Ok I need to get the physical version of this because I can tell this is going to be one of my favorite books of all time and I realllllly want to make sure I have a physical copy of this gorgeous book. I should have looked at the book length as I am realizing physical books are much easier for me to process if the book is past around 250 pages. I am still getting used to using an reader.

I need to purchase 15 of these the second I am able to. I have a very strong feeling this book is going to win multiple awards. I had chills just from the beautiful writing in the first chapter and I knew I had to let myself half the full experience with this work of art.

Future note for self: try to avoid requesting books longer than a certain length, as my brain is still getting used to digital reading.

Apologies, and thank you immensley for the opportunity to sample this work of art. I want to get the physical form so I can take photos as well.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. 

So much has already been written about this hot 2025 title, but I still have to say I loved this novel. I'll admit I'm a sucker for a book within a book. 

While the main character, Zelu, was often frustrating to me, I still wanted to know what she was going to do next. The book isn't perfect, it could have been a little tighter. There were occasional scenes that seemed they should have some importance later on, but were never revisited. But that's a minor criticism considering the overall success of the intertwined storylines.

This is a great title for book discussions: the ins and outs of the publishing world, the family dynamics, the technology, plot lines, the cultural angles... the meals! And that ending - I can't wait for others to read it so I have someone else to talk to about it. 

The book was published before I finished the ARC, and I received my library's audiobook. I have to say the use of a few narrators to represent different voices & accents was very effective & enjoyable. 

I haven't read Okorafor before. Between this novel and interviews she's given for Death of the Author, I'm inspired to add her backlist to my TBR.

Nnedi Okorafor is a master storyteller. To tackle a story within a story I wondered at first, but like so many of her other books as soon as I began reading I was transported between Zelu's world and that of Rusted Robots. Her world building is so seamless that the worlds, times, and locations in the book are easy to navigate and not overwhelming. Her characters are always flawed but contain an incredible strength and Zelu was no different. I would highly recommend this book.

This is by far Nnedi Okorafor’s best novel. I loved this book. Sci-fi elements, interweaving modern day and futuristic stories, and complex characters made this a fast, and exciting read.

For those that don’t read a ton of sci-fi, I think this is a great introduction to the genre because the reader can separate the modern day setting that has a hint of sci-fi (autonomous vehicles, bionic legs), and the robot story within the story that is entirely sci-fi.

This is also a fantastic read for people that like complex characters and relationships. The main character, Zelu, is a paraplegic Nigerian-American writer struggling to find purpose in a world that views her as flawed or damaged. She is a selfish, self-centered person, but she is not a bad or mean individual. You begin to understand her thoughts and actions that may seem cruel to her family as the novel goes on, but are a necessity to making herself grow as a person and feel fulfillment in life. I enjoyed the relationships she had with her siblings, parents, and Nigerian community and how they had both positive and negative impacts to Zelu mentally, emotionally, physically. The way this tied into her writing her robot story - the story within this story - was fulfilling and left me wanting more. 4.5/5

Thank you to William Morrow Publishing and Netgalley for providing a free Advanced Readers Copy of this book for an honest review

Thank you to William Morrow Publishing and Netgalley for providing a free Advanced Readers Copy of this book for an honest review.

Reading 2025
Book 11: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

Thank you #NetGalley for the advanced copy of the book in exchange for my review. Saw this book on a few of the most anticipated books of 2025 lists.

Synopsis: 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.

Review: Hmmmm, not sure what I read in this book. It was a book in a book in a book? It is sci-fi combined with family drama of the highest order. What I liked was the family drama side of the book, Zelu’s character is down, and despite every gut punch, everything going wrong, she finds a way to be successful or does she. The sci-fi part of the book was interesting in parts and held my attention, then off it would skitter into the mouse hole and I lost the thread. In the end, the book was not for me. My rating 3.5⭐️.

A story in three parts. Zelu is a failed novelist who teaches writing as an adjunct. During an overwhelming family gathering, she’s inspired to write a new story about robots on a post-human Earth. The novel is immediately a huge success, propelling Zelu to fame and fortune. But not all is well– the opportunities provided to her cause friction with her family. In semi-alternating chapters, we get interviews with her family alluding to some future catastrophe and chapters of her novel about robots.

George R R Martin famously said that the reward for writing a popular book is to sell lots of copies, and awards like the Hugos exist to recognize really interesting works. I think Death of the Author deserves the latter to be sure, and it might get the former as well. If I was approaching this for the first time again, here's what I'd want to know. It’s very light on the sci-fi elements. Some other reviewers have compared to Yellowface, which I think sets up some incorrect assumptions. There’s a little in here about some toxic elements of publishing and stardom, but they’re a fairly small part of the book.

Zelu’s story as a disabled American-Nigerian writer is a compelling one, and a recent NY Times piece explained that some of this is inspired by the author’s life. I was particularly mesmerized by the dynamics of her family and Zelu’s experience navigating near-future technology as a disabled person. To me, these elements made up the heart of the book.

I found the breezy way DofA addressed the popularity of the in-book novel far less convincing. Much like the most fantastical part of Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches is that Diana has tenure in her early thirties, Zelu’s novel Rusted Robots ascends to wild levels of popularity even before release and then only grows from there– it’s very much a writer’s fantasy, and enables other parts of the plot. But I think it could have worked for me as a reader if there had been more detail– if, for example, the people who told Zelu what a life changing book this is revealed why it was so mind blowing. This is exacerbated by the segments of Rusted Robots we do read– overall, I found them fairly bland. It made the ending resonate less.

So, to sum up, a really interesting book, one that made me really think, certainly worth reading for numerous reasons, but not necessarily one I’ll reread for the joy of it.

There is A LOT packed into this book…maybe too much as some of the sections became repetivite. Fascinating near-future technology and science but the book-within-a-book was problematic. Those chapters should have been cut down to a page or two at a time to deliver the metaphors, rather than the long sections included.

This novel follows a young Nigerian-American author named Zelu as she writes a bestselling sci-fi novel that opens her access to futuristic artificial limb technology and other dreams that have seemed impossible given the disability and career failure of her past. She must navigate how these unimaginable opportunities create heavy costs in her interpersonal relationships. Zelu's story is interspersed with chapters from the sci-fi novel, which follows a post-human robot future that is under existential threat.

I was initially hesitant about this book. The first few chapters quickly presented a lot of characters with only Zelu, a deeply discouraged and almost-too-relatably flawed character, recieving close attention. It soon became apparent, however, that this was intentional. The ways in which Zelu feels disconnected from her family and her Nigerian-American family disconnected from mainstream American culture are both themes that are deeply explored throughout the book and provide the base on which the more fantastic elements that are introduced later are grounded. All of the secondary characters also receive ample development in their perspectives and relationships with Zelu.

I don't want to reveal too many spoilers for this eventful book. Overall, I deeply enjoyed both the Zelu and Rusted Robots plots. I found the characters, especially in the Zelu storyline, well-developed, realistic, and painfully relatable. There is a good mix of serious, emotional, humorous, and action elements. Both the futuristic and Nigerian-American cultural elements provide a flavorful depth to the setting, characters, and tone. The themes it explores are complex and interesting. This is my first time reading a book from Nnedi Okorafor. I am now looking forward to visiting her other works. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to William Morrow Publishing and Netgalley for providing a free Advanced Readers Copy of this book for review.

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.