"Then she'd swim and swim and swim away. Away from all of it. Her rusted robots would live on, beyond her. They were made to live beyond humanity. They'd be fine. And she could swim into her future and never think about her past again."

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC.

What I signed up for versus what I got with this novel are two completely different things, and I mean that in the best way possible. I got so much more than I expected. This is truly a story about family trauma, personal growth, and being afraid of doing things and doing them anyway.

Capturing the complicated experience most American-raised immigrant children have with their parents is difficult, but the author did so well to do this. Family surrounding you likes to tell you "that's just how their culture is, it's just how THEY are" when your immigrant parent is so disappointed by accomplishments you are so proud of. The statement has truth, but it also doesn't make it hurt any less. Every conversation Zelu had with her mother was another pang to the chest. Zelu wasn't always a likeable character, but I feel like that made her all the more real.

Some of sci-fi novel portions of the book kind of looked like word soup to me every few chapters, but overall this book was a fantastic commentary to book communities, the circumstances disabled people face, the pain of being a creative, and the complications of family.

Death of an author by Nnedi Okorafor
#scifi to be published 1/14/25

⭐⭐⭐⭐+1/4⭐

I saw this available on #netgalley. After having read the Binti trilogy, I knew I wanted this. And it didn't disappoint. Though I was disappointed by the FMC's family for not supporting her in anything she did.

Zelu is a Nigerian-American paraplegic adjunct professor who is just tired of the games that the university and it's students are playing with her. She decides she is just done. So she let it effect her attitude a little bit too much. She gets fired. Her novel has been rejected once again. Now what?

She ends up moving back in with her unemotional supportive parents. They don't believe writing is a career. She'll show them! And she really does. Things really take off but she doesn't manage to control much about the book or her life after its publication.

This book is done in 3 different POVs, of sorts. Zelu's, Zelu's family members and finally her blockbuster book. Each family member is listed at the top of their interview. Zelu's book is formatted with a thicker margin. It's very easy to see who's chapter it is. Thankfully.

There were some great surprises within this book. AND I loved the ending! I love NO's way of storytelling. I will definitely keep reading her books! I took off a bit of points bc I was wishing that from a family of 6 others, she only had one person who took her side in anything she wanted to do. I would really hope that a first gen American family would have more supportive siblings.

#deathoftheauthor #nnediokorafor @nnediokorafor
#WilliamMorrow #multiculturalinterest

I was gifted an e-arc from Netgalley & the publishers (HarperCollins) in exchange for my honest review.
—
I have so many thoughts and not enough words. First thing, I haven’t met a body of work written by Nnedi Okorafor that I did not enjoy. Death of the Author was beautiful and well executed. As someone who loves literary fiction and sci-fi, it was such an amazing experience of being drawn into two related, but deeply unique worlds. I can’t say that I’ve read anything like it.

Zelu and her family are so complex. Her family maddened me at times, while I empathized with some of their fears (but they went to the extreme at times!). Zelu’s commitment to herself and her impulsiveness both terrified and excited me.

Initially I was a little overwhelmed at how many characters were present, but it all made sense as I continued reading. This flew by & I loved every page of it.

In Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor tackles A LOT but does it well.

Zelu, a disabled Nigerian American woman, is freshly let go from her job as a professor when she strikes publishing gold with her sci-fi novel, Rusted Robots. Unlike her first novel, this one is a huge success and earns her a great book deal and immediate fame. 

I sped through this book and found myself highlighting and making a lot of notes. What stands out is the novel’s critique of the publishing world and its examination of cancel culture and social media. It also asks if AI/technology is good/bad and can be trusted. 

The rest of the novel follows her struggles with fame as she deals with the expectations of writing more great books and disagrees with the direction the film adaptation of her book takes. She also faces backlash from fans and readers, as, now famous and wealthy, she explores futuristic avenues and adventures for herself which quickly gets her accused of “becoming a robot”.

Zelu’s family is a big part of her life, but they are also a point of contention as they have a lot of ideas about how to act as Nigerian Americans. Zelu seems to have already strayed from their expectations purely by having an accident and becoming disabled, and this family dynamic becomes more and more complicated as the book goes on. 

