as their potential for future meaning-all of that is simply articulated and understandable and, hopefully, rather thought-provoking to those who have never thought about language in that way before.

That being said, the book does fall into a little bit of trouble past the halfway point. Vikram, a loveable though stock character, and the convert are a nebulous piece of the plot that with a little bit more fleshing out could have avoided the deus ex machina feeling. The Intisar and The Hand plot line also becomes a bit too convenient. There are quite a few loose ends that could have been better explained to rid the ending of that slightly random feeling and some ends that get tied up that simultaneously lend an air of cheesiness. However, the growth of Alif's character and Dina's small, though powerful bouts of awesomeness are great.

Other notable points: the many allusions throughout the book. Star Wars and Western literature all sneak in to provide the reader with smirky moments. The life-as-book ending is a great, if unoriginal tactic. Plus, the satisfaction of Dina as a female character, religious but displaying the fact that religion is not necessarily female-oppressive (though there is a reference to female circumcision which just...the rage I feel is inarticulable, but this might be cultural, not religious-if that is possible to separate out), really made me happy. The fact that her strength is not only displayed, but also acknowledged by the other male characters? Perfection.

Overall, an enjoyable, worthwhile read that has "literariness" in it without being too pretentious. I'd definitely put this on a high school classroom reading list, but adults will probably find the political themes way more satisfying.(less)

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Dec 28, 2012 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-fairs-spring-2013, book-group, gms-spring, grownup-books, guys-read, high-school-and-beyond, high-school-fairs, mid-east-novels-and-memoirs

Alif the Unseen is a sweeping story set in the sandy dust of the modern mideast. Alif is a 'hacker' who makes a living cloaking dissidents of any ilk from 'State' discovery. Discovery by the State is tantamount to a death sentence so the work Alif does is dangerous and in the interest of free flowing ideas, important.
In the course of events he meets a young woman online and falls in love. Alas their romances is not to be- she is given to an aristocrat who can keep her in the lifestyle she value...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Sheenagh Pugh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, novels

I think this might be the first novel to take a computer geek for a hero and make a real success of it. The problem has been that sitting in front of a screen typing has never, hitherto, had much dramatic or narrative potential. But if you set your scene in the months leading up to the Arab Spring, in an unidentified, heavily censored society where using the internet is a way of evading and thwarting the state security system, and if you further exploit the parallels between the virtual, the fic...more I think this might be the first novel to take a computer geek for a hero and make a real success of it. The problem has been that sitting in front of a screen typing has never, hitherto, had much dramatic or narrative potential. But if you set your scene in the months leading up to the Arab Spring, in an unidentified, heavily censored society where using the internet is a way of evading and thwarting the state security system, and if you further exploit the parallels between the virtual, the fictional and the magical worlds, things can quickly become far more interesting.

Alif (his screen handle; he chooses not to use his real name) spends his young life online helping others avoid state censorship; doesn't matter what of, or what state, though he does have to devote a lot of resources to outwitting the security forces of the one he lives in. Disappointed in love, he devises a program designed to make himself invisible online to his ex. But it does far more than he ever intended and he finds himself on the run from the state's own leading computer expert. In the process he discovers that the online world is not the only one where people can be unknown and unseen by others, where nobody goes by their right name and the barriers between the real and the fictional are permeable to say the least.

Me, I'm a sucker for any book that offers djinns, afreets, ancient books of cryptic fairytales, solid walls that reveal hidden entrances to alleys that exist in another dimension, and cats that aren't quite what they seem. But even if you aren't usually a devotee of novels with a fantasy element, this one might be the exception, because it is also sharply modern and political. Most of all, it is about how little any of us know about the richness of each other's inner worlds, as Alif finds when his friend Dina, who has worn the veil since girlhood, throws it over his head to shelter him:

He could not have guessed the world she had created for herself. Sewn into the underside of her long outer cloak were patches of bright silk, patterned, beaded, spangled with points of light

The author is an American living in Cairo, who has previously written journalism for opposition papers and blogs, and graphic novels. If this is what happens when a history graduate specialising in Arabic literature meets new media, I'm all for it. When two worlds collide, whether east and west or ancient and modern, something new and interesting is always liable to happen on the faultline.(less)

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Dec 22, 2012 Grady McCallie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. A callow young hacker, jilted by his first love, stumbles into the bad graces of the chief of police -- and also, into the company of djinns straight out of the Thousand and One Nights.

