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Death of the Author
The future of storytelling is here.
Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.
In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.
What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.
Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.
Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she's suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister's wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she's not sure what comes next.
In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life - she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.
What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu's life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.
Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2025
About the author
Nnedi Okorafor
152 books16.9k followersNnedi Okorafor is a New York Times Bestselling writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. The more specific terms for her works are africanfuturism and africanjujuism, both terms she coined and defined. Born in the United States to two Nigerian (Igbo) immigrant parents and visiting family in Nigeria since she was a child, the foundation and inspiration of Nnedi’s work is rooted in this part of Africa. Her many works include Who Fears Death (winner of the World Fantasy Award and in development at HBO as a TV series), the Nebula and Hugo award winning novella trilogy Binti (in development as a TV series), the Lodestar and Locus Award winning Nsibidi Scripts Series, LaGuardia (winner of a Hugo and Eisner awards for Best Graphic Novel) and her most recent novella Remote Control. Her debut novel Zahrah the Windseeker won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. She lives with her daughter Anyaugo in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more about Nnedi at Nnedi.com and follow Nnedi on twitter (as @Nnedi), Facebook and Instagram.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 323 reviews
December 30, 2024
2.5 Stars
This book was about Zelu, an author who became famous overnight because of a book about robots she wrote when she was in a really dark place. And yeah, she got all the praise and money, but because her feet didn’t work and she was Nigerian, people still had to be awful to her. Like, of course. Welcome to Earth.
The most prominent issue was her family. Her close family, her distant family, everybody. Just toxic. Her rich aunt and uncle in Nigeria were okay, maybe, but the rest? Horrible. Her extended family was the kind that you never meet, but somehow they still talk shit, demand money, and bring nothing but negativity. We’ve all got at least one or two of those, right? But her close family? Her parents and siblings? They were next-level bad. No support, no acknowledgment, no help. Just… awful. Her siblings especially were straight-up bitches. I hated how they treated her.
Zelu herself? I loved her at the start. She was smart, strong-willed, and sensitive. I rooted for her (well, not until the end, though). I hated how selfish she was in the end. I am a mother; I couldn’t relate to her choice.
I enjoyed 2/3 of the book (well, not much for the robot part, though). The last third was wonky. I felt it was rushed, the space thing just came out of nowhere, and I don’t know, 'weird' in a bad way, in my opinion. The ending left a bad taste for me. The story about Ijele and Ankara didn’t spark my interest. Their ending was just too abrupt. I’m really not a fan of how this all wrapped up. But at least, i agreed with Zelu: "Fuck Patriarchy".
(When I first finished the book, I rated it 3 stars. Two days later, when I sat down to write this review, I realized I’d already forgotten most of the plot. So… I dropped it to 2.5 stars.)
Note: Thanks to William Morrow and the author for this ARC.
This book was about Zelu, an author who became famous overnight because of a book about robots she wrote when she was in a really dark place. And yeah, she got all the praise and money, but because her feet didn’t work and she was Nigerian, people still had to be awful to her. Like, of course. Welcome to Earth.
The most prominent issue was her family. Her close family, her distant family, everybody. Just toxic. Her rich aunt and uncle in Nigeria were okay, maybe, but the rest? Horrible. Her extended family was the kind that you never meet, but somehow they still talk shit, demand money, and bring nothing but negativity. We’ve all got at least one or two of those, right? But her close family? Her parents and siblings? They were next-level bad. No support, no acknowledgment, no help. Just… awful. Her siblings especially were straight-up bitches. I hated how they treated her.
Zelu herself? I loved her at the start. She was smart, strong-willed, and sensitive. I rooted for her (well, not until the end, though). I hated how selfish she was in the end. I am a mother; I couldn’t relate to her choice.
I enjoyed 2/3 of the book (well, not much for the robot part, though). The last third was wonky. I felt it was rushed, the space thing just came out of nowhere, and I don’t know, 'weird' in a bad way, in my opinion. The ending left a bad taste for me. The story about Ijele and Ankara didn’t spark my interest. Their ending was just too abrupt. I’m really not a fan of how this all wrapped up. But at least, i agreed with Zelu: "Fuck Patriarchy".
(When I first finished the book, I rated it 3 stars. Two days later, when I sat down to write this review, I realized I’d already forgotten most of the plot. So… I dropped it to 2.5 stars.)
Note: Thanks to William Morrow and the author for this ARC.
December 23, 2024
What an absolutely incredible book! It had its low points and weak portions, but in its entirety, it's a perfect science fiction novel.
This book refuses to be put into a box, quite like its protagonist, Zelu, a paraplegic literary writing professor who is fired from her job and ends up writing a runaway science fiction novel, which is interspersed as part of this novel. Most of this novel is about the journey that the characters undertake, both to a destination and through their fears.
A book-within-a-book. To be more specific, a scifi book within a litfic book. This made it so difficult to judge objectively, which is what makes it fantastic. The style of book-within-a-book is difficult to execute, simply because we're told so much about how good a book is within a book, and that ends up meddling with our own judgment. Most of all, it takes talent to write two genres of books with different styles of writing and different internal voices for characters, something many authors cannot accomplish well. The scifi book has incredible worldbuilding but suffers from slightly simplistic prose. Then again, popular books tend to have simplistic prose to appeal to a broad demographic, which actually adds believability to the novel. The litfic book has great characterizations, albeit a convenient plot at times, but this a scifi book overall, which requires a little suspension of disbelief. All this happens in the backdrop of Nigerian culture and mythology, which permeates through both books. Nnedi Okorafor writes Africanfuturism, and the genre is cultivated at its finest in this book. She took on a mammoth task with this style, and delivered perfection.
At its core, this book is about creation (and creators), individualism, conformism, and our innate human instinct to assign meaning to everything. Where should the meaning of the text come from? The author’s intentions or the readers' myriad interpretations? Who gets to tell the stories of whom? Who gets to tell stories? Where do stories go when the author dies?
I didn't love Zelu's character, but found her so compelling and believable—she is amazingly well-written. She is a magnificent, adventurous, endearing character even while being realistic and annoying. It takes talent to write a character who could realistically write another character. Zelu's family and friends are so realistic—I can tell having grown up in a collectivist culture. Some brilliant characters within the scifi novel too—I mean, sometimes characterization suffers for worldbuilding, but everything works well here.
4.5 stars rounded up, this book is way too engrossing for anything less, but the ending was so good that I'm going to be thinking about this book for years. It may feel like too much at times for some readers, so I'd recommend this only if you're into scifi or new styles of storytelling.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow books for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book refuses to be put into a box, quite like its protagonist, Zelu, a paraplegic literary writing professor who is fired from her job and ends up writing a runaway science fiction novel, which is interspersed as part of this novel. Most of this novel is about the journey that the characters undertake, both to a destination and through their fears.
A book-within-a-book. To be more specific, a scifi book within a litfic book. This made it so difficult to judge objectively, which is what makes it fantastic. The style of book-within-a-book is difficult to execute, simply because we're told so much about how good a book is within a book, and that ends up meddling with our own judgment. Most of all, it takes talent to write two genres of books with different styles of writing and different internal voices for characters, something many authors cannot accomplish well. The scifi book has incredible worldbuilding but suffers from slightly simplistic prose. Then again, popular books tend to have simplistic prose to appeal to a broad demographic, which actually adds believability to the novel. The litfic book has great characterizations, albeit a convenient plot at times, but this a scifi book overall, which requires a little suspension of disbelief. All this happens in the backdrop of Nigerian culture and mythology, which permeates through both books. Nnedi Okorafor writes Africanfuturism, and the genre is cultivated at its finest in this book. She took on a mammoth task with this style, and delivered perfection.