The book also looks at how culture and race can impact people’s view of disability. Zelu is seen as rebellious and purely by existing as a disabled unmarried woman pursuing a creative career.

You also get to read Rusted Robots, the fictional book  within the book, which is very cool! 

I didn’t enjoy the Rusted Robots story-within-a-story as much as Zelu’s but enjoyed the concept of a book within a book, especially as Zelu turned more and more to technology in real life.

WARNING: SPOLIER BELOW

It did lose me a bit at the end due to her sudden pregnancy and the fact that she was still able to go to space despite it. As someone who is currently 27 pregnant myself, I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief for that, even though I know the point is that she can still maintain her individuality and pursue her own dreams as a mother.

Overall, I found Death of the Author highly unique, interesting and complex!

Nnedi Okorafor is stellar and Death of the Author is so beautiful. Nnedi is an auto-read author for me, her work so breathtaking and mesmerizing and challenging and hopeful. Somehow she’s outdone herself. This may be my favorite book of hers yet? I’m still in shock and awe by it.

Glorious two stories interwoven together and neither outdoes the other. Zelu is a complex character who
I learned to love dearly throughout the book, though I’m not sure if she would like me if she were a real person who I met in real life. The story of her family and herself and her robots only made the whole experience more engrossing.

A little different from what I know a Nnedi Okorafor book to be. This one is set in our present/near future but still with its sci-fi elements even in the “today” timeline. This is a book I will absolutely be coming back to, have already pre-ordered for myself and loved ones, and I know will be a shining star in my “Top books of 2025”, even though it’s only the first week of the year. Glorious, just absolutely glorious.

Death of the Author
Nnedi Okorafor

NetGalley and the publisher, William Morrow provided the digital ARC for this review.

Death of the Author is the story of Zelu, a paraplegic Naijamerican adjunct professor of literature, her bestselling sci-fi novel, Rusted Robots, and her rise to literary stardom. It is a complex, ambitious project – a book-in-a-book, with a parallel speculative fiction novel starring Ankara, a scholar Hume (or humanoid robot), and her friends Ijele (an AI NoBody) and Ngozi, the last human on Earth. At it’s center, the novel deals with family, with tribalism, the desire to belong weighed against the desire, or rather need, to create oneself into something unique and personal, a blend of all of one's “tribes.”

The story is masterfully told, with excellent character and world building. It is pacey, and the more than 400 pages quickly fly by. The plot appears deceptively simple until slowly, you realize that you have been slowly sucked into a sumptuously complex story, with a wonderful twist ending marvelously nailed by Okorafor. You can help but say, “wow” as you close the book. Brilliant.

5 stars

Death of the Author, written by Nnedi Okorafor, is a story about Zelu, whose life takes a dramatic turn when she loses her teaching job and gets latest her book rejected during her sister's wedding week. At her lowest point, she writes something completely different: a science fiction story about robots in a world without humans. To everyone's surprise, this book makes her famous overnight.

Zelu is a compelling main character - smart, determined, and true to herself despite facing prejudice as a disabled Nigerian. Her own family, especially her siblings, often treat her like she can't do anything just because she can't walk, which was frustrating to read.

The book switches between Zelu's real life and chapters from her robot story. While interesting, this sometimes made it harder to stay focused. The book starts strong but gets slow in the middle before rushing to the end.

While not my favorite book, it tells a worthwhile story about family, writing, and standing up for yourself. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor is a literary fiction/sci fi book and a book-within-a-book, in which you're not sure who is writing about whom. As my experience has been with most of Nnedi's work, whilst I enjoyed the writing, stories, different characters and perspectives, the ending left me confused. I enjoyed the enjoyed the experience of reading the book but I didn't feel the satisfaction that comes with finishing a good book.
Thank you, Netgalley and William Morrow, for the ARC. All opinions expressed are mine.

