My first 5-star of the year!!! I would give this book 5+++ Stars!
What can be more delightful than getting two books in one? Both stories are beautifully written, with an engaging story and profound characters you care about! I don't have my physical copy of this book yet, but even the cover is perfect! On the desk jacket is the cover for Death of an Author and underneath is the cover for Rusted Robots.

In Death of an Author, the main character Zelu (Nigerian American), from Chicago, is a writer who is struggling. She has just lost her job, the book she wrote years ago keeps getting rejected, and her family doesn't have much faith in her and treats her differently because she is a paraplegic. In a fit of despair, she sits down to write a new book, Rusted Robots. From there we follow Zelu's journey as her book becomes a hit and the ups and downs of being a successful writer. We also follow all aspects of her personal life, sometimes getting the POV from family and friends.
But the best part, the novel includes the sci-fi story, Rusted Robots. It is an equal delight! Earth is now inhabited by Robots, and the journey of these robots takes place in Nigeria. Even though Earth only has robots, conflict still ensues.

This was a book I did not want to put down! I have loved both stories. And the ending was just as it should be.
I look forward to reading the backlist of this author's work!
Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC for review.

Death of the Author has a lot of strong point to it, but also unfortunately a number of things that didn't quite for me. First, for the positives I have to say that I really liked the literary lean in style of this one and thought the prose was wonderful! I also appreciated the creativity that went into this story and the overarching plot and style. That being said, I struggled a lot with the characters the plot beats/pacing. I feel that this book could have been a decent bit shorter and still done what it needed to. It was a little all over the place and left me struggling to find myself fully engaged. I would still recommend it to anyone interested because I think it will be a big hit (and seems to be!) for many people.

I don't usually gravitate towards family sagas and science fiction, so the plot description must have really gotten my attention. (Thank you Netgalley!)
A novel within a novel is not a new literary device. However, in Okorafor's talented hands it is elevated to a whole new level. The present day storyline is woven so well that it flows into the science fiction novel that the main character,Zelu, has written. This makes so going back and forth in the two timelines almost effortless.
I have to say that her family's reactions to her success and endeavors really irritated me. Yes, they loved her and wanted to protect her but at times it came across as being jealous of her and continually concerned with what would the rest of the family / world would think of her and the family.
In an interview Okorafor explained that she was coming from a Nigerian and American view point. In a Nigerian family, community and family comes first whereas in an American one it is the individual who reigns supreme (and not necessarily in negative way).
This is why reading opens so many ways of seeing the world. Thank you Nnedi Okorafor!

This is a thought-provoking and emotionally resonant novel that will captivate readers who appreciate stories about identity, acceptance, and the transformative power of storytelling, particularly those who are drawn to themes of disability, technology, and the complexities of family dynamics.

This book is everything. It is story. It is wonder. It is beautiful. It is selfish. It changes. Thank you Nnedi Okorafor!

This was a very clever book. The main character Zelu was not an extremely likeable character all the time, but she was a very REAL character. I felt for her so much and wanted her to succeed, but she also did some questionable things. An excellent depiction of a child of immigrants trying to bridge the gap between their family's expectations and just being themselves and doing what makes them happy.

I did find the book a bit long, though I was really loving it - it definitely lost me a bit at the end, the last couple of chapters and the ending knocked a star off of what would have been 5. This is also more lit fic than sci-fi, nevertheless, it's really good book!

Thank you William Morrow and NetGalley for the ARC!

So I have read quite a few of Nnedi Okorafor's books and I will say this is a little different but in a good way. In most of the novels I've read from her, she starts out already being in a futuristic African place, but this story does not. It feel like its taken place in modern times and them it transitions to what you find out in the book. Still the fact remains that Nnedi's stories snatch you into the pages and your imagination will go wild creating the scenes in your head. I will always recommend her work.

