Death of the Author was my first novel by Okorafor so I cannot speak to how it compares to the author's previous work. However, I found myself struggling with this book. I felt like it had a hard time deciding what it wanted to be. It felt more literary fiction as opposed to sci-fi, which is what I was expecting. Though Death of the Author didn't fall within my preferred genre, I wanted to give it a fair go. I loved Yellowface and the comparison to it ultimately is what made me want to continue with this novel.

I enjoyed the Rusted Robot exerts that were sprinkled throughout the story. I would have loved more of those chapters. I enjoyed the last chapter and how it tied the entire story together. I also found the cultural aspects of this novel fascinating. I have never read an AfroFuturism book before, and this made me want to pick up more.

For what I didn't like - this book just felt so repetitive. It felt like I was reading the same family arguments and the same "everyone is out to get me" drama every couple of chapters. I didn't feel like Zelu's family really liked her, and I didn't feel like Zelu did much to improve her relationships with them either. I also felt like the interview chapters added nothing to the story. They felt so out of place for me and I wasn't invested in them at all.

I feel like those who enjoy literary intersectionality and AfroFuturism will love this book.

Thank you to Net Galley and William Morrow for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I truly enjoyed this one, to me this was considered a "fast read". Through diverse narratives that blend speculative fiction with rich cultural contexts, Okorafor challenges traditional notions of storytelling, emphasizing that once a narrative is shared, it transcends its creator. Each story features richly drawn characters navigating complex realities, with standout pieces like "The Last Train" encapsulating themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time. By incorporating elements of African folklore and contemporary issues, Okorafor enriches her narratives while inviting readers to engage deeply with the text and reflect on their own interpretations. This brilliant collection is a five-star triumph that solidifies Okorafor's place as a leading voice in contemporary speculative fiction, encouraging readers to reconsider the nature of authorship and the power of narrative.

This is the kind of book that you give to a person who claims they "can't" get into sci-fi. Death of the Author is not hardcore sci-fi but it's outstanding in showing how the best sci-fi stories are those that are the most human. Zelu is nothing like me but as I read through the book I found myself pivoting from "Ah, another one of those protagonists that I don't have to like" to "I will burn people alive to get Zelu what she wants." How does Okorafor do that? I don't know. I've previously read Who Fears Death and while I thought it was good, I had a hard time reading through some sections. I had a much easier time reading this book, except for wishing that I could smoke along with Zelu whenever the story mentioned it. Okorafor managed to have a protagonist with a disability and actually have that part of the story work along wonderfully with the rest of the narrative. Second-generation diaspora angst was also portrayed so well; while the details may be different, I found those elements to be very relatable even though I hail from a different continent. I cannot wait for the rest of my friends to be able to read this and I also have a mighty need to have some jollof rice now.

Thank you to William Morrow (and NetGalley) for allowing me to read this book!

This is, admittedly my first Nnedi Okorafor, which I know is a great travesty, as she's been on my list for... well. years.

The cover is beautiful, of course, and Zelu. . . . Zelu feels real. Irritated and tired, angry and stubborn, hopeful and independent against all those who try to keep her smaller, through ignorance or protectiveness.

However, I'm not really sure I brought part of the great concept-- her book captures the world and people so much that it's so massively successful and she's recognized everywhere she goes, and not just by the superfans. Unfortunately (and I hope I am proven wrong!!!) it seems hard for a book to be popular with a strong fandom of the type Zelu experiences her book as having unless it has a heavy romance subplot. I also feel as if the book was leading up to a certain ending that then didn't... well, happen (thankfully). Maybe that feeds more into the message of the book?

I did love the friendships Zelu made, and how her independence is something she and the narrative prioritizes. Zelu is able to have autonomy in away that her parents and family feel she never could-- but it's continued choices she continues to have.

Death of the Author is a book that's hard to categorize because it straddles so many genres. This is a book about storytelling and the power of sharing stories. There's a futuristic world ruled by AI and robots along with a near-future world with all the messiness of being human (like family and romantic relationships or societal problems like racism, sexism, ableism, etc.). The (human) characters make mistakes, they can be incredibly kind and incredibly cruel, and they grow. The nonhuman characters similarly offer one vision of what the future might be like, which is a bit nerve-wracking in the fact that it's even plausible. I feel like different people will pull different meaning and insight from some of the overlapping stories because of what resonates with them or their personal experiences. This story definitely leaves a lot of food for thought at many levels from the individual to the global society. Fantastic read! 4.5/5

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the e-arc.

