Alif the Unseen - Softcover

G. Willow Wilson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857895699 ISBN 13: 9780857895691

Publisher: Corvus, 2013

Synopsis

Winner of the 2013 World Fantasy Award: a compelling and bewitching first novel, perfect for book groups, that mixes old world magic with modern adventure.
'I will tell you a story, but it comes with a warning; when you hear it, you will become someone else.'
He calls himself Alif, a young man born in a Middle Eastern city that straddles the ancient and modern. When Alif comes into possession of a mysterious book entitled The Thousand and One Days, he discovers a door to another world - a world from a very different time, when old magic was in the ascendant and the djinn walked amongst us.
Thus begins an adventure that takes him through the crumbling streets of a once-beautiful city, to uncover the long-forgotten mysteries of the Unseen. Alif is about to become a fugitive. And he is about to unleash a destructive power that will change everything and everyone - starting with Alif himself...

About this title

Review:

An exhilarating techno-thriller but also far more than that... Wilson has created in this rich, literate novel a profound dialogue between tradition and modernity, belief and non-belief, fairy tale and urban reality. --Guardian
Brilliant... witty, imaginative and unorthodox in all senses --Observer
Among the most original and challenging books of 2012, and my personal pick for at least one major award in 2013. --Guardian
Charming and original --Sunday Telegraph
Wilson writes beautifully, tells a great story, and even makes computer hackery seem like magic. --Sunday Times
A Harry Potter-ish action-adventure romance [that] unfolds against the backdrop of the Arab Spring... Improbably charming... A bookload of wizardry and glee. --New York Times
Marvelous... Intoxicating... Hugely entertaining... It doesn't take magical powers to predict it will be one of the year's best-loved books. --Washington Post --Washington Post

Wilson writes beautifully, tells a great story, and even makes computer hackery seem like magic. --Alison Flood, Sunday Times

Among the most original and challenging books of 2012, and my personal pick for at least one major award in 2013 --Guardian

From the Author:

G. Willow Wilson was born in New Jersey in 1982. After graduating with a degree in History and coursework in Arabic language and literature, she moved to Cairo, where she became a contributor to the Egyptian opposition weekly Cairo Magazine until it closed in 2005. She has written for politics and culture blogs across the political spectrum, and has previously written a graphic novel, Cairo, illustrated by M. K. Perker, and a series of comics based on her own experiences, for D.C. Comics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Corvus
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0857895699
• ISBN 13: 9780857895691
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448