5/5 ⭐️ I literally have no words! This is by far Orkorafor’s best works up to date! I love the FMC being disabled and using that to connect the moving parts in her story! It’s like it was a book within a book! All the chapters parallel and connected beautifully that you really didn’t know what was real or imagined! So beautiful! This is my 2025 book of the year so far!

Huge thanks for William Morrow for this galley

I requested Death of the Author on a whim after hearing so many amazing things about Okorafor's previous books: the Binti trilogy, the Nsibidi Scripts Series, LaGuardia, and her most recent novella Remote Control. I was not disappointed at all.

I did not go in with any expectations except for knowing that people love her character building and writing and they are right.

Death of the Author is a science fiction novel with the perfect amount of literary fiction/disfunctional family mixed in.

Zelu is the second oldest of a Nigerian family living in Chicago who had an accident at the age of twelve that left her a paraplegic. The story starts out when Zelu is around 30 years old and we follow her for over 10 years as she loses a job, deals with a family that wants to cushion her for safety, and as she publishes her first book.

Okorafor splices in bits of the book that Zelu publishes in-between plot and interviews with Zelu's family. It was the perfect amount of a book-within-a-book for me. These splices make the book which is more of a contemporary or literary fiction have more of a speculative fiction feel as Zelu's novel centers around robots and AI set in Nigeria.

To me, the center of this novel is what does humanity mean? Okorafor draws the line between humanity and automation as we follow both Zelu and her sci-fi novel.

I would be remiss if I do not mention that Zelu is not the perfect character. There will be times where the reader does not like her, but more often than not you will be rooting for her as she tackles the boundaries around her that have been set by her family, tradition, and society. As she adds in automation to her life, her family just does not understand and she feels misunderstood.

If I have one qualm on the book it's that the pacing is off at times when switching between following Zelu, going to her book, and going to an interview with a family member.

This is a journey with themes of humanity, family, culture, grief, anxiety, depression, and the pressure to be as successful as your siblings. This is a journey I highly suggest you take on.

Previously, I’ve only read Noor by Okorafor, and wasn’t exactly blown away by it. But I’ve heard so many times how fantastic her novels are, so I decided to give Death of the Author a try. I didn’t go in expecting much, but I was intrigued by the story of an author whose book just explodes, and I liked that Death of the Author also includes that sci-fi story. This ended up being an addictive read, and I absolutely loved Zelu.

Right before her sister’s wedding, Zelu, who is partly paralyzed from a childhood accident, learns she’s been fired from her teaching job and her novel has been rejected again, so she loses everything and ends up moving back in with her parents who try to push her to take a more traditional job. But there’s a novel buzzing in her head, one about robots in the distant future. As she navigates a murky romantic relationship and her family’s smothering concerns, her novel is published to great acclaim and popularity. Things are looking up for Zelu: she’s wealthy, moves into her own home, settles as far as she cares into her romantic relationship, and gains her own pair of robot legs. But her fame bars her from going back to her family’s home in Africa and she draws criticism for her robot legs, and her second book is as yet unwritten.

Meanwhile, her sci-fi novel plays out. Humans have died out, leaving behind the robots and AI they created. Now, they’re capable of running their own societies and have splintered into different groups where some believe a body is necessary and others who believe otherwise. When an order is sent out, Scholar Ankara, a Hume with a physical body, is attacked and left for dead. Thanks to the last human left on Earth and a curious AI Ghost, who doesn’t believe in having a physical body, Ankara is revived, but she and Ijele, the Ghost, are stuck for a time in Ankara’s robotic body, both learning about the other, which puts them at risk when the Humes decide to get revenge on the Ghosts.

One part fiction and one part sci-fi, this novel really captured my attention. I loved both parts, finding they worked well together and were different enough that I never got the details mixed up. While I did think the sci-fi story was the weaker of the two, I found both held my complete attention. I also liked a bit of sci-fi crossover into Zelu’s story, what with the pieces she’s given to put on her legs to give her the ability to walk and the trip she takes towards the end of the novel, among others. I found that, just when I wondered what was going to happen in the other story, the narrative would switch to it, so it was impossible for me to be bored with one or the other.