Thank you net gallery for the advanced copy of this book, or three books in one. This was a little mind-blowing and thoroughly enjoyable read. I cannot recommend it enough. This was a story about a story and an author dealing with life from a different perspective

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley & haper Collins. Zelu is an author who is also paraplegic in her thirties who is smothered and judged by her Nigerian family. Msizi is her best friend who is always there for her But even they have their ups and downs. Zelu finally writes her debut novel and her life is changed forever. After signing she decides to move from her parents home and be more free and independent. This new found life pushes her adventurous spirit to its limits and scares her family to death.
While reading this book I really enjoyed Zelu’s story and how she overcame and pushed through so many adversities. Getting her exos and just taking all of these chances while being in the public eye. One thing I didn’t like about the book was how it was telling zelu’s story and then switches to what I assume is the book that she had written, while also having chapters that interviewed her family members. Reading this book and going from the title I was confused with the ending. Although I enjoyed the story there were to many moving parts.

There's a lot going on in this book, but that's certainly to be expected if you've read of any Nnedi Okorafor's previous books. I found the story and the writing a bit difficult to follow in some parts, but the characters are very well drawn and the narrative leaves you with a lot to chew on.

I would definitely recommend. Its started off a bit slow and the protagonist was not my fave. But once she found her stride in writing it was much more enjoyable for me.

Very meta, with a story within a story. I particularly liked the interviews with Zelu’s family. They helped move the narrative forward. The story felt unresolved to me, though I liked the final twist.

Okorafor’s writing and pacing has greatly improved. It’s a pleasure watching a writer grow.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

was this really a sci fi? i honestly don't think it fits the mold well. but i also think that's probably one of its best aspects, gloriously genre-swapping between an intense literary fiction and the book within. 5 stars. tysm for the arc

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor is a showcase of her signature lush, evocative prose and a deeply complex, fascinating main character. The rich world-building and introspective storytelling kept me intrigued.

However, the pacing stumbled for me. At times, the narrative felt overextended, with certain beats repeated to the point of redundancy. Then, just as it seemed everything was building to a crescendo, the ending felt rushed and incomplete.

After losing her job and having her latest manuscript rejected, Zelu randomly starts writing a science fiction novel about robots. Unexpectedly, the book becomes a smash success. Death of the Author alternates between Zelu’s life of newfound success, her robot novel, and interviews with her family.

I’m normally not a huge fan of a bunch of back and forth between povs, but for the most part, it worked for me with this story. The interviews with her family allowed us to get to know Zelu from different perspectives which I found necessary. Especially because her relationship with them was so cringe to read. I hated how they treated her, but I was proud of seeing her come into her own and not giving them so much power over her life. The chapters of Rusted Robots were fun to read. At times, I certainly felt frustrated about getting pulled out of each separate story, but overall, I was entirely invested in the stories. They both had conflicts and journeys that were deeply complex and different yet similar.

There are so many things I enjoy about this book. It’s truly brilliant and weaves in a lot of different themes and topics. I think it would be a great read for a book club.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Zelu is a paraplegic Nigerian American author struggling to find her voice in the literary world until she hits rock bottom and just writes for her herself - creating "Rusted Robots" which becomes an international sci-fi sensation. As her book and her life shift into high-gear, we follow stubborn, impulsive, and fiercely independent Zelu as she attempts to adapt to her new normal. Fantastic and propulsive writing keeps two novels moving throughout - Zelu's story runs parallel to the 'Rusted Robots' narrative until the two collide in an incredibly thought-provoking ending. I really enjoyed the structure of this incredibly creative novel and want to discuss it with a book club for sure - would be a great buddy read!

My biggest complaint with this novel is that there really isn't much character development in Zelu at all. Some people are just like that - the immovable and unchangeable rock that everyone else has to adapt to and learn to accept and live with, but I personally find those kinds of central characters really annoying to read. There is a lot of character development in others, including the robots Ankara and Ijele whose inner thoughts we do have access to, so that helped keep me invested.

I found myself crying through much of this. I'm struggling to explain why, but I'll do my best for this review.

The expectations I had of this were that Nnedi Okorafor wrote it and it was probably going to be very good. But I didn't know much about the plot, and I think that helped. This book juggles various genres and formats: we have a story within a story, a human author and a robot one, as well as interviews from a character's loved ones. The two stories seem to foreshadow each other.

Now onto my incoherent adulation: this book is about what it means to be a person, to be human.

