Alif the Unseen

Alif the Unseen is one of the most interesting books I’ve read in a long time. It tells the tale of a twenty-three year old half-Arab, half-Indian hacker who goes by the internet alias of Alif. His time is spent providing security to those who pay and protecting them and his online colleagues from the Hand – the state’s most powerful censor.

Things take a turn for the worse when the girl that Alif finds himself in love with, the highborn and noble Intisar, breaks his heart. Using all his computer programming skills, Alif develops a program that will effectively shield him from ever seeing Intisar’s online presence ever again. But the program develops a life of its own and works better than Alif ever could have expected and then falls into the wrong hands – those of the Hand himself aka Intisar’s fiancé.

Before cutting off communication with Alif forever, Intisar sends him one last message in the form of an old book, The Thousand and One Days. Unsure with what his former love is trying to tell him and with the Hand tracking him down, Alif goes on the run with his childhood friend, Dina, and together with the help from ancient magical creatures, who the duo were always lead to believe shouldn’t exist, they start to realize that there’s more to the world than ever imagined.

This book is about so much more than I expected from the onset. Technology, religion, politics and magic – and somehow the author managed to combine them all in a way that worked for me as a reader. I’m not sure I’ve ever read, nor will ever read again, a novel which manages to incorporate ancient mythological creatures and the modern technological world like I witnessed in this book. I was intrigued by the idea that magic existed in this novel – not just in the mythological Jinn or in an ancient manuscript but in the modern day activities like computer programming.

The characters grew on me as I got into the story. Alif is more than just the anti-government love-sick computer programmer that he appears at the start. He grows into an imaginative, loyal and intelligent man who is an adequate foil for the Hand. He proves to be brave and resilient. Vikram the Vampire was incredibly interesting. He’s neither good nor evil but self-serving and for me, by far the most fascinating character in the novel.

I feel like many of the concepts in this novel remain “unseen” to me and I would probably benefit from a re-read somewhere down the track but I thoroughly enjoyed reading Alif the Unseen. It made me think about morality and religion, information and perception in a way that I’d not considered previously.

I am not entirely sure how to classify this novel: is it a fantasy, is a thriller? But in the end I don’t think it really matters what I will say is that it has been a while since I had so much fun reading a book. At times I felt like a little girl immersed in a fantastic world of Philip Pullman, at other times I was remembering the thrill of reading my first Neil Gaiman and at times I was even thinking about The Tiger’s Wife. What a great and clever fusion of all sorts of great things: technology and art, myths and contemporary political situation, oppressive regimes and the world of jinn’s, all of it in one amazing story told in a fresh and interesting way. I honestly think that everybody will find something interesting in it even if our interpretations might vary slightly. I could not put this book down and I can't wait for her next one!

I had no real idea what to expect from Alif the Unseen but I was quickly drawn in by the novels clever blend of technology, religion, magic and politics. Alif is a young computer hacker, part Indian, part Arab, waging a bloodless war against the digital censors of the Arab Emirates. Without much thought for the consequences, he offers digital protection to whomever can afford his services and takes pride in eluding government control, sharing his knowledge and accomplishments in the Cloud. When his relationship with a highborn Arab woman goes sour, Alif creates a program to keep himself from her sight, unwittingly giving the unidentified government censor, called 'The Hand', a weapon that is turned against him. Branded a terrorist and forced to run, Alif, with a book gifted to him from his lost love along with his pious neighbour Dina, seek help from Vikram the Vampire, a Jinn, who joins them on their desperate journey through the worlds of magic, man and technology to evade capture, and start a revolution.

Original,intriguing and clever, Alif The Unseen is a surprising and entertaining adventure. Set in a small Arab country under tight government control it also has real life parallels with the protests against digital censorship, amongst other things, leading to the 'Arab Spring' in 2010. Into a tale of modern day oppression, censorship and revolution, Wilson weaves the myths and legends of the Persian Gulf, jinn, genies, devils, shadows and the centuries old fables within the Book of One Thousand and One Days (as opposed to Nights). That such disparate elements mesh so seamlessly is to the author's credit and though the plot is complex at times, its depth keeps the readers interest even when the storytelling lags briefly.

I enjoyed the 'supernatural' element to this novel, Jinns of questionable intent, monsters that lurk in the dark of the Unseen, even Aladin's genie makes an unexpected appearance. I admit some of the computer jargon went entirely over my head and I have no idea if any of what Alif achieved is, or ever will, be possible but it's an intriguing idea. Alif gives technology - code - it's own magic, it's own life in fact.

I grew to like Alif, who initially seems little more than a spoilt, disaffected youth but fumbles his way through adversity with surprising determination and demonstrates loyalty, wit and genius. Dina, Alif's veiled childhood friend is smart, brave and has some great lines. Vikram is both a saviour and the devil's advocate, the Sheikh lends the story his wisdom and dignity.

Equally likely to be enjoyed by a mature teen and adult audience, Alif the Unseen is well crafted, with a unique voice and a fresh story to tell. I'm surprised to be considering it as one of my favourite reads for 2012.