First published 2012
Alif works as a hacker in the Arab Emirates, protecting dissidents and outcasts from state surveillance. The 23-year-old half-Arab, half-Indian programmer has fallen for Intisar, an aristocratic woman he met online. Their romance crumbles when her father forces her into marriage with a man of proper social standing. That man happens to be the Hand, the state's chief censor and Alif's most dangerous enemy. Intisar sends Alif a parting gift: an ancient volume called The Thousand and One Days, bound in what appears to be human skin. The book contains secrets written by djinn themselves, making it a source of genuine magic from the old world. Possessing this mystical text transforms Alif from a mere digital rebel into a fugitive pursued by both earthly authorities and supernatural forces. He must navigate the Empty Quarter, where djinn, ghouls, and demons dwell as the Unseen, no longer walking openly among humans as they once did.
Genres: adventure, fantasy, magical-realism, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Arab Emirates, Empty Quarter
Period: 21st-century
448 pages · Hardcover · Corvus
Content warnings: violence