At its core, this book is about creation (and creators), individualism, conformism, and our innate human instinct to assign meaning to everything. Where should the meaning of the text come from? The author’s intentions or the readers' myriad interpretations? Who gets to tell the stories of whom? Who gets to tell stories? Where do stories go when the author dies?
I didn't love Zelu's character, but found her so compelling and believable—she is amazingly well-written. She is a magnificent, adventurous, endearing character even while being realistic and annoying. It takes talent to write a character who could realistically write another character. Zelu's family and friends are so realistic—I can tell having grown up in a collectivist culture. Some brilliant characters within the scifi novel too—I mean, sometimes characterization suffers for worldbuilding, but everything works well here.
4.5 stars rounded up, this book is way too engrossing for anything less, but the ending was so good that I'm going to be thinking about this book for years. It may feel like too much at times for some readers, so I'd recommend this only if you're into scifi or new styles of storytelling.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow books for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
January 24, 2025
if you lean more towards lit fic i would say definitely give this a try but if you prefer sci fi maybe not, unless you enjoy both! i really loved Zelu, she was so fun to read from and interesting. i also love family dramas in book but as a fan of scifi i just feel like where the scifi comes in at just falls flat. there are excerpts of the book zelu is writing that is included and i understand why obviously but i just didn’t care to read it until the end
January 8, 2025
'How amazing! I have come to understand that author, art, and audience all adore one another. They create a tissue, a web, a network. No death is required for this form of life.'
A magnificent, totally left field ending turns this book on its head and into something truly special. Having said that, it could have been at least 150 pages shorter, and all the stronger for tighter editing of the Nigerian bulk, which is unfortunately too Nollywood to bear the import and weight of the meta narrative.
And despite what Okorafor says at the end, Zelu is clearly an amalgam of herself, while the title gives a solid middle finger to stodgy white theorists like Roland Barthes.
A notoriously prickly antagonist on her social media, I found it ironic how fuzzy-wuzzy Zelu is to her 'beloved' readers.
My main problem with Okorafor, and it is certainly not addressed by her latest, the least Afrofuturist of her novels to date, is no one knows what Africanfuturism is if you haven't read her 2019 blog.
Berating open-minded readers for conflating the two, when she herself is so disengaged from the discourse, plus many modern young readers are not versed in SF theory, is alienating to her fan base and growth as a meaningful contributor to the evolution of said discourse.
Rather be like Ijele and spread the love. And pollen.
And remind people Afrofuturism was defined by cis white male Mark Dery in 1994, rather than lambasting readers for their ignorance. Even 'Rusted Robots' can learn.
A lot of readers, I fear, are going to be frustrated by the sheer messiness of so much of the writing before that G-Spot happy ending.
A magnificent, totally left field ending turns this book on its head and into something truly special. Having said that, it could have been at least 150 pages shorter, and all the stronger for tighter editing of the Nigerian bulk, which is unfortunately too Nollywood to bear the import and weight of the meta narrative.
And despite what Okorafor says at the end, Zelu is clearly an amalgam of herself, while the title gives a solid middle finger to stodgy white theorists like Roland Barthes.
A notoriously prickly antagonist on her social media, I found it ironic how fuzzy-wuzzy Zelu is to her 'beloved' readers.
My main problem with Okorafor, and it is certainly not addressed by her latest, the least Afrofuturist of her novels to date, is no one knows what Africanfuturism is if you haven't read her 2019 blog.
Berating open-minded readers for conflating the two, when she herself is so disengaged from the discourse, plus many modern young readers are not versed in SF theory, is alienating to her fan base and growth as a meaningful contributor to the evolution of said discourse.
Rather be like Ijele and spread the love. And pollen.
And remind people Afrofuturism was defined by cis white male Mark Dery in 1994, rather than lambasting readers for their ignorance. Even 'Rusted Robots' can learn.
A lot of readers, I fear, are going to be frustrated by the sheer messiness of so much of the writing before that G-Spot happy ending.
December 26, 2024
3.5 stars.
This is more lit fic than sci-fi, so definitely manage your expectations. There was A LOT of family drama and family trauma, which put me off from giving this 4 stars or higher.
The dual narrative with Zelu's life and Zelu's novel was confusing to read, but mostly because you don't get enough time to stew in the sci-fi world that Zelu created. The sci-fi story chapters were too short to be immersive for me. I could feel myself settling in to read a chapter about robots in a post-human world, and then BAM, Zelu's family drama would be the focus for the next chapter.
But if you like lit fic with immigrant family themes and breaking out of the immigrant child mold of parental and familial expectations, then you might like this.
Zelu isn't a likable character. She's honest to a fault, she's mean at times, and she keeps it real. Despite being annoyed by her shortsightedness, pettiness, and (sometimes) immaturity, I actually liked how Nnedi Okorafor created such a real, authentic character that isn't just a mishmash of tropes.
This novel felt like I was reading about a real person instead of a fictional FMC. That's how masterful the author was in pulling this off.
But while I enjoyed reading this and I liked Zelu's journey as a disabled Black author who shot to stardom overnight, I was expecting more from the Yellowface comp. There were bits and pieces of satire on author behavior and social media, but it wasn't the point of the story. I was definitely let down, but it didn't deter me from liking the novel for what it was.
This isn't the type of book I'd usually pick up, but I did like the big subplots that branched out from the main storyline: robot legs, whitewashed Hollywood movie adaptations, being a one hit wonder, and fandom galore.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this arc.
This is more lit fic than sci-fi, so definitely manage your expectations. There was A LOT of family drama and family trauma, which put me off from giving this 4 stars or higher.
The dual narrative with Zelu's life and Zelu's novel was confusing to read, but mostly because you don't get enough time to stew in the sci-fi world that Zelu created. The sci-fi story chapters were too short to be immersive for me. I could feel myself settling in to read a chapter about robots in a post-human world, and then BAM, Zelu's family drama would be the focus for the next chapter.
But if you like lit fic with immigrant family themes and breaking out of the immigrant child mold of parental and familial expectations, then you might like this.
Zelu isn't a likable character. She's honest to a fault, she's mean at times, and she keeps it real. Despite being annoyed by her shortsightedness, pettiness, and (sometimes) immaturity, I actually liked how Nnedi Okorafor created such a real, authentic character that isn't just a mishmash of tropes.
This novel felt like I was reading about a real person instead of a fictional FMC. That's how masterful the author was in pulling this off.
But while I enjoyed reading this and I liked Zelu's journey as a disabled Black author who shot to stardom overnight, I was expecting more from the Yellowface comp. There were bits and pieces of satire on author behavior and social media, but it wasn't the point of the story. I was definitely let down, but it didn't deter me from liking the novel for what it was.
This isn't the type of book I'd usually pick up, but I did like the big subplots that branched out from the main storyline: robot legs, whitewashed Hollywood movie adaptations, being a one hit wonder, and fandom galore.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this arc.
Currently reading
January 17, 2025Lets goooooo
November 2, 2024
I do not give five star ratings lightly, but my god, Death of the Author is a five-star book to me.
It’s about the beauty in humanity. It’s about the beauty of our world. It looks the ugly in the face and says to it “you’re beautiful.”
I love how messy the characters are. There is something so human about this book. Okorafor discusses the line between humanity and automation, but the story is so dumbfoundingly human.
DotA weaves together several different stories that are all one. You can argue that the stories are separate, but that is a disservice to this book. They all contribute to the same end.