The publisher's jacket blurb claims the book has shades of Neal Stephenson and Philip Pullman. That's half right: like Snow Crash, Alif the Unseen includes a young computer whiz, brutal opponents, and a cool theory of information as a main driver of the plot. But the comparison to Pullman is misleading. Pullman's...more A callow young hacker, jilted by his first love, stumbles into the bad graces of the chief of police -- and also, into the company of djinns straight out of the Thousand and One Nights.

The publisher's jacket blurb claims the book has shades of Neal Stephenson and Philip Pullman. That's half right: like Snow Crash, Alif the Unseen includes a young computer whiz, brutal opponents, and a cool theory of information as a main driver of the plot. But the comparison to Pullman is misleading. Pullman's tale subverts religious faith in favor of a bleak, if clear sighted, atheism. In contrast, Alif the Unseen is religious, with dogmatic certainties embedded in the story in a way that reminded me of C.S. Lewis' Narnian Chronicles, albeit from an Islamic rather than a Christian perspective. The character Dina, a young woman who chose to take the veil at age twelve, is consistently depicted in a way that validates her modesty and strict observance of Islamic law; it's ultimately her faith, and the protagonist's gradual submission to it, that permits redemption (on an individual and social scale). It's no accident that the heroine, early in the book, describes Pullman's Golden Compass as 'dangerous' and 'full of pagan images'.

Wilson is herself a convert to Islam, so it's interesting that she introduces a character -- an American usually referred to as 'the convert' -- into the story. The portrait is not particularly positive; the convert is, in some ways, the least mentally flexible character. Perhaps having her in the book insulates Wilson from the criticism that she's abused her new faith in writing this book. It's not hard to suspect that Wilson identifies much more with Dina than with the convert.

At its core, the book is an extended wisdom teaching - a genre that's very much part (though only one part) of the original Thousand and One Nights. That agenda gives the book its better moments. Wilson's descriptive prose serves, without thrilling; but her dialogue is much stronger, especially when the characters are critiquing each others' values and choices. At their best, Wilson's characters, human or djinn, are believable both as individuals and as spokespeople for distinct moral views. On the other hand, if you find yourself resisting the underlying coercion of the Narnian Chronicles -- that Aslan knows best, and the only way to be happy is to accept the conventional and somewhat treacly moral lessons Lewis puts in his mouth - you may find Dina/Wilson similarly frustrating.(less)

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Dec 21, 2012 Wally rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, boy-hero, coming-of-age, doorway-character, doorway-language, doorway-plot, doorway-setting, geeks, islam, myths-and-gods, romance, speculative-fic

This has to be one of the best books I've read this year. Alif, a 23 year old hacker who shelters the data of a number of rebels, dissidents, Islamists, and outlaws, has been sleeping with an aristocratic young woman who drops him when she becomes betrothed to a prince, a man who is also the head of State security and a hacker in his own right. Alif's run from the law, along with a woman he has grown up with and a mystical book that his ex-lover sent him, takes him into the stranger parts of his...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Sps rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, story

Not Neal Stephenson, or even New Reduced Calorie Neal Stephenson, but I might recommend it to his fans anyway for its happily techie breathlessness, battles, and romance.

Part of what I really enjoyed was the glimpse of a culture about which I'm pretty ignorant: the omnipresent homophobia ("ass-coveter" was the most common casual insult the book), the excruciating local hierarchies of ethnicity, class, and color, the way everyone from juvenile delinquent to sheikh to educated hacker called themse...more

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The Verge Book Club: Alif the Unseen final chapters discussion	1	18	Jan 27, 2013 09:03pm
The Verge Book Club: We have three signed copies of 'Alif the Unseen' to give away!	1	28	Jan 03, 2013 07:47am
The Verge Book Club: 'Alif the Unseen' Chapters 1 through 5 Discussion	1	50	Jan 01, 2013 10:56am
The Verge Book Club: Reading schedule for Alif the Unseen	1	30	Jan 01, 2013 10:32am
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“All translations are made up" opined Vikram, "Languages are different for a reason. You can't move ideas between them without losing something” — 18 people liked it

“Be careful with this one" said Dina, bending down to greet the cat. "All cats are half jinn, but I think she's three quarters.” — 9 people liked it

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