Really, though, I was utterly fascinated by Zelu and her story. I loved her family, to a point, and I adored Zelu. She’s been disabled, wheelchair-bound since childhood, and everyone tends to infantilize her. I absolutely felt her anger and frustration, and it only got worse the more famous she became. I found myself feeling angry on her behalf, and I hated that everyone, from her parents to her partner, thought they always knew what was best for her. Of course, there were times when I found myself screaming for her to listen to them, but I mostly thought she was fully capable of making her own choices. It was frustrating to watch her have to fight so hard. But it also, weirdly, made me so proud of her when she made her own choices and lived with the consequences, even when her choices led her to bad things. Her family never really understood her, or thought her vocation as author was anything more than a fancy, but, otherwise, I thought they were delightful. There were so many fun personalities, and they melded and clashed in fantastic ways.

Zelu’s story may be seen as a dream many writers have, to write that one hit novel that everyone then reads. Death of the Author really plays into it, and yet it also sounded entirely plausible. Zelu becomes a household name and people carry around their copy of her book, always asking for more. I loved that this also focused on her inability to write the second book; it felt relatable and her frustration really bled through. I loved that fame for her was full of rewards and consequences, and some of those hurt my heart for her. And yet she never forgot who she was and what she wanted all along, so I loved how she threw herself headlong into it, pursuing who she is and who she wants to be regardless of what everyone else wants. She’s the kind of person who really stays true to herself, and it was fantastic to see. I loved the way her story played out, and I loved her independence.

Her sci-fi story, Rusted Robots, wasn’t quite as engaging as Zelu’s story, but I still found it intriguing and I often couldn’t wait to get back into that story. I loved the idea behind it, and I could see how both of these stories played off of each other. Zelu and Ankara bled into each other, but were always kept fully distinguishable. It takes a bit for Ankara’s story to really get going, but, once it did, I couldn’t read it fast enough. To me, I didn’t think it really called for the fame Zelu gains. It’s a decent enough sci-fi novel with an intriguing premise and interesting ideas wrapped around it, but I couldn’t really see someone actually publishing that today and becoming an overnight sensation. But I did enjoy it and I loved what it had to say. Ankara and Ijele were lovely together, and I adored their prickly, but close relationship.

But a standout part of this novel is Zelu’s culture. I don’t know anything about Nigerian culture, nor what it’s like to be Nigerian American, so I loved how Okorafor infused Death of the Author with it. It’s there in the speech, the food, the family and social dynamics. I also loved that parts of the story had Zelu traveling to Nigeria, some of it pleasant and some of it less so. Even though her culture is outside of my knowledge base, I felt her world, her life, her family’s ways come alive. It felt real and thick with vibrancy and history. I loved learning what I did, and I really enjoyed Zelu’s world, even when it tried to pin her down.

Death of the Author is a fascinating novel that speaks to the pitfalls of fame and disability against a vivid Nigerian American backdrop. Zelu is the perfect protagonist for such a story, straddling that cultural line while holding her head high, holding to her dreams and desires, and pursuing what she wants with a ferocity that made me love her. I wasn’t so keen on the sci-fi story, but I loved the characters in it and the friendship they formed. There was something sweet and intriguingly human about them, and I kind of wish we’d been given the second novel in Zelu’s series. For now, I’m comforted by the fact that this novel ended with things looking up for all of them, and with dreams for more on the horizon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was so intrigued by the premise of Death of the Author, but unfortunately, the book itself didn't spark the joy I had thought it would when I initially read about it.

I didn't deeply love any of the characters because I felt such a distance from them. The robots were more interesting to me than the humans, which isn't too surprising, and maybe that's where I ran into problems. I was interested in the science fiction aspects of the story, and that was more of a sprinkle of decoration instead of the dish itself.