Every book I’ve read by Okorafor has made me feel something that transcends words. THAT is the work of a skilled and gifted author. DotA is no exception.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
It’s about the beauty in humanity. It’s about the beauty of our world. It looks the ugly in the face and says to it “you’re beautiful.”
I love how messy the characters are. There is something so human about this book. Okorafor discusses the line between humanity and automation, but the story is so dumbfoundingly human.
DotA weaves together several different stories that are all one. You can argue that the stories are separate, but that is a disservice to this book. They all contribute to the same end.
Every book I’ve read by Okorafor has made me feel something that transcends words. THAT is the work of a skilled and gifted author. DotA is no exception.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 14, 2024
This masterful novel refuses any genre boundaries or expectations, with an escape velocity powerful enough to shame any natural laws trying to hold it down. Nnedi Okorafor manages to seamlessly blend three distinct narratives in this story, the “main” narrative, a series of interviews about the main character, and the novel-within-the-novel. Each of these have a distinct voice, especially noticeable in the interviews which each builds a world for that interviewee in their speech patterns and what they share to tell, and yet they fall into each other, never competing for space but somehow building into a beautiful meta-narrative about identity, individuality, and family, and somehow so much more. Importantly, as you switch across these three modes it never feels like a gimmick, instead it feels necessary, like it is the only way to see a bigger picture, more zoomed out. The stories and memories and vague foreboding of the interviews make the parallels between the two narratives more apparent, and as those two narratives seek to understand and explain each other the interviews create a web of context.
The world-building is really skillful, giving such a strong sense of time and place. The way deep roots spread across continents, and the lives all of those locations are given through the characters’ relationships with and experiences and memories of them, gives the world-building a tangible feeling. This also goes for the post-human landscape in the novel-within-the-novel, a lush world that feels complete and full. The characters are all great. There are a lot of ancillary characters in the main narrative, as the main character has a big family, and not all of them are really fleshed out in a complete way, and yet each has a distinct role in the family, and they are colorful and exciting and still feel genuine. The family as a whole serves as a character, and all of the siblings and so forth are the unique parts, making the family both spectacular and relatable. The main character and a few of the more important ancillary characters are exquisitely developed, full of impulses and complications and genuine heart. The writing supports the characters, being straightforward and emotional in turn, meeting the needs of the scene. For a novel that definitely has a lot of ideas the writing never felt stuffy or pretentious, it felt very earthy, almost, and grounded. It made everything else in the story more convincing. I will repeat I especially appreciated how distinct each character felt in their interview chapters, showing a finesse with writing dialogue and sentiment in such a way as to build distinct and intentional realities.
On the one hand, none of the ideas of the novel are incredibly groundbreaking. It is asking how to find one’s place in the world, and that includes what it means to be surrounded by people who care for you and yet feel lonelier than ever. But on the other hand, the way it explores these ideas is so deft that they feel original. Disability, cultural identity, family dynamics, social expectations and fame/popularity, technological marvels and limitations, heritage, inheritance—these are all parts of the vocabularies used to adventure through these ideas. None of the characters or stories are defined by any one of those things, but they are used to build something unique and wonderful. It is worth thinking about the title, too. The “Death of the Author” represents a mid-twentieth century revolution in literary criticism, an approach that broke with the orthodoxy that insisted the detailed history of the author and their context and intentions defined any given text’s “ultimate meaning” and instead prioritized the individual experience of the reader, the subjectivity of the relationship created in the act of reading informed by the world and experiences of the reader. It isn’t hard to see parallels with and influences from the author’s own life, including the fact that she was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down after a surgery when she was nineteen and that became the origin of her writing career. So, in that way, the author isn’t dead, the author is very much in this novel. Yet, at the same time, this story is one that is inviting the reader into a relationship an act of co-creation, and it absolutely resists any stifling box such as “ultimate meaning.”
Maybe most important to say? This story is fun. A lot of fun. Once I started it I didn’t want to put it down. I felt invested and included in the lives being spun, and being able to bear witness to the journeys of discovery within these narratives was a genuine delight.
(Rounded up from 4.5)
I want to thank the authors, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The world-building is really skillful, giving such a strong sense of time and place. The way deep roots spread across continents, and the lives all of those locations are given through the characters’ relationships with and experiences and memories of them, gives the world-building a tangible feeling. This also goes for the post-human landscape in the novel-within-the-novel, a lush world that feels complete and full. The characters are all great. There are a lot of ancillary characters in the main narrative, as the main character has a big family, and not all of them are really fleshed out in a complete way, and yet each has a distinct role in the family, and they are colorful and exciting and still feel genuine. The family as a whole serves as a character, and all of the siblings and so forth are the unique parts, making the family both spectacular and relatable. The main character and a few of the more important ancillary characters are exquisitely developed, full of impulses and complications and genuine heart. The writing supports the characters, being straightforward and emotional in turn, meeting the needs of the scene. For a novel that definitely has a lot of ideas the writing never felt stuffy or pretentious, it felt very earthy, almost, and grounded. It made everything else in the story more convincing. I will repeat I especially appreciated how distinct each character felt in their interview chapters, showing a finesse with writing dialogue and sentiment in such a way as to build distinct and intentional realities.
On the one hand, none of the ideas of the novel are incredibly groundbreaking. It is asking how to find one’s place in the world, and that includes what it means to be surrounded by people who care for you and yet feel lonelier than ever. But on the other hand, the way it explores these ideas is so deft that they feel original. Disability, cultural identity, family dynamics, social expectations and fame/popularity, technological marvels and limitations, heritage, inheritance—these are all parts of the vocabularies used to adventure through these ideas. None of the characters or stories are defined by any one of those things, but they are used to build something unique and wonderful. It is worth thinking about the title, too. The “Death of the Author” represents a mid-twentieth century revolution in literary criticism, an approach that broke with the orthodoxy that insisted the detailed history of the author and their context and intentions defined any given text’s “ultimate meaning” and instead prioritized the individual experience of the reader, the subjectivity of the relationship created in the act of reading informed by the world and experiences of the reader. It isn’t hard to see parallels with and influences from the author’s own life, including the fact that she was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down after a surgery when she was nineteen and that became the origin of her writing career. So, in that way, the author isn’t dead, the author is very much in this novel. Yet, at the same time, this story is one that is inviting the reader into a relationship an act of co-creation, and it absolutely resists any stifling box such as “ultimate meaning.”
Maybe most important to say? This story is fun. A lot of fun. Once I started it I didn’t want to put it down. I felt invested and included in the lives being spun, and being able to bear witness to the journeys of discovery within these narratives was a genuine delight.
(Rounded up from 4.5)
I want to thank the authors, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 9, 2025
This deserves five stars, without reservation. I will admit, I didn’t really get into it for the first fifty pages, at least, and part of it was because I loathe the F word with a passion. Note: said word is the expression of choice, repeatedly, for nearly every character in the book. However! The book is fabulous. It’s a book within a book, and I loved both stories. I actually would like to read the main character’s book in its entirety.
I don’t want to say much more, but I will say this: The way Zelu’s family treats her is abhorrent. It made me so upset for her.
Just read this. It’s phenomenal.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the pleasure of reading this book. All opinions are mine alone.
PS: I would love to see a sequel, but I won’t harass Ms. Okorafor online for it. If it comes, it comes. IYKYK.
I don’t want to say much more, but I will say this: The way Zelu’s family treats her is abhorrent. It made me so upset for her.
Just read this. It’s phenomenal.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the pleasure of reading this book. All opinions are mine alone.
PS: I would love to see a sequel, but I won’t harass Ms. Okorafor online for it. If it comes, it comes. IYKYK.
