With Alif The Unseen- A Book Review

Alif the Unseen was published in 2012 by G. Willow Wilson. Maria Suggested this book for me, check out her awesome blog here!  It tells the story of an Arab-Indian Hacker in an unnamed Arab country (geographically around Iran, but reads like an oil-rich GCC country) as he finds himself in trouble with his totalitarian government. So he flees to the most unlikely ally, the Jinn.

Reviewing this book is difficult; while reading it, I loved it. I couldn't put it down. But afterwards, thinking back, I am able to punch holes in the whole thing. While reading I considered giving it 5 stars. Now, I'm not so sure.

There's no denying that this book is beautifully written; with mesmerizing imagery that got me completely engrossed in their world and invested in every character. The plot is fast paced and kept me hooked throughout the book.

However, the first half  blatantly adopts plot points from George Orwell's 1984 though I guess that's acceptable since there's only so much you can do with a rebellion-against-a-totalitarian-government story.

The mixture of  folklore, religion, science and politics seems like an interesting combination, and potentially could be; except that Wilson over-simplified each aspect so that it became a non-cohesive cocktail. It's true that she seems to know about Islam, but missed out on the point that magic is an abomination of Islam. Arab politics is only portrayed in black and white, good and evil, while politics in general is usually several shades of grey.  And as to the greatest miss-step of all, she butchered the science aspect completely. It is obvious from the begging that the narrator knows nothing about computers or technology. It is just a truck load of "technobable" with random techy words thrown in, like linux, C++, RAM.  

Perhaps all these downfalls are because of the sheer number of plot points. Maybe if the plot had been cut down a bit, there would be more realistic plot progression and character development.

Yet on the other hand, these things didn't bother me while I was reading. I was so absorbed into their world that I didn't see any fault in it; except for the fact that the plot seemed to drag on a bit longer than it should.

So maybe I'm just too fussy, read the book and see for yourself, maybe even share your opinion with me.