Actually a 4.5.

This was an incredible book to start of 2025 with. I'll start of by saying this is more so literary fiction with more muted sci-fi elements, so manage your expectations accordingly. That said, I think it manages to blend the two genres together in a really interesting and unique way. I've never read a book quite like this one and I was really impressed by it. Not only does it manage to blend two genres I don't necessarily associate with each other, but it also manages to seamlessly blend together *two different stories*, subplots, characters, relationships, etc. It all just flows together so easily you don't really notice how much you're really absorbing. I will say that at points the pacing was a bit too fast and I wish we'd gotten to spend more time with Zelu during her journey writing her novel and within the literary world, but this book covers so much time that sometimes it just had to zap from one point to the next.

I *loved* the ending. Everything just goes full circle in a twist that maybe I should have seen coming, but I definitely didn't. The only thing I have to say I found underwhelming about the ending was that through the entire novel we are reading interviews with Zelu's loved ones after some undefined thing happens to her, but it's never actually made clear what that undefined thing actually was.

This is one of those books where you can just feel the love the author had for it coming off the page and I think that really helped the experience.

Death of the Author is a book about disability, loss, humanity, and so much more. Zelu is the black sheep of her Nigerian-American family, more so since she lost the use of her legs as a child. She is outspoken and unconventional, and when her family and community don't look at her with pity and disgust, they look at her with exasperation and frustration.

Then, Zelu writes a book about sentient robots and is a sensation. It offers her opportunities her family cannot and will not understand. As frustrated as Zelu's family is with her, the reader becomes more so with her family. It makes the book a tough read at times.

Alternating between Zelu and her book, with chapters from the perspectives of her family members, Death of the Author is a thoughtful and memorable book.

Slice of life literary fiction with sci-fi elements and a story within a story.

Nnedi Okorafor is a phenomenal writer and an excellent storyteller - her prose is great and she writes in a way that propels you forward. This book does not disappoint in terms of style and craft.

I think fans of literary fiction and slice of life style narratives will enjoy this. - This could be a great choice for those who love LitFic but want to dabble in sci-fi.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to @harpercollins and @netgalley I received an advanced copy of this book. It’s been sitting on my tablet for months but decided to start the new year by reading it.

Wow. This book is deep, cultural, and well thought out out while weaving different tales at the same time. The main character is Zelu, a paralyzed author, who while down on her luck decides to write something new. A science fiction novel called Rusted Robots, which tells the story of robots living on earth after the fall of humanity. The book becomes a raging success and makes her a star. But she struggles with the fame, the pressure to write the sequel, the abomination of the movie version, and the conflict with her family members. There is rich culture characters and details in the book about her parents home country of Nigeria, which is fascinating to learn new phrases, customs, and storytelling. Interweaved with the story are passages from the book, Rusted Robots, and interviews with people who know the author. The book is long and really tells a great story with a fascinating ending. Sorry it took me this long to read it but it was worth it. Highly recommend you check it out when it comes out later this month.

#deathoffheauthor #nnediokorafor #novel #fiction #book #author #bookstagram #advancedcopy #sciencefiction #rustedrobots #dolphins #space #disability #ecos #nigeria #zelu #readingisfundamental📚

I loved this book. It's crazy to think I might have already read one of my favorite books of 2025, but there it is. I loved Zelu, even when she was frustrating (to be fair she was surrounded by frustrating things/people), loved reading about an author being frustrated and struggling to get the words out of her head. The reaction/massive success of the book did seem a little exaggerated (especially since, if I'm honest, the chapters of the book-within-this-book were just pretty good... Zelu's story was much better imo. I could see Rusted Robots being POPULAR but earning multi-millions and an immediate film adapatation that ruled the world seemed a bit farfetched). But the book had to be popular to propel the story, so I'll forgive it.

My only nitpick is there were a touch too few exclamation marks scattered throughout, but that's an "author voice" thing that can be forgiven in the face of an otherwise excellent read.