January 8, 2025
firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!
3.5 rounded up
while i love the book-within-a-book trope, i felt that the “rusted robots” chapters that zelu wrote were too short to be immersive/fully appreciated.
additionally, this felt more lit-fic/family drama than sci-fi, which was a bit of a let down.
i am very excited to see the illumicrate/starbright special edition, though!
3.5 rounded up
while i love the book-within-a-book trope, i felt that the “rusted robots” chapters that zelu wrote were too short to be immersive/fully appreciated.
additionally, this felt more lit-fic/family drama than sci-fi, which was a bit of a let down.
i am very excited to see the illumicrate/starbright special edition, though!
January 21, 2025
Zelu is a 32 year old paraplegic woman with an MFA in creative writing, a novel she wrote six years ago she can't sell, and has just been fired from her adjunct teaching position. At her sister's destination wedding inspiration for a sci-fi novel hits and she writes a breakout hit, but what will change as she rockets to fame?
I would describe this book as literary fiction joined alongside metafiction sci-fi, as there are two works alongside each other. You get the unfolding story from Zelu's perspective, chapters of Rusted Robots, and chapters of interview snippets with Zelu's family and friends. I think if you enjoyed Yellowfave by R. F. Kuang, you will likely enjoy this; there are some similar themes even though the protagonists and genres are very different.
Thank you to William Morrow Books for an ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This book is due to be published 1/14/25.
I would describe this book as literary fiction joined alongside metafiction sci-fi, as there are two works alongside each other. You get the unfolding story from Zelu's perspective, chapters of Rusted Robots, and chapters of interview snippets with Zelu's family and friends. I think if you enjoyed Yellowfave by R. F. Kuang, you will likely enjoy this; there are some similar themes even though the protagonists and genres are very different.
Thank you to William Morrow Books for an ARC on NetGalley. All opinions are my own. This book is due to be published 1/14/25.
January 18, 2025
Zelu Onyenezi-Onyedele doesn’t fit in anywhere—not in her high-achieving Nigerian-American family, not in academia, and definitely not in the literary world. She’s broke, disabled, and stuck in the shadow of siblings who actually listened when their parents said “doctor, lawyer, or engineer.” So when she loses her job and another one of her books gets rejected, she does what any loner with nothing left to lose might do: she writes for herself.
What comes out is Rusted Robots, a gritty sci-fi epic set in a post-human Nigeria, where robots and AI wage existential war in the ruins of humanity. Against all odds, this weird, raw, wildly creative book becomes a bestseller. Zelu finds fame and money, but she remains an outsider.
Death of the Author walks a fine line between literary fiction and Africanfuturism. It’s also a nice example of the book-within-a-book format; we follow the events through Zelu’s life and excerpts from her sci-fi book. I liked how Okorafor shifted between the two genres. And I loved the surprising ending that connected both parts extremely well. But, you know, spoilers.
Cultural complexities of Zelu’s Igbo-Yoruba family and the pressures of being a first-generation immigrant influence her story and development. Her relationships—with her family, her work, and herself—are toxic and difficult. Meanwhile, Rusted Robots features solid worldbuilding, even if its chapters sometimes feel too brief.
There’s also another layer to the story, the one I rather enjoyed. It contains a sharp commentary on the publishing industry, internet fame, and who gets to tell which stories. While it doesn’t dominate the book, it’s important to the story, especially as Zelu’s rise to fame forces her to confront personal and cultural expectations or social media outrage.
Death of the Author is a good story with an excellent ending. It’s not perfect -won’t appeal to everyone—but it’s bold, heartfelt, and entertaining. Bonus points if you’re a fan of robots or literary drama.
Audiobook narration: excellent.
What comes out is Rusted Robots, a gritty sci-fi epic set in a post-human Nigeria, where robots and AI wage existential war in the ruins of humanity. Against all odds, this weird, raw, wildly creative book becomes a bestseller. Zelu finds fame and money, but she remains an outsider.
Death of the Author walks a fine line between literary fiction and Africanfuturism. It’s also a nice example of the book-within-a-book format; we follow the events through Zelu’s life and excerpts from her sci-fi book. I liked how Okorafor shifted between the two genres. And I loved the surprising ending that connected both parts extremely well. But, you know, spoilers.
Cultural complexities of Zelu’s Igbo-Yoruba family and the pressures of being a first-generation immigrant influence her story and development. Her relationships—with her family, her work, and herself—are toxic and difficult. Meanwhile, Rusted Robots features solid worldbuilding, even if its chapters sometimes feel too brief.
There’s also another layer to the story, the one I rather enjoyed. It contains a sharp commentary on the publishing industry, internet fame, and who gets to tell which stories. While it doesn’t dominate the book, it’s important to the story, especially as Zelu’s rise to fame forces her to confront personal and cultural expectations or social media outrage.
Death of the Author is a good story with an excellent ending. It’s not perfect -won’t appeal to everyone—but it’s bold, heartfelt, and entertaining. Bonus points if you’re a fan of robots or literary drama.
Audiobook narration: excellent.
January 27, 2025
more lit fic than scifi as many other reviewers have said! i really liked the rusted robots chapters but got tired of some of zelu’s. it seemed like for every moment of joy she had a parallel anger, which made it difficult to root for her at points
January 25, 2025
Thank you NetGalley :). Actually a 4.5.
Edit: still a 4.5, but rounding my goodreads score up instead of down because I think this book deserves it; it’s been two weeks since I finished it & I’m still thinking about it. Holy shit.
This was an incredible book to start of 2025 with. I'll start of by saying this is more so literary fiction with more muted sci-fi elements, so manage your expectations accordingly. That said, I think it manages to blend the two genres together in a really interesting and unique way. I've never read a book quite like this one and I was really impressed by it. Not only does it manage to blend two genres I don't necessarily associate with each other, but it also manages to seamlessly blend together *two different stories*, subplots, characters, relationships, etc. It all just flows together so easily you don't really notice how much you're really absorbing. I will say that at points the pacing was a bit too fast and I wish we'd gotten to spend more time with Zelu during her journey writing her novel and within the literary world, but this book covers so much time that sometimes it just had to zap from one point to the next.
I *loved* the ending. Everything just goes full circle in a twist that maybe I should have seen coming, but I definitely didn't. The only thing I have to say I found underwhelming about the ending was that through the entire novel we are reading interviews with Zelu's loved ones after some undefined thing happens to her, but it's never actually made clear what that undefined thing actually was. I assume they were just post-publishing interviews from after she became famous, but it felt like it was meant to be after something bad had happened to her.
This is one of those books where you can just feel the love the author had for it coming off the page and I think that really helped the experience.
Edit: still a 4.5, but rounding my goodreads score up instead of down because I think this book deserves it; it’s been two weeks since I finished it & I’m still thinking about it. Holy shit.
This was an incredible book to start of 2025 with. I'll start of by saying this is more so literary fiction with more muted sci-fi elements, so manage your expectations accordingly. That said, I think it manages to blend the two genres together in a really interesting and unique way. I've never read a book quite like this one and I was really impressed by it. Not only does it manage to blend two genres I don't necessarily associate with each other, but it also manages to seamlessly blend together *two different stories*, subplots, characters, relationships, etc. It all just flows together so easily you don't really notice how much you're really absorbing. I will say that at points the pacing was a bit too fast and I wish we'd gotten to spend more time with Zelu during her journey writing her novel and within the literary world, but this book covers so much time that sometimes it just had to zap from one point to the next.