The book was well written, but it just never really clicked for me, and that's likely a failure on my part more so than a failure of the book.

I can say if you're looking for heavy science fiction, this is probably not the book you're looking for, but otherwise, it's still worth a read.

There's been no shortage of discussion about various creatives or personalities "canceled" (or worse) for one thing or another, and what to do with the content that has their name, and their brand, all over it. Nnedi Okorafor tackles this disturbingly timely topic in her latest novel, Death of the Author.

Zelu has always been different than the rest of her Nigerian-American family—because she's paraplegic, or in spite of it? Not content to follow the expectations of either starting a family or embarking on a respectable career, she keeps having one-night stands, adjuncting for whiney graduate students, and hoping a publisher will appreciate her pretentious literary novel. The night of her sister's wedding, Zelu gets fired from her adjunct job for yelling at a student, her novel gets rejected, and she slides quickly to rock bottom. There, she scraps any pretense of literature and writes about robots.

At the encouragement of a friend, she eventually sends the finished manuscript to her agent. Within days, the robots have gotten her a book deal and been optioned for a movie, and Zelu's life is forever changed—mostly in ways she can't possibly imagine at the beginning. In good ways, certainly, with a hefty advance and unexpected opportunities that expand her world in both figurative and literal ways. But there are challenges, too, especially with her instant notoriety that only increases as fans clamor for more robots. As she grapples with both the good and bad, family and personal tragedy both take their shot at Zelu—as do love and a renewed sense of self. All of it goes into forming the author, and none of it is wholly untangled from what ends up on the bookshelf.

For anyone not familiar with the phrase, "death of the author" refers to an argument within literary criticism that art should be consumed and considered separately from the beliefs or background of its creator, and validates readers' interpretation without the constraint of the creator's intent. This framework does allow for many interpretations, and lets a piece of art grow far beyond the constraints of reality or imagination that its creator might have had. But while the theory doesn't call for completely ignoring creator, it does greatly diminish the creator's role once the art is released to an audience. In this age of scandals and allegations, its usage is often used to consider whether one can continue enjoying art made by someone who has broken the social construct in some way, from having a bad take to being accused of serious crimes.

Interspersed with Zelu's story are chapters from her robot book, the themes of which both parallel and contrast with what we learn of Zelu's life. Her main character's legs are damaged and have to be replaced. In a future Nigeria that sees the death of the last human, her robot characters feel displaced—not fully from one place or another, not belonging to a single group of people, always feeling and being told that they are different. Of course, no author can avoid putting drops of themselves in their work in some way, and this is true of Zelu—but how much does that matter? For many of her fans, it's seemingly impossible to keep from speculating where Zelu stops and her characters begin. She is not the personable hero her fans want her to be, but she is also not any of the things they call her when she criticizes the film adaptation of her book or simply drags her feet, metaphorically speaking, in writing that darn sequel. At the same time, both the film adaptation of her book and the fan fiction it elicits shows Zelu how misunderstood she really is. When she thinks about writing a sequel, part of her reluctance comes from not knowing to what extent her fans will expect the same altered interpretation from her.

This is a fascinating week for Death to be released, especially for the publishing and SFFH communities in the wake of the explosive Vulture article that expounded horrifically on last summer's allegations about fan favorite and outspoken "feminist ally" Neil Gaiman. In a way, it seems unfair for a book about the tangled mess that is art and artist, and the assumptions we tend to make about where one ends and the other begins, to come out under these circumstances. On the other hand, what's better advertising than a book about the very thing so many of us are grappling with yet again?

The question of "death of the author" and how much an audience really can separate creator from creation—or how much we should creatively and financially support those who think or behave in ways we disagree with—is not one that can be answered in one book, or with one scandal. Zelu, though an intriguingly difficult person, and character, to love, is still a basically normal person, albeit an impulsive one with a wickedly sharp tongue. She's a good balance for Okorafor, I think; if she were nicer or a lot worse, Death wouldn't challenge the question at all. Zelu isn't a regular person, but she's a realistic one (robot legs aside). More importantly, Death has a lot to say about art, its creation, and those who make it for us that is more relevant than ever.

