Review: Alif the Unseen

Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Willow Wilson creatively explores the Arab Spring and computer programming. She then intertwined them with the unseen realm such as djinns and the legend of a long-lost city, Iram of the Pillars. The most appealing feature for me is how she brought upon the One Thousand and One Nights ( Alf Layla wa Layla) into the story. The Alf Layl which originally made for the human has another version exclusively only for djinn: One Thousand and One Days (Alf Yeom wa Yeom). Nothing good will come if Alf Yeom falls into a wrong person who can discover its secrets.

The main protagonist here is Alif, the grey hat hacker who lives in the unnamed middle eastern country. He helps anyone who requests his skill, whether it's Islamist, communist, anarchist and even pornographer who all tried to fight for the freedom of speech which confined by the current dictator.

When the fight put him in danger, he stumbled upon Alf Yeom. With the help of djinn, he deciphers the code and retaliates.

I must say I didn't know the author at first. I bought the book randomly in 2017. Then I googled her and amazed that she's also that author who wrote for the one and only Marvel Muslim superheroine: Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan. Will try to read them after this.

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