I *loved* the ending. Everything just goes full circle in a twist that maybe I should have seen coming, but I definitely didn't. The only thing I have to say I found underwhelming about the ending was that through the entire novel we are reading interviews with Zelu's loved ones after some undefined thing happens to her, but it's never actually made clear what that undefined thing actually was. I assume they were just post-publishing interviews from after she became famous, but it felt like it was meant to be after something bad had happened to her.
This is one of those books where you can just feel the love the author had for it coming off the page and I think that really helped the experience.
December 19, 2024
If you’re looking for a book that will grab your attention and refuse to let go, Death of the Author is it. Nnedi Okorafor takes us on a wild, thought-provoking journey with Zelu, a disabled Nigerian writer whose life is falling apart when we meet her. Fired from her university job and reeling from yet another publishing rejection, Zelu decides to write something just for herself. What she creates—an epic, far-future story about androids and AI in the ruins of human civilization—ends up changing her life in ways she never imagined.
This book does so much, and it does it *so well*. It’s over 400 pages, but not once did I lose focus or feel like the story dragged. Okorafor masterfully intertwines multiple subplots—family drama, romance, disability pride, Nigerian culture, and even Zelu’s hero journey as a writer—all while keeping everything crystal clear. The timelines and world-building fit together so naturally that it feels effortless.
One of the most powerful themes is how storytelling transforms both the artist and the audience. Zelu sheds so many versions of herself as she crafts her novel, and by the end, she’s completely redefined who she is. Okorafor brilliantly brings the story full circle, delivering an ending that’s both satisfying and deeply moving.
And let me just say, this book is *everything*. It’s a love story (the romance is *chef’s kiss*), a bold celebration of disability pride, and a story about finding your voice even when you feel like an outsider. As someone who’s been a fan of Okorafor for a long time, this feels like her most ambitious and deeply personal work yet.
If you’re into speculative fiction, complex characters, or stories that stay with you long after the last page, you need to read Death of the Author. It’s not just a book—it’s an experience.
This book does so much, and it does it *so well*. It’s over 400 pages, but not once did I lose focus or feel like the story dragged. Okorafor masterfully intertwines multiple subplots—family drama, romance, disability pride, Nigerian culture, and even Zelu’s hero journey as a writer—all while keeping everything crystal clear. The timelines and world-building fit together so naturally that it feels effortless.
One of the most powerful themes is how storytelling transforms both the artist and the audience. Zelu sheds so many versions of herself as she crafts her novel, and by the end, she’s completely redefined who she is. Okorafor brilliantly brings the story full circle, delivering an ending that’s both satisfying and deeply moving.
And let me just say, this book is *everything*. It’s a love story (the romance is *chef’s kiss*), a bold celebration of disability pride, and a story about finding your voice even when you feel like an outsider. As someone who’s been a fan of Okorafor for a long time, this feels like her most ambitious and deeply personal work yet.
If you’re into speculative fiction, complex characters, or stories that stay with you long after the last page, you need to read Death of the Author. It’s not just a book—it’s an experience.
October 20, 2024
I absolutely loved this book. I loved the characters and the character development. The pacing and story is just utter fantastic and breathtaking. The story within a story is fantastic. I am telling everybody about this one it is so real, so human, so true. Thank you thank you thank you Nnedi for writing such an amazing and truly beautiful book. I read a NetGalley copy.
January 14, 2025
My thanks to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for a DRC of "Death of the Author" by Nnedi Okorafor.
A literary leaning SF work with three intertwined narratives. We have Zelu, a disabled author with a strong personality, the novel she wrote, "Rusted Robots" and interviews with her family members.
First I need to mention that I am not fond of AI and robots, but the writing carried me trough this narrative that was my lest favorite, but impressive none the least.
I have to admit that Zelu and her family were so compelling to me. I could not look away from them. The mark of an excellent novel is how much I care about the characters. I can say that I almost felt like a family member, one that watches from a corner the dynamics of Zelu's relationships with her loved ones, her struggles as an author. Everything felt so real, so full of emotion and intensity.
"Death of the Author" is a book that I will keep reflecting on as work of art that refuses to fit in a box, that goes against the grain, that is both creative and challenging, literary and SF and as something that while I could not fully love because my dislike of robots and AI, I will always admire.
You can now support my passion for books with a small donation here https://ko-fi.com/mariareadssff
A literary leaning SF work with three intertwined narratives. We have Zelu, a disabled author with a strong personality, the novel she wrote, "Rusted Robots" and interviews with her family members.
First I need to mention that I am not fond of AI and robots, but the writing carried me trough this narrative that was my lest favorite, but impressive none the least.
I have to admit that Zelu and her family were so compelling to me. I could not look away from them. The mark of an excellent novel is how much I care about the characters. I can say that I almost felt like a family member, one that watches from a corner the dynamics of Zelu's relationships with her loved ones, her struggles as an author. Everything felt so real, so full of emotion and intensity.
"Death of the Author" is a book that I will keep reflecting on as work of art that refuses to fit in a box, that goes against the grain, that is both creative and challenging, literary and SF and as something that while I could not fully love because my dislike of robots and AI, I will always admire.
You can now support my passion for books with a small donation here https://ko-fi.com/mariareadssff
January 27, 2025
I had mixed feelings about this one. The concept was really interesting, but I kept wanting more of the sci-fi and less of Zelu’s chapters. The family dynamic was well done and added a lot of tension, but I found myself getting frustrated with both Zelu’s actions toward her family and how her family treated her in return.
The robot chapters were definitely favorite, but we just didn't get enough of them. What we did get were really good though and I would love to see more from that world. The ending felt a bit rushed and left me wanting more. Overall, it had its moments, but I came away feeling unsatisfied and a little confused on how I felt about this one...
The robot chapters were definitely favorite, but we just didn't get enough of them. What we did get were really good though and I would love to see more from that world. The ending felt a bit rushed and left me wanting more. Overall, it had its moments, but I came away feeling unsatisfied and a little confused on how I felt about this one...
September 30, 2024
I urge anyone that is reading the book and is not quite sure if they like it or not to keep going. The ending is worth it. I was not crazy about the book until the very end. It may be novel for some readers but I am a little tired of the story within a story device.
But THEN
I received an ARC of this work for my honest review.
But THEN
I received an ARC of this work for my honest review.
January 15, 2025
Happy Pub Day to what is probably Nnedi Okorafor's most self-indulgent novel so far. I've been a huge fan since the Binti Days, and I couldn't be more excited to get my hands on this ARC from Netgalley. I have to say this one was quite the departure from her usual works of intricate Afrofuturist worldbuilding. You essentially get two novels for the price of one, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Except that it stays very separate in voice and genre pretty much until the very last sentence of the novel. One half of the novel is a contemporary-ish, almost autobiographical story of Zelu, who is the eponymous "author" of the parallel scifi story about post-human robot cultures. I'm not convinced that this shouldn't have been two separate works because the shifts between the two stories never stopped being jarring, with the flimsiest of narrative connective tissues, if any at all. Tonally, Zelu's story is one of deep trauma and disillusionment about family and community, belonging and being othered. It's the story that felt most unlike a Okorafor story, precisely because it felt inspired by the author's own life. If you can get past literally how horrible everyone is to everyone, and how unsympathetic Zelu herself can be, the story within the story of Ankara the Hume Robot is actually more along the lines of a classic Nnedi Okorafor story. Unfortunately I kept waiting for the tales to intersect thematically or tonally or in some interesting way, but by the time it does, it's too rushed and handwaved in service of literally the last sentence of the novel. That said, there is a fair amount of interesting social commentary all around, I just wish I wasn't getting narrative whiplash at the end of every chapter as I was forced to read two different books at once.