The premise sounded interesting, but it failed in execution. The pace was way too slow, and I had a hard time staying engaged. I was never able to connect with any of the characters. I do believe there is an audience for this, but sadly, that is not me. In general, I like a story within a story, but something with this one just didn't work for me.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! LOVED LOVED LOVED. Its a story of an aspiring author who loses her job and decides write a story different from what she normally writes! This was my first time reading a story within a story type of book and it was AMAZING. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO THIS BOOK.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC of this book!

Death of the Author tells the story of Zelu, a disabled Nigerian-American author, her sudden rise to popularity, and all the joys and troubles that came with it.
It also tells the story that launched Zelu’s career, Rusted Robots, a tale of robots and AI in a post-apocalyptic Nigeria.
I sometimes have an issue when an author includes metatextual praise of the book you’re reading in that same novel (it basically ruined Addie LaRue for me), but Rusted Robots holds up well enough, especially in the context of Zelu’s character, that it works.
Ultimately, Death of the Author is primarily a character study on Zelu. It’s fascinating how the Rusted Robots is so intrinsically her. The interviews from those close to her provide a lot of context for her life, and how she got where she is. And then the last chapter recontextualises the entirety of the book before in a way that made me stop for a solid minute and reconsider the book I read and decide what it meant to me. At some point I will probably reread it with the last chapter in mind, and I’m sure it’ll be a different experience.
I do have my issues: A lot of the side characters, especially the bulk of Zelu’s family, do suffer a little in their characterisation, not having much identity outside the aggregate, and it gets a little repetitive hearing the same three foods mentioned over and over. Overall, though, it was a great read, and I’m sure I’ll revisit it again in the future.

Wonderful to see the fruition and maturing of Okorafor's work. Loved the scifi book within a book. Truly creative, fun and exciting read.

Storytelling at its BEST!
This is the first book I've ready by Nnedi Okorafor and I absolutely loved it. The story within a story is unique and will appeal to High School students. Teachers can explore the themes of family, culture, identity, change, and most important-human nature.
Definitely grabbing copies to share with teachers and librarians.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for sharing an ARC with me.

Nnedi Okorafor is my favorite author and she solidifies that title with Death of the Author. What a beautiful story about finding your place in the world— especially when you rarely feel supported even by your family. Life is complex, but stay true to yourself regardless of what the masses think.

I want to start off by saying that the writing and the premise of this book was out of this world fantastic. I was very interested from the start. I think what I struggled with was the pacing. I just could not devour this book at the speed in which I normally do. I could not figure out what my problem was and why I couldn't get into a book that I genuinely liked! After much consideration, it might just be me. I have never read a metafiction book before. This might be why I felt funny while reading the book. I just felt like I was missing something or that I just didn't get it.

OKay, I had to sit on this for a while.,. it was a lot of process, but this might be one of my best reads of 2024. I didn't LOVE any of the characters, and I wish I could have liked them better. Most of the family are really controlling and negative in ways that I didn't understand. But I loved the AI story within the story. That was amazing. And I loved how it looks at the power of stories as an element of personhood. I have already recommended this book to several people, including a few teachers, who will use this book in their classrooms. I mean that TWIST! And the characters were interesting. I really, deeply related to the main character's struggle to be Nigerian enough in Nigeria, and American enough in America, to top that off in America she isn't Nigerian, she is black. I don't relate to that specifically, but that flattening and pigeonholing of your identity is very relatable and I think this books does a good job demonstrating that. Plus it is Sci-Fi, speculative post apocalyptic fiction that explores what it means to be human, alive, a person. Fascinating. Than you SO much to the author, publisher and neutrally for this free ARC. All opinions are my own. I am so, so happy I got to read this book, and I will happily tell as many people about it as I can.

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor is the story of Zelu, her Nigerian family, and the bestselling book that she writes. And so much more.

Since Zulu is a paraplegic, her family has always both protected her and made her feel an outsider. She wants to be completely individual and independent, but she also needs help sometimes and is a product of her family, cultures, circumstances, history and dreams. When she writes a best-selling novel about the lives and motivations of robots—which we also get to read within the larger story—she has the opportunity to make a difference in her roles as child, sister, partner, author, woman, writer, celebrity but struggles with what she wants those roles to be and to mean.

I really loved this book! I empathized with Zelu trying to find her space and grow. She is not always a loveable character, but she is very real in all of her contradictions and combativeness. The family dynamics are depicted so clearly, and I enjoyed the insight into various tribal cultures and Nigerian diaspora. Even though this is largely a character-driven novel, the plot is well paced, exciting, with several unexpected situations. I even fell in love with a robot story, which I never thought that I could do. The social reflection from an individual and family level to more broadly involving communities and the world was very clever and well-integrated. There is something about this that makes me think of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy despite the very different approaches.

Highly recommended. Thank you to Net Galley and William Morrow for the digital ARC.

What good was love if she could only see it through a window?

