Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson

G. Willow Wilson’s Alif the Unseen is an embracingly fresh and layered novel that has its faults, but remains entertaining and thought provoking throughout. Not to mention timely, as it deals with the idea of revolution and change in the Middle East, a book that is about the Arab Spring despite being written before the Arab Spring actually took place.

Alif the Unseen is set in a nameless “City” in an authoritarian Arab country ruled by an Emir whose security apparatus has long kept the population in check. Included in that apparatus is “one of the most sophisticated digital policing systems in the world,” though one that up to now our main hacker protagonist Alif has managed to elude as he lends his considerable computer skills to “anyone who could pay for his protection... Islamists, anarchists, secularists — whoever asks.” Alif’s ideology is fre... Read More