Shelved as 'dnf'
January 6, 2025No Rating | TikTok | IG |
Slice of life literary fiction with sci-fi elements and a story within a story.
Nnedi Okorafor is a phenomenal writer and an excellent storyteller - her prose is great. This book does not disappoint in terms of style and craft.
This could be a great choice for those who love LitFic but want to dabble in sci-fi.
I think I went into this book expecting quite a bit more sci-fi elements given the other books I’ve read by the author and in that I was disappointed.
This is a soft DNF for me @ 25%. I will put it down for now with the intention of going back when I am in the mood for a slower paced literary fiction style book.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Slice of life literary fiction with sci-fi elements and a story within a story.
Nnedi Okorafor is a phenomenal writer and an excellent storyteller - her prose is great. This book does not disappoint in terms of style and craft.
This could be a great choice for those who love LitFic but want to dabble in sci-fi.
I think I went into this book expecting quite a bit more sci-fi elements given the other books I’ve read by the author and in that I was disappointed.
This is a soft DNF for me @ 25%. I will put it down for now with the intention of going back when I am in the mood for a slower paced literary fiction style book.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
January 1, 2025
RTC. This one’s very clever.
January 12, 2025
calling it now, this is gonna be a top 5 fave book of 2025 for me
January 12, 2025
Oh wow, this book is a journey. When my friends asked me what "genre" this book is I answered "I don't know, I'll find out before I finish it." But this book just refused to be contained within a single genre. It instead traveled between literary fiction and SciFi. Back and forth. I think some readers were upset about it. I was not. I was along for the ride. What ride that is, you may ask?
Briefly we have two entangled stories. One takes place in the near future, where Zelu--a disabled American-Nigerian author, down on her luck and sick of conforming to the expectations of her over-protective family--writes a best-selling novel about robots and AI in a dystopian future where humanity is now extinct; the near-instant fame she acquires almost destroys her and her family. The novel's success comodifies her and her creation to the point where she feels her grip on her fictional world slipping.
Enter story number 2: Zelu's novel. In the far future, two robots (one with and one without a body) become so entangled in their coding they can no longer completely separate, all while their respective 'tribes' are at war and the Earth is months or weeks, or hours away from total annihilation brought upon by a third group of robots who flew too close to the sun and have gone mad.
So what are you reading? I dare you to find out. The line between the stories blurs to total extinction as the novel progresses. In parallel, the line between Zelu and her fans seems to also blur under the pressure of social media to engage in parasocial relationships. And at the same time, Ankara and Ijele (the two robots) also become more and more entangled. It is an interesting story about labels, tribalism, creation, duty and individualism. The only part that made me feel uncomfortable was that the actual author of this novel didn't linger as much as I'd expected on the evils of automation, big corporations, and rushed prototypes. But somehow I am okay with this, because of the unique twists, turns and questions explored in the rest of the novel.
At times Zelu and her family are difficult to understand. Her Nigerian family's resistance and vicious take downs felt like too much, almost artificial. In a way the ending explains this. But also...I remembered my own experience as a Romanian expat. It may be difficult for Western audiences to understand, but some societies, whose social and natural resources had been stripped by the West, really do dog their members down. I remember when one of my Ivy-league PhD-holding friend was without a job for months; her neighbors rejoiced in her struggles, held them up to her face and mocked her for her efforts to better her life. Yes, this type of cruelty is possible. It comes from the hollow place where people's dreams used to reside, where the stories of their glorious future succumbed. It is hard for Western audiences to understand this...because they insulated themselves from the outcomes of their actions on other cultures. It doesn't make the story unrealistic. It makes it authentic in an uncomfortable way. Still, the ending was surprisingly hopeful. Both Scheherazade and Icarus would be proud of this conclusion. Perhaps flying too close to the sun is not a death-sentence, so long as another author can pick up the story and keep it alive for future generations.
Overall I really enjoyed the story and found it hard to put down. It's been wrongly compared in my opinion to "Yellowface" but that is only a superficial similarity and you may be disappointed with the outcome if you go into this expecting a variation on R.F. Kwuang's novel. I better comparison would be in my opinion "The Unseen World" by Liz Moore. Although that may give too much away. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review
Briefly we have two entangled stories. One takes place in the near future, where Zelu--a disabled American-Nigerian author, down on her luck and sick of conforming to the expectations of her over-protective family--writes a best-selling novel about robots and AI in a dystopian future where humanity is now extinct; the near-instant fame she acquires almost destroys her and her family. The novel's success comodifies her and her creation to the point where she feels her grip on her fictional world slipping.
Enter story number 2: Zelu's novel. In the far future, two robots (one with and one without a body) become so entangled in their coding they can no longer completely separate, all while their respective 'tribes' are at war and the Earth is months or weeks, or hours away from total annihilation brought upon by a third group of robots who flew too close to the sun and have gone mad.
So what are you reading? I dare you to find out. The line between the stories blurs to total extinction as the novel progresses. In parallel, the line between Zelu and her fans seems to also blur under the pressure of social media to engage in parasocial relationships. And at the same time, Ankara and Ijele (the two robots) also become more and more entangled. It is an interesting story about labels, tribalism, creation, duty and individualism. The only part that made me feel uncomfortable was that the actual author of this novel didn't linger as much as I'd expected on the evils of automation, big corporations, and rushed prototypes. But somehow I am okay with this, because of the unique twists, turns and questions explored in the rest of the novel.
At times Zelu and her family are difficult to understand. Her Nigerian family's resistance and vicious take downs felt like too much, almost artificial. In a way the ending explains this. But also...I remembered my own experience as a Romanian expat. It may be difficult for Western audiences to understand, but some societies, whose social and natural resources had been stripped by the West, really do dog their members down. I remember when one of my Ivy-league PhD-holding friend was without a job for months; her neighbors rejoiced in her struggles, held them up to her face and mocked her for her efforts to better her life. Yes, this type of cruelty is possible. It comes from the hollow place where people's dreams used to reside, where the stories of their glorious future succumbed. It is hard for Western audiences to understand this...because they insulated themselves from the outcomes of their actions on other cultures. It doesn't make the story unrealistic. It makes it authentic in an uncomfortable way. Still, the ending was surprisingly hopeful. Both Scheherazade and Icarus would be proud of this conclusion. Perhaps flying too close to the sun is not a death-sentence, so long as another author can pick up the story and keep it alive for future generations.
Overall I really enjoyed the story and found it hard to put down. It's been wrongly compared in my opinion to "Yellowface" but that is only a superficial similarity and you may be disappointed with the outcome if you go into this expecting a variation on R.F. Kwuang's novel. I better comparison would be in my opinion "The Unseen World" by Liz Moore. Although that may give too much away. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review
January 12, 2025
This was my first ARC of the year, and a disappointing way to start my 2025 reading.
DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is a sci-fi book within a general fiction book (I hesitate to call it literary fiction). The main story is about Zelu, a Nigerian American paraplegic woman, recently fired from her job and at rock bottom, who writes a sci-fi novel that becomes an international phenomenon. The story takes off from there as Zelu navigates her fame and all it gives her access to and the ways it impacts her relationships. It seems to take place in the near future and involves technology that doesn’t quite exist yet, but feels close.
I’ll start with the good. Zelu is a Black and disabled main character, and I loved the representation and learning more about her challenges and how she navigates the world and the celebration of Nigerian food and culture. The food sounded so amazing that I ended up finding and a recipe for jollof rice and making it this week!