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.

I loved this so much. The disability representation, the conflicting identities a person can have, the journey to find yourself and self-acceptance -- oh and robots! Basically it had it all. And then there was an anticipation that kept building up the entire novel -- something was going to happen, Zelu was going to do something, and I NEEDED to know what it was. I was NOT expecting that ending but it was just so so good. Man. I loved it.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first review copy book that I immediately purchased on its release date. I mean, I have purchased books I've read DRCs/ARCs of - but never before I even finished the book. I usually buy them after stewing in the afterglow of the book high and hoping to find something that would be worthy of reading afterward.
Can there possibly be something that would compare to this book that I could follow it with?
I immediately added all the author's books to my TBR.

Two books in and I already have my book of the year.

I don't think much more is needed, but I am expected to write a review, so here goes, although I cannot do this book any kind of justice.

Zelu has always had three desires at her core: to go on adventures, to write, and to go to space. After falling from a tree at age 12, though, she is confined to a wheelchair and at the mercy of her loving but judgemental and misunderstanding family.

While away from her job as a university adjunct, attending her sister's wedding, Zelu gets a call, and is fired. Not long after, her manuscript is rejected yet again from another publisher (she has sent it to many). She is devastated, and she is angry.

After moving back in with her well-meaning parents, where her siblings visit regularly, she escapes reality by writing a new book. Born of dead dreams and lead-heavy emotions, she writes Rusted Robots - a post-apocalyptic novel where humanity has all but gone extinct (there is one human left), and artificial intelligence has factioned into tribes - the Humes, or Rusted Robots, and the NoBodies, or Ghosts.

With violent and hateful prejudice against each other, they cannot understand the others' thoughts and actions. When the NoBodies send out a a protocol to destroy the Humes, it seems as though they would win out. But the last human finds a Hume, legs crushed, and replaces their legs, and also, working to avoid a system crash, stitches them back together by inserting a Ghost into their code.

Alternating between Zelu's life, which turns absolutely wild after the book is published, interviews with family and friends of Zelu, and Zelu's book itself, Death of the Author reaches into the readers' heart and clenches its fist, leaving a permanent imprint of this wonderfully weaved story.

I loved that Zelu was nearly unlikeable but also relateable. I loved that despite every move she made coming under scrutiny from her family, then the world, she still refused to bow and be boxed into categories that seem inescapable. I love how I could feel Zelu's family in her story, how I could feel Zelu in her story, as if she had taken herself apart in the different characters.

Stunning. Stunning. Like an ouroboros. Realizes the dreams of readers of sci-fi, post-apocalyptic fiction, and family drama. Very nearly perfect.

I absolutely love this book. I am not usually a sci-fi reader, so I didn't have high expectations. The characters are messy, but the story is perfection. This is a combination of family drama and sci-fi. Zelu had some unlikable characteristics, but as you learn more about her story you understand her and her complications.

What a wonderful book. Nnedi Okorafor has become an auto buy author for me and this is another shining example of why. The chapters are all so messy and human. The way Okorafor weaves together the different storylines is masterful. The world building in all of her books is so skillful. I'm really looking forward to doing an audio reread of this soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Upon finishing this book, I was trying to explain it to a friend and the best description I could come up with was that it reminded me of a mobius strip, twisting into itself in an infinite loop, ignoring boundaries, and defying logic. I'm getting ahead of myself though, because Nnedi Okorafor's, Death of the Author, is so unassuming in its opening half that it's hard to even consider it truly science fiction. This is what makes it both great and frustrating. Getting to know our protagonist, Zelu, through the interviews, third person narration, as well as the novel that she has created, reads as more of a character study through much of the book. Though there are moments in which the reader is led to believe this is not the present, but a very near future, there is nothing that suggests Zelu is too far removed from us. This may end up upsetting some sci-fi readers and yet it may not find those who many appreciate how literary it is, I certainly hope that is not the case, because this is a book that I truly hope reaches beyond genre readers.

