Alif The Unseen

ALIF THE UNSEEN

by G. Willow Wilson

 

Nominations: Center For Fiction Finalist 2012, Women’s Prize Longlist 2013

 

Date Read: May 22, 2023

 

Alif The Unseen is part technological thriller and fantasy mystery. Wilson takes from the past, present and future to combine this tale into a Harry Potter meets Hackers. A strange combo indeed. Although I’m not entirely sure it’s my cup of tea, I do appreciate the spell Wilson wove, the well-researched subject matter and her combination of technology and spirituality.

 

Alif is a hacker whose entire world is lived in zeros and ones. He rarely leaves his room and when he does, it’s to visit his friends at Radio Sheikh. Because of his online world, he becomes involved with a woman online that spills over into the real world. Intisar is wealthy and out of his league. The only way they can be together is in secret.

 

One day she sends him a book, the Alf Yeom, and so begins the running that upends Alif’s life for the next 4 months. He is chased to find Vikram the Vampire, who sends him to an underworld full of jinn, who sees him hiding out in a mosque and getting a sweet sheikh involved. Dina, his building neighbor, is by his side the entire time and he slowly begins to realize the love he feels for her is real, whereas the feelings he had for Intisar were nothing but infatuation.

 

A book scholar comes into the picture, known as the convert. She is an American who converted to Islam and while trying to source the progeny of the Alf Yeom, she becomes enmeshed in this debacle as well. There is languishing in prison, crashing in sand dunes, hiding out in an alternate reality and surviving a full-blown riot before Alif is able to take a deep breath again.

 

While I’m not sure I felt anything other than panic at certain points, this novel is a fun ride for those more inclined towards fantasy. I am not one of those people but enjoyed it nonetheless.

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