Alif the Unseen

Alif the Unseen is something truly unique – an urban fantasy spin on djinns and the Arabian Nights from a Muslim author, set in the the modern Middle East/Arab world. It sits on the edge between the genres of urban fantasy and cyberpunk in a delightful way, with computer code invoking imagery of the worlds of djinn and fantastical creatures. Like good speculative fiction, Wilson uses the speculative elements to cast a light on aspects of “real life” in the modern world, namely surveillance and suppression of the populace as the true scourge of the Arab world, oppressive to both the religious and the secular.

In the praise column here is also Wilson's beautiful, nuanced, discussion of religion, belief and faith. She contrasts the beliefs of several characters who do and don't believe in religion and/or djinn to various degrees of literalism. This exploration is fascinating. Many of the ideas, such as how to believe in the fantastic are generalizable across religions. It also was fascinating as a discourse on Islam.

Usually, any truly unique book on my shelf gets four stars, and this is truly unique and well-done. However, there is a major drawback that I would feel remise if I didn't address, which is the female characters. I know that Wilson is much believed for her work on the Miss Marvel series, which I had not read. However, there is not a shred of evidence of feminism in this book. The female characters have no agency at all and exist largely to be sexualized/romanticized by the male characters who do have agency. No book needs to be perfect in every respect, but the extent to which female characters exist only for male gaze here is beyond just failing the Bechdel test and borders on disturbing.

Executive Summary: A blend of fantasy, technology, politics, and religion that just worked for me. I really enjoyed this book.Full ReviewI seem to be a hot streak lately. I try not to give out 5 stars lightly. Based on good reads, I've given 5 stars to roughly 13% of the 221 books I've rated as of this writing. 18% of those have been given out this year. It's not exactly relevant to this review, but I'm an engineer and that sort of thing interests me.I forget where exactly I first heard about this book, but Sword and Laser did an interview with Ms. Wilson last year, and that moved this book up in my list. The paperback was released last month, so I've finally gotten around to reading it.I was expecting this book to be more cyberpunk than fantasy considering the main character is a hacker. After reading it, I wouldn't classify it as cyberpunk or even sci-fi. It is however a great book.People who know me well would probably tell you I'm not very political or religious. That doesn't mean I'm not interested in those things, but both can be very sensitive issues, and I tend not to discuss them. This book contains some of both, but I didn't feel like I was being preached to in any way.This book was being written prior the Arab Spring that occurred in Egypt. Ms. Wilson apparently saw this coming, and when no one seemed to want to listen to her talk about it, she was inspired to write a fictional story about it instead (based on an interview included in my book). She admits to having doubts that it might ever occur, but she hoped it could based on changes she was observing first hand.Alif is a young Muslim half Arab, half Indian(and therefore considered an outcast by the full Arabs apparently) hacker who lives in an nonspecific Middle East country. He is not particularly religious or political. He sells his computer skills to anyone who wants them: Communists, Fundamentalists, Dissidents, Smut Peddlers, etc. Anyone who needs to avoid being caught and arrested by a strict government censorship.Alif's world is suddenly turned upside down (thanks to a girl, go figure), discovers that the Jinn he's read about in books are real, and gets caught up in wild adventure where not only his life is at stake, but the lives of his friends, family and the country as a whole. Fans of [a:Patrick Rothfuss 108424 Patrick Rothfuss http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351307341p2/108424.jpg] may enjoy the stories within the story. I'm not sure if they are original stories by Ms. Wilson herself, Middle Eastern folk tales, or some combination of both.I hadn't really planned to read this in one weekend, and I very nearly read it all in one day. I think if I were a faster reader, I easily would have. I just couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it.

After just over 200 pages, it's time to throw in the towel. I had so much hope for this book. In short, Alif the Unseen is about a hacker named Alif who gets into trouble with the government. While on the run he receives an ancient copy of One Thousand and One Nights, and meets a real life Jinni. It's part quest, part love story, part retelling, part love story, part hot mess. I was really into the plotline, but I couldn't get behind the cast of characters. Most of it seemed rather predictable, and the other pieces just made little sense. I read a summary of the second half and am glad to be throwing in the towel. Most of it made me roll my eyes.

I'd be interested to see this made into a teen tv series. The rest of the book is a hard pass

I picked this up because I'm enjoying Wilson's comic book writing so much, and I mistakenly thought this would be some sort of YA-ish novel (which it only sort of is). The setting (in an unnamed country with The State in control) was new to me in various ways, but with the all-too-close-to-home impending surveillance state as a central character. Alif is charming in various ways, but not the most easily likable character at first. Watching him understand the world and himself as he navigates a crisis is one of the pleasures of the book. It also seems like Wilson has done her homework regarding the basics of hacking and various technologies–at least enough to make the book work well around those facets of the story. She's got some magical realism going on, and a host of interesting characters surrounding Alif (two of his women compatriots are particularly well-written).

There are also some pretty dark sections of the book–there is torture, and Wilson doesn't shy away from presenting it to us in all of it's horrific glory. That section of the book changed the entire tone for me, just as Alif also has his worldview shifted. It's a well-done move on the writer's part.

I hope she has some more novels coming...