Alif the Unseen
kasper says:
Another one I feel a little loopy commenting on because I'm American, I guess, but a good read and I think told with a fair measure of humility by the author (unlike The Orphan-Master's Son, for example). My one problem is that Tin Sari was basically a macguffin, and a massive overreaction to rejection, but once it starts working at 50 pages in the book really takes off. I like jinn/jinni stories a lot so I'm a little predisposed, and I too like to wax poetic about the power of the I...nternet, but I think even looking at this objectively it was a fun book, living somewhere between YA and adult lit - I think the Golden Compass shoutout was a little ambitious but the Harry Potter references in the review are much more earned. And the greatest endorsement I can really give is that I snoozed my get out of bed alarm for a full hour to plow through the last third of the book - something I definitely don't say often.
mee says:
Alif is a grey-hat hacker in an unnamed Middle-Eastern city, providing protective services for anyone willing to challenge the State and pay for his services - so this includes everyone from Islamists to Communists. But the security services are closing in, in particular the Hand, a hacker working for the State. Alif is a callow young man, in love with a rich girl, but when the girl announces that she will have to marry someone else and the Hand launches a devastating attack, Alif's life starts to crumble around him. From this cutting-edge world of cyberpunks in an oppressive state, we are propelled into the realm of djinn and magic and religion via a mysterious book, and Alif will have a lot of growing up to do if he's going to survive, save his city and maybe help launch a revolution. A great read in a terrifically realised setting, mixing fantasy and techno-thriller and political thriller, gleefully ignoring genre boundaries. Oddly enough, I expected a bit more from Dina, Alif's childhood friend, but mostly she's a rather stalwart and steadying presence and, obvious to the reader from her first appearance, the real love interest in the book. One feels vaguely that she might have made a much more likable protagonists from the get-go, but Alif's growth to some sort of awareness and maturity is still rather satisfying, even as you squint a bit at the idea that she's been waiting patiently for him to cop on to himself.Cracking read, though: Neil Gaiman meets Bruce Sterling. Top stuff.MoreLess
Another one I feel a little loopy commenting on because I'm American, I guess, but a good read and I think told with a fair measure of humility by the author (unlike The Orphan-Master's Son, for example). My one problem is that Tin Sari was basically a macguffin, and a massive overreaction to rejection, but once it starts working at 50 pages in the book really takes off. I like jinn/jinni stories a lot so I'm a little predisposed, and I too like to wax poetic about the power of the I...nternet, but I think even looking at this objectively it was a fun book, living somewhere between YA and adult lit - I think the Golden Compass shoutout was a little ambitious but the Harry Potter references in the review are much more earned. And the greatest endorsement I can really give is that I snoozed my get out of bed alarm for a full hour to plow through the last third of the book - something I definitely don't say often.
mee says:
Alif is a grey-hat hacker in an unnamed Middle-Eastern city, providing protective services for anyone willing to challenge the State and pay for his services - so this includes everyone from Islamists to Communists. But the security services are closing in, in particular the Hand, a hacker working for the State. Alif is a callow young man, in love with a rich girl, but when the girl announces that she will have to marry someone else and the Hand launches a devastating attack, Alif's life starts to crumble around him. From this cutting-edge world of cyberpunks in an oppressive state, we are propelled into the realm of djinn and magic and religion via a mysterious book, and Alif will have a lot of growing up to do if he's going to survive, save his city and maybe help launch a revolution. A great read in a terrifically realised setting, mixing fantasy and techno-thriller and political thriller, gleefully ignoring genre boundaries. Oddly enough, I expected a bit more from Dina, Alif's childhood friend, but mostly she's a rather stalwart and steadying presence and, obvious to the reader from her first appearance, the real love interest in the book. One feels vaguely that she might have made a much more likable protagonists from the get-go, but Alif's growth to some sort of awareness and maturity is still rather satisfying, even as you squint a bit at the idea that she's been waiting patiently for him to cop on to himself.Cracking read, though: Neil Gaiman meets Bruce Sterling. Top stuff.MoreLess
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Harun 7 years ago
What a great mix of fantasy, religion, spirituality, computerworld and drama. Well worth reading...
Guest 7 years ago
yea I looks like a good book and LOL of course like it. wait I don't like it I LOVE IT........LOL.
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