I hadn’t heard of G. Willow Wilson previously. In fact the first time I heard of her was when I saw the rave reviews for her new novel Alif the Unseen. So, I decided that with all the rave reviews, I should at least give the book a chance. Am I glad that I decided to. Wilson has spun a fun mashup of jinn and hacking that I haven’t seen previously. Wilson has a great voice and does a great job telling the story she wants, not the story you expect to read. So, let’s see what the book is about.

Alif is the handle for an young man in the Persian Gulf. He is of mixed Hindu/Muslim lineage and deals with the expectations and problems for both sides. He is a hacker and local security handler for people who would rather that the government not see what they are doing online. Alif is also in love with Intisar, a young woman with an aristocratic background. When Intisar cuts off contact and says that she is now engaged to the head of Internet Security, known as The Hand of God, she requests not to hear from him again. So Alif does what he knows how to do best, he codes. He comes up with an amazing program that can learn who a person is, not just by name, but by their online presence. He installs the program on Intisar’s computer and sets it up so that it will erase all traces of him from her life.

Then a security breach comes and starts breaking through every firewall and proxy and security mechanism he has set up and Alif is on the run. Not only has the Hand defeated his security, the Hand now has his code which can track and erase any person from the Internet. Alif, along with the girl next door Dina, escape through the back alleys and eventually find themselves being under the protection of a jinn known as Vikram the Vampire (NOTE: not a real vampire) and with a book that Intisar sent Alif known as Alf Yeom. The Alf Yeom is reportedly a book of stories told by a jinn to a human, that tries to explain the jinn world to humans.

The rest of the book follows the groups experiences in jinn world, in jail and in open revolt against the government in scenes that are reminiscent of the Arab Spring. Their is also a growing relationship between Alif and Dina as Alif realizes that Intisar was a lovely mirage, but Dina is more of a real person. We are also introduced to a rouge Prince, who had been a customer of Alif and is able to use his royalty to help out as best he can. And more jinn join in and help out (or at least say they will) as they realize what the Hand has on his side.

The characters, both jinn and human, are wonderfully drawn. They are brave and scared and determined and make mistakes and sacrifices. They are real people (or jinn) brought to life in the novel. The story takes many twists and turns and always leaves you wondering what is happening next without ever expressing confusion about what happened. The location is a character in the book as well. This is not a story that could have been told in a Western city. The location in the Persian Gulf is required for the story and Wilson does a great job making sure we see the city as it is without getting lost. The ending does a great job of wrapping up most of the loose ends and showing us what happened.

Overall, I was very impressed by the novel and it has made me want to track down her additional work (I see she’s written some graphic novels, which I might be able to track down) and to look forward to future novels from Wilson. The mixture of Islam and western technology is an interesting viewpoint which isn’t seen very much. I enjoyed looking behind the scenes at a culture that I’m not familiar with. And Wilson makes it easy to follow along and see through other’s eyes. Highly recommended.