At the lowest point in her life, Zelu births a novel that captivates the world and much of what follows is how the novel begins to dictate her life. The novel and Zelu are so intertwined that they cease to exist without each other. Meanwhile, every few chapters, we are given a glimpse of the novel that tells a story about the end of humanity and the rise of robots and AI. Although they feel so separate, it is impossible not to see how Okorafor has linked the two stories together with such subtlety that by the end you are both shocked and yet primed for the reveal.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read some of Nnedi Okorafor's novellas and when I had the opportunity to receive an advance e-copy of this, I jumped at the opportunity. The characters were both sympathetic and wholly frustrating in their flawed humanity, and made even more apparent when juxtaposed with the excerpts from Zelu's Rusted Robots novel. I can see why people may come away from this disliking Zelu for her choices, but I can't help loving her choice to live the life she wanted without compromise. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an advanced eARC of the text.

This was one of my most-anticipated books of January 2025; I was so excited to read it. This was also the first book I've read by this author, though it is far from her first book. After I finished reading it, I read her bio & realized that she has written quite a few young adult novels, which explained a lot. Although I was very intrigued by the plot of this book, I found the writing itself disappointing. It was perfectly serviceable, but it often felt young adult in its level of sophistication & attention to detail. There was a lot of telling rather than showing.

The story follows Zelu, an aspiring writer who loses her adjunct position after telling a student that his writing is shit (a fantasy sequence for anyone who has ever been in a writing workshop, for sure!). The novel she's been toiling over for a decade has just been rejected from ANOTHER publisher, & her family makes her feel weird & lesser at her sister's wedding because she's a paraplegic who gets around in a wheelchair following a childhood accident. In this low place, she starts writing a sci fi novel about a war between AI systems following the extinction of humanity. & bing bang boom, it sells & it's a massive hit. Her new high profile as a bestselling author puts her on the radar of a doctor who has been working on experimental tech to help people with disabilities like her have the option to walk again. Her father dies, she struggles to produce the next novel in her series, she falls in love, etc. I won't spoil the end, but it was really surprising & satisfying.

I really think the story here is GREAT. I just wish the writing lived up to it. The timeline was messy. Entire years go by with literally nothing happening. I kept wondering if a debut author who took THIS LONG to produce her next book would really be THAT high-profile literally years later. Another issue with a book-in-a-book plot in which the book is supposed to have been a mega-smash bestseller is that it ups the ante on making that interior book really fucking good, & although things get discursive, "Rusted Robots," Zelu's book, wasn't that great. It suffered from the same flat, uninspiring writing as the book as a whole, & it's sci fi about robots. I have a hard time imagining a book like that succeeding the way it does in the novel. I mean, I read a ton & I love literary sci fi & books about technology gone wrong, but even I am not going to read a book about AI systems at war. Called "Rusted Robots". What a terrible title.

That wasn't the only bizarre leap of logic that the book asks us to accept either. The story was propulsive enough to keep me going, but again, I wish the writing had been better. Amazing writing can help transcend so many flaws in logic or characterization. A quote I'm seeing in other reviews: "'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." This could be significantly tightened up & burnished into something better. It has so much promise in the way the metaphors chime with the themes of the book, but as written, the overall phraseology is clunky, almost sloppy.

What a story though.

Wow. How did Okorafor pull this off? There is so much going on, especially with the book within a book, and even though sometimes I didn't know up from down or right from left, I couldn't stop turning pages. This is a genre all of its own and a book I'll be thinking about all year. This is a book about robots, but really about what it means to be human and I couldn't get enough of it.