◾️Creating stories from our experiences, our very lives - we are alive because of stories, they sustain us
◾️Consuming stories as falling in love; the missed step, the fall; our codes are changed, we evolve
◾️Ankara!!
◾️Udide!!
◾️Food as healing, as love, as memory, as family- but beyond the nuclear family- as culture, homeland, in the earth but in the stars too
◾️"Yeah. Maybe I'm a little angry. What black woman isn't?"
◾️Acknowledgement as existence, needing recognition from peers and strangers but also your parents and siblings ("Man, if Dad doesn't side with me on this, then I don't exist")
◾️FAMILY as a whole - something that presses you, crushes you, but can also hold you up in a way where you cannot fall, even if you want to
◾️The spirits of our ancestors living within us - we are history, we cannot delete the past, it will always exist
◾️Zelu's mom dancing with the masquerade, her mom's new twists 😭
◾️Fantasy of space as a sort of sensory deprivation chamber for us and our thoughts and pains and bodies, FREEDOM from everything
◾️Accept what you are, but also accept what you CAN be
◾️Our bodies - a suit we're trapped in that some can operate, others cannot; even trapped in the house of love that our caretaker families brick us into - only able-bodies being worthy of humanity
◾️"Tomorrow is where my hope lives"

Also everyone online piling on Zelu for book two just made me think of all the "yo when are you dropping your next album" comments on anything Rihanna posts 💀

Bear witness. You are the author.

This genuinely touched my soul. I'm so glad this was my final read of 2024. What a way to end the year.

Onward!

Thank you, Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. Boy was this book incredible to read. This book was a great exploration of culture and disabilities. I was sucked in from the start and the back and forth between Zelu's perspective and the novel was my favorite aspect. I will admit I hated Zelu from a majority of the book and it might be because I'm a people pleaser by nature. To see someone constantly act selfishly without thinking of others drove me nuts, but in the end, it makes total sense.

Our ability as humans to assign meaning to everything when sometimes perspective changes and so does the meaning. I was captivated by this idea of how different aspects of individualism and cultural differences could change how one sees different events.

I'm in love with this author's writing and strong character-building. This book has made me realize I need to expand my reading tastes and try different types of books. I will be buying copies of this book for my friends because, in this day in age, this book's messaging is incredibly important.

Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author is a captivating metafictional odyssey that blurs the line between storytelling and lived experience. At its heart, the novel follows Zelu, a fiercely independent Nigerian woman whose life takes an unexpected turn after losing both her job and yet another publishing opportunity. Zelu’s decision to pour her frustrations into a bold, imaginative sci-fi novel—Rusted Robots—becomes the catalyst for an extraordinary journey of transformation, self-discovery, and unintended consequences.

What makes this novel stand out is its layered exploration of identity, art, and agency. Zelu is an unforgettable protagonist—disabled, unmarried, and defying cultural expectations—who navigates familial pressures and professional failures with sharp wit and unyielding determination. Her struggle to break free from societal molds resonates deeply, especially as she finds her voice through speculative fiction.

Okorafor deftly constructs a story-within-a-story, where Zelu’s Rusted Robots mirrors her own desire for reinvention and relevance. The interplay between Zelu’s reality and the dystopian world she creates highlights the fragility of authorship in a modern, interconnected age. It poses provocative questions about who controls narratives and how stories are shaped, reshaped, and even co-opted once they leave the author’s hands.

With humor as sharp as its insights, Death of the Author balances poignant themes of resilience and alienation with thrilling moments of creative rebellion. The novel’s structure evokes comparisons to R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface and Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, but Okorafor’s unique voice brings something entirely new—a fusion of cultural commentary and speculative wonder.

From the vibrant chaos of Lagos to the cold reaches of space, the novel’s rich settings and striking contrasts ground its fantastical elements in emotional truth. It challenges readers to reconsider what it means to write, to be written, and to have a story truly belong to its creator.

Death of the Author is both thought-provoking and compulsively readable—a must-read for lovers of speculative fiction, literary metafiction, and stories about finding strength in vulnerability. It’s a testament to the transformative power of storytelling and a celebration of voices that refuse to be silenced.