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.