That’s as much praise as I can give it. The writing style felt stilted and clunky to me. The premise sounds amazing because of all the topics it covers - fame, the publishing industry, cancel culture, race, disability, technology, etc. - but I didn’t feel satisfied on its exploration of any of those. I felt like I was just reading Zelu and her family argue with each other over and over and over again without any character growth. Zelu is incredibly immature, and that’s a huge pet peeve of mine in books. She’s angry at the world, and as justified as that may be, it’s exhausting to read about for 450 pages. On top of that, we were told over and over how amazing her novel was, and yet I hated the book within the book. It felt incongruous and annoying to be beat over the head with how brilliant and phenomenal the book was, meanwhile all I saw of the author was how annoying and immature she was, and then the excerpts weren’t even good. This book was way too long and felt that way. The writing style reads quickly, but it was so repetitive I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
This book is getting a lot of pre-publication buzz and seems to have a huge marketing budget, and I’ve read some glowing reviews, so clearly this is working for some readers. And I have to be honest, the deluxe limited edition is gorgeous. If you’ve had success with Okorafor’s work in the past, this is probably worth a shot. Otherwise, I would give it some time to see if it has staying power once the initial marketing push is over before grabbing this one.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.
DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is a sci-fi book within a general fiction book (I hesitate to call it literary fiction). The main story is about Zelu, a Nigerian American paraplegic woman, recently fired from her job and at rock bottom, who writes a sci-fi novel that becomes an international phenomenon. The story takes off from there as Zelu navigates her fame and all it gives her access to and the ways it impacts her relationships. It seems to take place in the near future and involves technology that doesn’t quite exist yet, but feels close.
I’ll start with the good. Zelu is a Black and disabled main character, and I loved the representation and learning more about her challenges and how she navigates the world and the celebration of Nigerian food and culture. The food sounded so amazing that I ended up finding and a recipe for jollof rice and making it this week!
That’s as much praise as I can give it. The writing style felt stilted and clunky to me. The premise sounds amazing because of all the topics it covers - fame, the publishing industry, cancel culture, race, disability, technology, etc. - but I didn’t feel satisfied on its exploration of any of those. I felt like I was just reading Zelu and her family argue with each other over and over and over again without any character growth. Zelu is incredibly immature, and that’s a huge pet peeve of mine in books. She’s angry at the world, and as justified as that may be, it’s exhausting to read about for 450 pages. On top of that, we were told over and over how amazing her novel was, and yet I hated the book within the book. It felt incongruous and annoying to be beat over the head with how brilliant and phenomenal the book was, meanwhile all I saw of the author was how annoying and immature she was, and then the excerpts weren’t even good. This book was way too long and felt that way. The writing style reads quickly, but it was so repetitive I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
This book is getting a lot of pre-publication buzz and seems to have a huge marketing budget, and I’ve read some glowing reviews, so clearly this is working for some readers. And I have to be honest, the deluxe limited edition is gorgeous. If you’ve had success with Okorafor’s work in the past, this is probably worth a shot. Otherwise, I would give it some time to see if it has staying power once the initial marketing push is over before grabbing this one.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.
December 15, 2024
Nnedi Okorafor is on a very short list of mine where I'll read any book they write. Her sci-fi worlds, of a genre she calls "Africanfuturism", are a breathe of fresh air among sometimes stale Western fiction tropes. Her syntax is also refreshing, as there's a deceptively simple, almost folkloric structure to her sentences that makes her books very accessible, yet still rich and alive. It sometimes feels like you're sitting around a fire listening to her tell you a story.
In Death of the Author, you are really reading two books in one. The first story is about Zelu, a headstrong parapalegic writer, her rise to fame, and her relationships with her Nigerian-American family. This takes place perhaps 30-50 years in the future, in a world very similar to modern day, so it would be a stretch to call it science fiction beyond a few minor elements, which is a big departure from what Okorafor is known for. Autonomous vehicles, for some reason, are only starting to hit the market, despite today already being a reality. One key plot element revolves around Zelu gaining access to a piece of life-changing technology that probably will exist 30-50 years out, but other than that the speculative fiction elements are sparse. In truth, the most fantastical element I found in Zelu's story was that an MIT professor and grad students had enough free time to travel the world with their writer friend all the time.
Even in the darkest parts of Nnedi's stories, there's a core of strength and hope that her MC's often posses that rarely leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. That said, I unfortunately found Zelu somewhat unlikable, although not unrealistic as a person. Maybe that was the point though? I found it difficult to read scenario after scenario of Zelu's family relentlessly putting her down and never acknowledging her successes. On the other hand, career-wise and romantically, Zelu seems to have every single thing she ever wanted just fall into her lap with seemingly little friction. She doesn't handle this dichotomy with poise or gratitude, or even a sense of agency, only an attitude that she always knew she deserved this life and the world was just catching up. There is no mention of her immense privilege, despite her disability, and no sense of urgency or insecurity in maintaining her new lifestyle once she achieves it. I think many other people in her situation might have a bit more internal conflict or hint of imposter syndrome. Some chapters are interviews of the people close to her, with a vague sense of past tense, as if something bad was going to happen, but which ultimately felt discontiguous with the rest of Zelu's chapters. By the end, I couldn't help but feel I had missed something about understanding her as a person, and that there was a lack of character development from who she started as and who she ended up as.
The other story being told alongside Zelu's is that of Rusted Robots , the science fiction novel that skyrockets Zelu to fame. I didn't really connect much to it, and while being set in a far future Nigeria, didn't see much of how it connected to it's environment, or even Zelu's story. It followed a story with a pretty standard plot element, one we've seen in Baldur's Gate 3, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, and Animorphs. I won't spoil it, but you can probably see the throughline there if you know any of these other works. It contrasts with Zelu's story in being almost too fantastical and folktale-like that leave some of the worldbuilding feeling underdeveloped and vague. To me, robots as a subject matter also feel well-worn at this point, so I just didn't really connect with much of it.
Overall, Death of the Author feels like it takes all of the components that Okorafor so seamlessly integrates into her typical sci-fi work - Africanness, hope, survival, transhumanism, self-actualization, etc. - and deconstructs them into disparate elements and tales. Much like eating two slices of bread with a cold slice of cheddar does not provide the same experience as a hot, toasty grilled cheese sandwich, Zelu's story and Rusted Robots didn't quite add up to the sum of their parts for me.
All this said though, I believe in an artist's right to evolve and I'm glad that Nnedi wrote such a personal and somewhat risk-taking novel to share with the world. Perhaps elements of this book were too real for me, and I have to accept that I hide away in reading hard sci-fi and avoid literary fiction because I want escapism, not reminders of life's messy ambiguities and harsh realities. I do hope she continues to write more like this though, and I will still eagerly read whatever she publishes. There will be an audience for this book, but I don't think I was it.
Much thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
In Death of the Author, you are really reading two books in one. The first story is about Zelu, a headstrong parapalegic writer, her rise to fame, and her relationships with her Nigerian-American family. This takes place perhaps 30-50 years in the future, in a world very similar to modern day, so it would be a stretch to call it science fiction beyond a few minor elements, which is a big departure from what Okorafor is known for. Autonomous vehicles, for some reason, are only starting to hit the market, despite today already being a reality. One key plot element revolves around Zelu gaining access to a piece of life-changing technology that probably will exist 30-50 years out, but other than that the speculative fiction elements are sparse. In truth, the most fantastical element I found in Zelu's story was that an MIT professor and grad students had enough free time to travel the world with their writer friend all the time.
