Alif the Unseen

by G. Willow Wilson

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 parents, and his computer has just been breached by the State s electronic security force, putting his clients and his own neck on the line. Then it turns out his lover s new fiance is the head of State security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers "The Thousand and One Days," the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen. With shades of Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, and "The Thousand and One Nights," "Alif the Unseen" is a tour de force debut a sophisticated melting pot of ideas, philosophy, religion, technology and spirituality smuggled inside an irresistible page-turner."

• ISBN10: 0802120202
• ISBN13: 9780802120205
• Publish Date: 19 June 2012
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 20 August 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

Wow, this is seriously an epic. It's easily one of the best books I've read, with its dynamic plot, momentum, beautiful character development, and discussion about very relevant issues.

Book content warnings:
harassment
homophobic slurs (really something I could've done without . . . :// )

Alif is a computer hacker who guards people (Islamists, bloggers, activists from Palestine to Pakistan, etc.) from the State and its internet censors. Those caught by the State are thrown in prison. When his computer is breached by the Hand, the head of State security, Alif's life is wrenched into a plot of jinn and danger the sort which could rival any story in The Thousand and One Days.

I'm pretty much in awe of G. Willow Wilson at the moment. She's created such a beautiful world reflecting our own, in an "unnamed Middle-Eastern secretary state". There's class tension, racial tension, religious tension, etc. She handles them masterfully, blending them into the plot seamlessly without stopping to lecture or talk down to her readers (although there are 100+ memorable and inspiring quotes threaded in here).

I'm not well acquainted with this part of the world, or how these tensions really form, so I can't really say how accurate/well-done these things are. I only know that reading them felt real and poignant - and written by a Muslim woman, I'm sure its her personal insights that make the book feel this way (there are many books that feel like a cheap souvenir when it comes to world-building inspired by a specific country or part of the world).

Characters are colorful, three dimensional, and memorable (except for maybe the cackling villain, haha, but it wasn't enough to dim my reading experience). There are dangerous but charming jinn, strong and flawed women, cowardly hackers who find their inner hero, etc. There's an amazing amount of characters, but it never gets confusing. Everyone is introduced and realized at the right time.

Yeah, there's a thousand beautiful things to say about this book, and only a few to critique. I need to buy it. Soon.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Alif is the online persona of a grey hat working in the United Arab Emirates, taken from the first letter in the Arabic alphabet. Alif is a 23 year old Arab/Indian, working in internet security who fell in love with an Arab aristocratic woman he met online. Their relationship is doomed from the start; her family would never accept someone outside her social class, let alone an Indian. Her father has already arranged a more suitable suitor for her; a mysterious and powerful man who is known online as ‘the Hand’, the states leading internet censor. In an attempt to get the girl, Alif has made a powerful enemy, one that forces him to go underground into the world of Jinn’s (genies), ghouls, demons and all the others that remain unseen.

Debut author G. Willow Wilson set out to write a book that can bring her three loves together. A love of comic books and all things geeky, as well as her love of literary fiction and that of her Muslim heritage. The result is Alif the Unseen, a rich blend of cyberpunk and urban fantasy that explores the Arabic culture as well as looks as many social-political issues. Personally I think Wilson set out to expose the bias that the online community has no social consciousness, and educate the world on Muslim culture as well as explore the societal impact of hackivism.

I picked up this novel because G. Willow Wilson is the writer behind the new Ms. Marvel; the fourth character to take on this superhero and is the first Muslim character to have their own Marvel series. After reading the first issue, I wanted to check out Alif the Unseen. I knew it was a cyberpunk/urban fantasy blend but now I expected a strong Arabic or Muslim presence. I didn’t except a literary approach to this genre, but I was pleasantly surprised, Wilson has a lot to say on the Middle East social-politically speaking but also she educates the reader on a culture that is possibly unfamiliar to them.

G. Willow Wilson also takes on Middle Eastern folklore and myths and blends these fables with a religious element. Take jinn for example, we know them as genies but Islamic belief divides sentient beings into three categories. These are Malayka (angels), Nas or Banu Adam (human) and Jinn (the hidden ones). Angels are genderless and have no free will, but humans and Jinn’s are gendered and have free will, this is why Islamics believe Satan was a Jinn and not an angel, as it is impossible for an angel to disobey the will of God. Also playing a role in the story is the hamsa (or the hand of Fatima) which is like a good luck charm in Islamic culture. In the Judeo-Christian world this is often called the hand of Mary or Miriam.

I also want to talk about hackivism. In this novel Alif lives in a heavily censored world; the government believes in having a tight control on what is on the internet. Alif is a grey hat; this is a hacker that doesn’t work for a cooperation of the government. The term comes from the old western metaphor where the good guys wore white hats and the villains had black hats. A grey hat would be someone whose activities and practices fell in a grey area. For Alif, it was a matter of free speech (and possibly money). He provided security for enemies of the Arad stats, militant Islamists and even pornographers. Sites that the government wants to shut down often turned to Alif or another grey hat for internet security.

I can probably go on and talk more about the range of topics that are going on in Alif the Unseen, but I fear I don’t have the knowledge of Middle Eastern folklore or culture, Islam and hackivism. One of the things I enjoy most about reading is the ability to explore different cultures and learn about the world. Alif the Unseen took me into the rich world of the United Arab Emirates and looked at many social issues, in particular class and religion. I’m not much of a fantasy reader but I do seem to prefer urban fantasy, add in the cyberpunk and literary elements and I’m happy. Alif the Unseen will entertain and educate all its readers; most people will just read it for the entertainment but I hope they take a little understanding with them.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/03/23/alif-the-unseen-by-g-willow-wilson/

[Beth C.]

This is the first time EVER that I felt compelled -repeatedly- to underline passages in a book that were either so beautifully written, or made a point so well, that I couldn't get them out of my head and needed to mark them.

The story is so timely, and the added mystical and religious elements were a wonderfully complex addition to a story that is essentially about technology, it's pros and cons, and the way it has altered every detail of our lives. As one character says, "...something fundamental has changed about the world in which we live. We have reached a state of constant reinvention. Revolutions have moved off the battlefield and on to home computers. Nothing shocks one anymore. We are living in a post-fictional era.".

It's a fascinating book, and one that makes some very good points. Plus, it has action, a bit of romance, and characters that could be found in almost every country in the world. This is one of the few books I've read lately that I can easily see myself going back and reading it again and again - and I'm certain that when I do, I will find more passages that compel me to underline them too.