Death of the Author (Deluxe Limited Edition)

Nnedi Okorafor always does a fantastic job in writing a interesting and unique concept and world. I thought the use of drama about art worked with what I’ve come to expect from the author. The characters in this worked well and were beautifully done with the story, I thought the use of metafiction worked overall and glad it continued to had that element that I was expecting. I’m glad I got to read this and left me wanting more from Nnedi Okorafor.

I love Nnedi Okorafor and when I saw she was writing a lit fic with both an Afro-futurism plot AND contemporary plot following the author, I knew it would be amazing.

This was great!! I loved all the characters, especially Zelu. Zelu's family, ethnicities, life experiences, and disability all contribute to her personality, and this book does a wonderful job depicting such a complex, interesting character. The novel depicts sexism, ableism, and racism showing up in job discrimination, condescension, judging personal choices, and much more. I understood why Zelu made all the choices she did. Feeling overprotected pushed her already brilliant, adventurous personality to prove herself repeatedly. In a well-constructed novel like this, choices need not be inevitable to suit the character perfectly.

With metafiction, I sometimes get bored with the story within a story, but not in this case. Zelu's narrative is interspersed with her novel, Rusted Robots, and I loved even the robot characters by the end. All the best scifi has fascinating themes and ideas. Here, these include bodily autonomy, technology helping or hurting disabled people, whether AI will ever create its own stories, and much more. This is a great balance of character, plot, and ideas. Although mostly serious, some characters have realistic senses of humor. The novel has allusions to Doctor Who, Douglas Adams, and Roland Barthes. At least, those were some that I picked up on.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was such a compelling read that I read the entire book in one sitting. At its most basic, the MC is trying to find out where she fits - in her family and society at large. She isn't always likeable but is completely relateable.

I found the story within a story added another layer of complexity and interest to an already fascinating book.

I highly recommend this book

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.

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.

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.

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.

I read this courtesy NetGalley and William Morrow. In this work by Nnedi Okorafor, it’s hard to be able to tell what the disability is. Is it the main character’s paraplegia, or is it the culture’s insistence that she can’t take care of herself? Zelu, our heroine, is at a low point when the story begins, and using strength of character—and her decision to write for herself, live for herself, despite her disability, changes her life—for good or ill. Okorafor’s work plunges us into a world not far from now, not far from here, and explores what we can look forward to—for good or ill. An absorbing, wonderful read.
#DeathoftheAuthor #NetGalley

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.

This is one of the most brilliant books I have ever read. I wish that I could give it 10 stars.

The writing was beautiful, haunting, and full of passion.

I loved how Zelu wanted her independence, yet depended upon her family. She was NOT meek and mild. She had a full life, while still trying to gain her freedom from her family.

I loved that Zelu was brave, adventurist, hurt when others criticized her and still tried to live her life on her own terms.

The Rusted Robots story was beautiful but I didn't fully understand it till the very end.

AND THE END! What a shock! WHat?! I loved it!

This book was so complex, and so beautifully written, many points in the book I wanted to scream at Zelu's family...JUST LEAVE HER BE! SUPPORT HER!

This book is for anyone who wants a different story told from a few viewpoints.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

love love love - anytime a book can surprise me immediately jumps it to being a gem - run, don't walk, to get this title. Highly recommend

First, thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I LOVED this book. I loved Zelu and her boisterous, noisy, loving, and confusing family. I loved her partner and all of the characters we meet along the way. I LOVE that we get not just one book, but BONUS--a SF novel too! The one our main character writes at the lowest point of her life. I did often feel frustrated by her family whose love threatened to smother Zelu. It seemed unrealistic to me that everyone of them would be so negative about her achievements, dreams, and desires. But I was so caught up in her story, that I forgave them and just enjoyed the ride.

I read the eBook, but I would love to listen to an audiobook version of this. I'm sure I mangled most of the names (in my head). Like Zelu's fans in the book, I am already longing for a sequel, but I'll satisfy myself with seeking out another of Okorafor's books. I was delighted to learn that she is a resident of Phoenix, AZ as am I. Maybe she'll turn up at a Changing Hands Bookstore doing a reading one of these days.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style--very clear, visual, with many passages I found so compelling I had to highlight them to ponder later. There's so much in this book, it's hard to discuss it all. It's a book that deserves another reading. Maybe I'll listen to the audiobook--please make one!

As for the sequel, I think I want two books--one to carry on the Rusted Robot story and one to see what Zelu does next!

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 the two stories got tangled together in an infinity loop and you arent quite sure which story came first. That was magnificent.

Nnedi Okorafor always centers humanity within her science fiction and I love that so much! I am not a science fiction reader but I adore everything she writes and this was no exception. My only sadness is that it is too short.

I absolutely loved this book! From start to finish, it had me hooked. The story was captivating, the characters were well-developed, and the pacing was perfect. I couldn’t put it down! The author’s writing style is fresh, engaging, and truly immersive. This is now one of my favorite reads, and I can’t wait to see what this author comes up with next. They’ve easily become one of my top favorite authors. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great read. Five stars, without a doubt!

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor is a fascinating blend of literary fiction and Afro-futuristic sci-fi. The story follows Zelu, a 32-year-old writer who faces creative challenges and personal hardships. After being fired from her university job and having her novel rejected, she pens a far-future epic called Rusted Robots. This book projects her into literary stardom, but also brings unexpected challenges.
Okorafor masterfully combines razor-sharp commentary with heartfelt humanity, creating a meta-drama that explores the relationship between writer and reader. The book is both funny and deeply poignant. If you enjoy stories that challenge conventional narratives and delve into the complexities of identity and creativity, this book is a must-read.

This is the first book that I've read from Nnedi Okorafor, I was surprised to learn how many books she has written already. After reading 'Death of the Author' I will be checking out her earlier books. This latest book is a fascinating story of a paraplegic Nigerian-American woman and her relationship with her extended family.

I continue being a fan of Nnedi Okorafor and am adding "Death of the Author" to my favorites list.

I enjoyed the multiple perspectives and the opportunity to get to know the other characters from their chapter with Zelu being the primary human voice, grounding the story. Okorafor gave me all of the emotions and I was forced to read slower as I processed them. I didn't realize until the end that I was holding my breath, hoping that nothing bad was going to happen to my favorites. And, speaking of the ending, I love it.

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.

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.