Even in the darkest parts of Nnedi's stories, there's a core of strength and hope that her MC's often posses that rarely leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. That said, I unfortunately found Zelu somewhat unlikable, although not unrealistic as a person. Maybe that was the point though? I found it difficult to read scenario after scenario of Zelu's family relentlessly putting her down and never acknowledging her successes. On the other hand, career-wise and romantically, Zelu seems to have every single thing she ever wanted just fall into her lap with seemingly little friction. She doesn't handle this dichotomy with poise or gratitude, or even a sense of agency, only an attitude that she always knew she deserved this life and the world was just catching up. There is no mention of her immense privilege, despite her disability, and no sense of urgency or insecurity in maintaining her new lifestyle once she achieves it. I think many other people in her situation might have a bit more internal conflict or hint of imposter syndrome. Some chapters are interviews of the people close to her, with a vague sense of past tense, as if something bad was going to happen, but which ultimately felt discontiguous with the rest of Zelu's chapters. By the end, I couldn't help but feel I had missed something about understanding her as a person, and that there was a lack of character development from who she started as and who she ended up as.
The other story being told alongside Zelu's is that of Rusted Robots , the science fiction novel that skyrockets Zelu to fame. I didn't really connect much to it, and while being set in a far future Nigeria, didn't see much of how it connected to it's environment, or even Zelu's story. It followed a story with a pretty standard plot element, one we've seen in Baldur's Gate 3, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, and Animorphs. I won't spoil it, but you can probably see the throughline there if you know any of these other works. It contrasts with Zelu's story in being almost too fantastical and folktale-like that leave some of the worldbuilding feeling underdeveloped and vague. To me, robots as a subject matter also feel well-worn at this point, so I just didn't really connect with much of it.
Overall, Death of the Author feels like it takes all of the components that Okorafor so seamlessly integrates into her typical sci-fi work - Africanness, hope, survival, transhumanism, self-actualization, etc. - and deconstructs them into disparate elements and tales. Much like eating two slices of bread with a cold slice of cheddar does not provide the same experience as a hot, toasty grilled cheese sandwich, Zelu's story and Rusted Robots didn't quite add up to the sum of their parts for me.
All this said though, I believe in an artist's right to evolve and I'm glad that Nnedi wrote such a personal and somewhat risk-taking novel to share with the world. Perhaps elements of this book were too real for me, and I have to accept that I hide away in reading hard sci-fi and avoid literary fiction because I want escapism, not reminders of life's messy ambiguities and harsh realities. I do hope she continues to write more like this though, and I will still eagerly read whatever she publishes. There will be an audience for this book, but I don't think I was it.
Much thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 20, 2025
"Stories are what hold all things together. They make things matter, they make all things be, exist."
Zelu is at her sister's wedding when she is fired from her job as a professor over the phone. Unmoored and angered by the series of events that led to this, she writes a novel - not the literary fiction she had been trying unsuccessfully to write, but a sci-fi novel about two robots after the end of humanity. This novel becomes an incredible success, changing many things about her life. Zelu has grown up in a large Nigerian-American family, still lives at home with her parents, and is a paraplegic following an accident she had when she was 12. The success from the book provides her with both the resources and commitment to forge a different path - and provides her with the contacts to access technology that allows her to walk again. So much change in her life almost makes this feel like someone experiencing a second coming of age - one where you are more conscious of the decisions you are making. Embedded in the novel about Zelu is the novel she wrote about the robots. The way Okorafor brings this all together is brilliant. It's about family and acceptance, forging your own path, identity, the power of narrative, including the stories we tell ourselves. It's utterly brilliant and will be one of my top reads of the year.
Zelu is at her sister's wedding when she is fired from her job as a professor over the phone. Unmoored and angered by the series of events that led to this, she writes a novel - not the literary fiction she had been trying unsuccessfully to write, but a sci-fi novel about two robots after the end of humanity. This novel becomes an incredible success, changing many things about her life. Zelu has grown up in a large Nigerian-American family, still lives at home with her parents, and is a paraplegic following an accident she had when she was 12. The success from the book provides her with both the resources and commitment to forge a different path - and provides her with the contacts to access technology that allows her to walk again. So much change in her life almost makes this feel like someone experiencing a second coming of age - one where you are more conscious of the decisions you are making. Embedded in the novel about Zelu is the novel she wrote about the robots. The way Okorafor brings this all together is brilliant. It's about family and acceptance, forging your own path, identity, the power of narrative, including the stories we tell ourselves. It's utterly brilliant and will be one of my top reads of the year.
January 2, 2025
Starting the new reading year of weak with this one, to my utter disappointment. Mind you I think this is also very much due to me expecting something very different the author's writing just not working for me personally. Now I can absolutely see how strong Okorafor is as both a writer and a narrator. The story she writes here is an increcibly interesting one, it just... almost didn't go far enough for me?
It's literary fiction with the mildest of sci-fi possible until the ending. It tells the story of Zelu who, at the worst time in her life, decides to write a very different book from what she usually publishes and teaches: A science-fiction novel, first in a trilogy, about robots in a future after humanity. The book becomes a smash hit, Zelu rises to fame, but because she's black and disabled she still gets a horrible amount of hate nevertheless. The way she develops from there, her own experiences with new "robotic" technology and how she deals with the popularity she gains is avbsolutely interesting. I just always felt like we stayed a little on the surface. I expected a harsher critique. The book focused more on her difficult relationship with her family, really. The story also moves at a breakneck speed (jumping from her writing the book to releasing it to being pressured for the second book by her publishers), while the pacing is still kind of weirdly slow in between.
In the end, I can see that this is a well-written book but Okorafor's writing style isn't my personal cup of tea. I enjoyed Zelu as a protagonist at first but never really warmed up to her and didn't care much about her fate. I absolutely adored the concept of an author writing a sci-fi robot version of herself and then slowly using existing technology to become that version, but it kind of got bogged down by the rest of the book.
Probably 2 t0 2,5 stars, but rounding up to 3.
Many thanks to Gollancz and Netgalley for the arc!
It's literary fiction with the mildest of sci-fi possible until the ending. It tells the story of Zelu who, at the worst time in her life, decides to write a very different book from what she usually publishes and teaches: A science-fiction novel, first in a trilogy, about robots in a future after humanity. The book becomes a smash hit, Zelu rises to fame, but because she's black and disabled she still gets a horrible amount of hate nevertheless. The way she develops from there, her own experiences with new "robotic" technology and how she deals with the popularity she gains is avbsolutely interesting. I just always felt like we stayed a little on the surface. I expected a harsher critique. The book focused more on her difficult relationship with her family, really. The story also moves at a breakneck speed (jumping from her writing the book to releasing it to being pressured for the second book by her publishers), while the pacing is still kind of weirdly slow in between.
In the end, I can see that this is a well-written book but Okorafor's writing style isn't my personal cup of tea. I enjoyed Zelu as a protagonist at first but never really warmed up to her and didn't care much about her fate. I absolutely adored the concept of an author writing a sci-fi robot version of herself and then slowly using existing technology to become that version, but it kind of got bogged down by the rest of the book.
Probably 2 t0 2,5 stars, but rounding up to 3.
Many thanks to Gollancz and Netgalley for the arc!
January 26, 2025
Delightful, painful, funny, absurd, and at times frustrating but altogether well written and deeply original. I loved how it explored the intersection of technology and disability, particularly those ableist narratives that portray technology as an inherent threat to humanity — essentially arguing for a human-centered approach to tech (this did at times did read like AI apologia I’m sorry). As a non sci-fi reader I found it easy to get into but I do think it was a bit overwritten. Overall I thought it was a very smart book that played with storytelling in a fun way.
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