It also attracts the attention of the Hand of God, the nickname Alif and his 'gray hat' hacker friends have given who- or whatever fearsome entity conducts Internet policing for the regime.

Heartbroken, Alif complies with her request to 'make it so I never see your name again,' by devising a program that can 'recognize a single human personality irrespective of what computer or email address or login he's using.' If he makes it impossible for her to find and contact him, then he'll never have to know if she did, or didn't, try to.Īlif's invention exceeds his wildest dreams, and even his own comprehension. Since he's not-so-rich and half-Indian - the son of an Arab businessman's second wife - it's not hard to guess why, in their racially stratified society, Intisar sees the romance as a dead end. The novel opens with Alif desperately trying to contact Intisar, a rich, aristocratic Arab girl he met online she's cut short their brief affair with no explanation. 'I'll help anyone with a computer and a grudge,' he tells Dina, the girl next door, an annoying pious childhood friend whose face he hasn't seen in the 10 years since she put on the veil. He supplies untraceable Web hosting to an assortment of incompatible clients, from Islamists to communists to feminists, whoever wants to evade detection by the region's despotic authorities. The setting is the capitol of a nameless Persian Gulf emirate - the characters refer to it only as 'the City' - and our hero is teenage Alif, although that's only his nom de Internet. Willow Wilson's equally wondrous 'Alif the Unseen,' the connection between the two is more than just metaphor, although as far as this book is concerned, metaphor itself is a kind of technology. Clarke famously said that 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,' which may explain why fantasy narratives have enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in this age of wondrous gadgets. Editor's Note: For the next four weeks, What to Read will focus on summer reading: exceptional, hand-picked tales of adventure, crime, intrigue and the imagination to make your hours in the air less tedious and your hours on the beach and the porch more delicious.Īrthur C.

Alif the unseen review