Alif the Unseen

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.