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A review by canaanmerchant
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
5.0
Alif the Unseen is a timely fantasy novel set in what we now know is only the beginning of the Arab Spring. Alif is the codename (though he calls it a handle) of a hacker in an unnamed gulf emirate.
The book is fast paced and gets to right to it quickly. Alif gets into trouble, in a fast and big way and is on the run from an oppressive state that can track him both online and "IRL" plunging Alif into way more real than he could have ever imagined. Both Alif and the State resort to supernatural help as well while the Alf Yeom a mysterious book said to be the product of Jinn remains at the center. Alif soon discovers that there is much more the world than what he sees. It's funny that the characters most willing to accept the present of the fantastic in the story are also the most disconnected from modern technology, something increasingly used by many of us to create and live out our own fantasies.
Wilson is able to give a voice to a wide array of characters that have close paralells to today. There is tension between the nation state and the old way of doing things, conservative vs. liberal wings of islam, and a plethora of other tensions present both in the novel and the real world. Some of the best characters are the women. There is an American known as "the Convert" who is an excellent cipher (in a book and plot filled with them) for sensitive westerners who despite our best intentions still can manage to not get it about other cultures. Dina is Alif's neighbor and a woman who chose the veil at a very young age when it wasn't even expected of her social station. Her character is given a lot of agency and does a lot to subvert many of our orientalist impressions of a veiled woman.
Another delight are the (too few unfortunately) tales direct from the Alf Yeom, the book Alif is responsible for. Those that are there are wonderful subversions of different types of fables and other morality plays that remind us that a lesson is something not inherent to any story.
The book is fast paced and gets to right to it quickly. Alif gets into trouble, in a fast and big way and is on the run from an oppressive state that can track him both online and "IRL" plunging Alif into way more real than he could have ever imagined. Both Alif and the State resort to supernatural help as well while the Alf Yeom a mysterious book said to be the product of Jinn remains at the center. Alif soon discovers that there is much more the world than what he sees. It's funny that the characters most willing to accept the present of the fantastic in the story are also the most disconnected from modern technology, something increasingly used by many of us to create and live out our own fantasies.
Wilson is able to give a voice to a wide array of characters that have close paralells to today. There is tension between the nation state and the old way of doing things, conservative vs. liberal wings of islam, and a plethora of other tensions present both in the novel and the real world. Some of the best characters are the women. There is an American known as "the Convert" who is an excellent cipher (in a book and plot filled with them) for sensitive westerners who despite our best intentions still can manage to not get it about other cultures. Dina is Alif's neighbor and a woman who chose the veil at a very young age when it wasn't even expected of her social station. Her character is given a lot of agency and does a lot to subvert many of our orientalist impressions of a veiled woman.
Another delight are the (too few unfortunately) tales direct from the Alf Yeom, the book Alif is responsible for. Those that are there are wonderful subversions of different types of fables and other morality plays that remind us that a lesson is something not inherent to any story.