While the story-within-story in different time lines/epochs is now a standard narrative device, the plot frames of technology, friendship, love, self-respect makes this a compelling read. The narration itself is not particularly poetic - simple, descriptive, but evokes a wonderful imagery of a futuristic environment that is plausible. The plot building is less via dialogs (and most characters sound similar) and more from self-reporting by each character or as a third person interview. That device seems to retain ones interest sustained. Learning a bit more about Nigerian families is a tiny additional bonus, though the treatment is not the primary focus and adds just a little context for the real story. Overall,. a wonderful plot with some excellent twists, though told through n0w-common device of nested stories in different timelines.

Family, Fame, stories and death, unresolved trauma, technology and disability.

The good. Very accurate representation of an African family. Full and protective but ignorant and emotionally toxic. I liked the h. Fearless, bright, unapologetic yet so stubbornly independent, sensitive and vulnerable. This was a celebration of African cultures, history, food and landscape. Loved that. I also love reading about wealthy Africans. It fills me with so much pride. Like yea I could be like you one day. The other characters defining the h more with their chapters was fine but ultimately not necessary. The author painted the h so well these chapters told me nothing new about her or the other characters themselves to be honest.

The bad. Midway the h gets hung up on something and it feels like the story stalls while she tries to clear her head. It’s like we were building to something scientific, terrific, dystopian, futuristic, interesting, now the novel is chapters and chapters of a family drama with predictable beats— death, mourning, reconnection and reunion, trauma and re-cycle. So many themes and ideas and possibilities were filtered and discarded to focus on the boring singular journey of letting go and moving on/forward. Great but cliché. It’s like two different stories were spliced together and they meet in the middle with no bridge. Then the story within the story became something I cared less and less about as a consequence. In a section before the acknowledgements the author pretty much confirms my theory. The story was written while taking a break in the middle. Girl, it shows.

Like, two random men give her two life altering opportunities out of the blue. Just because. She keeps doing random rash things. Just because. Now it feels like I’m reading about a self destructive teenager not dealing with her issues and dragging her loved ones down with her because of it. No offense but I didn’t sign up for a YA novel. I don’t even read YA anymore because I’ve outgrown it. In my humble opinion, the h deserved more maturity and a fuller, better story.

*Thank you N. Okorafor and William Morrow for the, Death of the Author ARC. My opinions are my own.

I’ve always wanted to read two books at the exact same time. Who hasn’t? Nnedi Okorafor made that dream a reality with Death of the Author. It’s not just two stories in one, but a book within a book. And both of them are fantastic.

We have a book about Zelu, a disabled Nigerian-American author with a troubled life and loads of trauma who makes it big with Rusted Robots, a sci-fi book about robots. And then we have the sci-fi book about robots, which stars Ankara (who named herself after African Ankara fabric), a humanoid robot in future Nigeria who loves stories and hopes to save them from the AI that wishes to destroy them. There are a lot of parallels between each story and it was so fun to bounce back and forth between the two.

Zelu’s story was at the forefront though, and it covers 5+ years of her life as she writes Rusted Robots and deals with the aftermath of its publication. From dealing with the fame to lack of family support and navigating new relationships, Zelu really goes through it and I loved being there every step of the way, especially since she’s such a deep and interesting character. She’s brutally honest in a lot of ways, but I found myself wishing she’d use that honesty more often with her very large Nigerian family. They’re half Igbo, half Yoruba, which sometimes resulted in some conflicting traditions and customs. Zelu and her siblings are American too, so it was interesting to see how that influenced the way their Nigerian family treated them. There was so much Nigerian culture woven into Death of the Author, and I loved the glimpse into a world I’m not typically privy to.

Ankara’s story was also great. It was shorter, but it packed a punch all the same. The future she lives in is fascinating. I loved the evolution of her relationship with Ijele and the way the war affected her decisions.

This is one of my favorite sci-fi books in recent history. I’m completely in love with it and with Nnedi Okorafor’s writing. Before I even finished this one, I grabbed another of her books from the library. I’m so happy she’s written a bunch of stuff so I can read it all this year!

"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.