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It took me forever to read this book. The summary sounded right up my alley, the cover is gorgeous, I like the author, I loved Yellowface which the book was compared to, annnnd for some reason I hit 44% and could go no further. It wasn’t until today that I forced myself to power through and finish reading.

Death of the Author isn’t a bad book for what it is, but I went in expecting a heavier critique on the publishing industry and systemic racism and ableism. What I got was a bit of a melodrama about Zelu’s somewhat insufferable family, a super cool but somewhat detached story-within-a-story about robots, and…Elon……Musk? (Mostly, I just got hungry lol. Fried plantains sound amazing right now.)

It felt at times like this book didn’t know what it wanted to be. I think that’s why I ultimately had such a hard time powering through to the finish line. The pacing was a little off in a few places, and it felt like Zelu was so heavily detached from reality at times that it fell into patterns of “she comes up with something new and amazing, her family hates on her for it, she cries alone in her old bedroom, she does the thing anyway and comes to regret it because her family was right, then boom she comes up with something new and yet again for the third time this chapter she mentions that her agent is nagging her for updates on the sequel to Rusted Robots…”

Rinse and repeat. Ultimately the book just felt repetitive, and though the writing itself was excellent on a craft level, I haven’t come away feeling very good about the time I spent on this novel.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go buy some plantains. I have a real hankering for them all of a sudden.

Okorafor has written a very cool book, and the excitement around it is palpable. Death of the Author is a striking story of disability and bodily autonomy, in a near future world. Does that body you inhabit matter? Who gets a say in what you do to it, and how you use it? These are the questions the novel presented. Zelu, a failed writer in a family that demands perfection, writes a science fiction novel that is suddenly wildly successful and takes a life of its own. With success, she suddenly has choices about her life, her living situation, where she goes, and what she does, that she never had before, and everyone believes they have a right to tell her the ones to make. The novel seemed ramping up to a different ending than it reached, but it told a powerful story about the right to make yourself what you desire to be, and the choices technological advances will present us someday soon. Zelu cannot be anyone other than herself, and that itself makes her a compelling character as she tries to decide how that fits into her world. Additionally, the food Okorafor describes in this book will make your mouth water. I'm still thinking about the Egg Stew with fish and shrimp over yams and fried plantains. This book has buzz, and it's for a reason. Looking forward to it being out their and the discussion really ramping up.

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.

A captivating book about Zelu — a disabled Nigerian American author (unpublished) and teacher who gets cancelled (and fired) due to her insensitivity (really deeply provoked impatience!) with her more irritating students. It’s also about the new book she writes — Rusted Robots — which becomes an overnight sensation. A post-apocalyptic story where robots and AI are at war over the tattered remains of human civilization, Rusted Robots brings her fame, fortune, some wild, tech-based opportunities, and a whole lot of people who suddenly feel entitled to tell her exactly what to do.

There are so many intellectually interesting and intersecting threads in this story — AI and automation, family, gender roles, African culture, authorial creativity and control, fame, freedom vs safety, disabilities, and the balance between individual and society — but the overarching theme is one of my favorites: the place of narrative and story in human culture. After all, I read fiction because I seek understanding, not just information.

Okorafor manages to blend multiple genres brilliantly, and since I am a fan of both literary and speculative fiction, I was riveted from start to finish. The characters were drawn so deeply — like all of my favorite people, they seemed to be compelling, annoying, loud, supportive, controlling, and caring all at once. I appreciated the fact that while most of the characters were Black (with the exception of the “wealthy white dudes” who keep finding her), there was no antipathy towards white people, just more of a lack of interest.

The big twist at the end absolutely blew me away. And a last little make-me-happy tidbit? She included a call out to one of my favorite (and fairly obscure for the U.S.) books — So Long A Letter by Mariamba Ba.

In my Top Reads of the Year list.

OMG! This book is brilliant! It is 10/30/24 and I just finished reading a Netgalley ARC of this book. I cant believe I still have to wait 2.5 months for its release. I want to buy 50 million copies of this book and share it with everyone. I didnt see that plot twist coming! It's a story within a story and what is reality gets blurred right down to the last few pages. Absolutely brilliant. This is a new to me author, but now I have to go back and read her other works. I will definitely be buying a physical copy for my personal library- love those blue edges! This book made me proud of Nigerians like Sky Full of Elephants made me proud of Haitians.

4.25

Setting: USA and Nigeria
Rep: Black disabled protagonist; Black author

This was so close to a 5 star! From the start I loved it, and I love a book within a book (especially when that book gives off A Psalm for the Wild-Built vibes) but the only thing letting this down was that at times it seemed like there was a bit too much going on and by the end, it felt like there were a few unfinished threads. But it's a great book and I can imagine this being one a lot of people talk about.