There's a sci-fi bent to this book which is typically not my favorite but the characters and overall story and humanity won me over - loved this read.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review

READ THIS BOOK!

I don't want to say too much because I think going blind is the best way to experience this masterpiece of a story. The writing is immaculate - sharp, authentic, and profound while maintaining an accessibility that keeps you turning page after page. The plot and characters have incredible depth. There were several moments when I had to stop reading to just stare at the wall and collect my thoughts. Everyone should and NEEDS to read this book. I hope it is on every “best-of” list in 2025 because it deserves all the critical acclaim and then some.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this stunning novel.

I appear to be in the minority here, so hopefully that remains true and this particular one just wasn't for me. I've enjoyed books by Nnedi Okorafor in the past.

This was a slog for me. I DNF'd at 60%, but getting that far was just... painful. I couldn't stand any of the characters, and I kept finding myself getting actually angry as I was reading. I couldn't stand Zelu's attitude or personality, but I also couldn't stand how her entire family treated her. I think I also just don't care for the "book within a book" concept - something about hearing about how fantastic this book is, how it's the best thing to have ever been written, just rubs me the wrong way (especially when I didn't find anything special about it myself). I was getting frustrated because the book had been marketed as sci-fi, but there just... wasn't anything sci-fi about it.

So that's when I started skimming. I did read the end chapters, so I DO understand what connections and "ah-ha!" moments I was supposed to have had. But it just didn't work for me, at all.

I'm marking it as a DNF on Goodreads and will not be leaving a review there.

I really like Nnedi Okorafor's work. It always makes me think about things. This book was the same. It had storylines around the whitewashing of diverse stories and people, the tension of belonging and yet not belonging to multiple communities, our expectations for ourselves and one another, and the way technology has the potential to change our lives for better and for worse. It was a complex book that I very much enjoyed reading. Having said that, I am still working through the end of the book. I have enjoyed attempting to unravel what was supposed to be true vs. fictional. It was a very interesting end. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy sci-fi. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy.

I have loved every book Nnedi Okorafor has written and this was no different. Her writing is so intelligent and emotive. I feel like her main characters are real. While I'm reading her works the outside world fades away.

From another perspective, the book within a book trope is a favorite of mine as well. Her writing for me is among the best literary fiction you can find.

I think I went into this with the wrong expectations. I know Okorafor from her other acclaimed sci-fi series, and given the story-in-a-story of Rusted Roots, I think I didn’t give enough consideration to the General Fiction tag on Netgalley. And while I can understand wanting to comp it to Yellowface, I think that also gave the wrong impression; what made Yellowface so readable, for me, was what an absolute nightmare of a person the MC was and watching her make the worst, most out of pocket choices over and over again was like watching a train wreck. That is not remotely the vibe here.

Zelu is a deeply relatable character, and the messy relationships with her family felt very real, and I think at a different time and with better genre context I could have enjoyed this, but I was already struggling and then got to Legally-Distinct-Elon-Musk and decided I just wasn’t in the headspace for this.

Geez Louise, if I weren’t traveling and needing to actually take in the sights, I would’ve struggled to put this book down! I’m a sucker for metafiction and stories within stories, but this was something greater that’s difficult to explain. Like everyone in the story, I was captivated and intrigued by Zelu and her exploits. I rooted for her, wanted to strangle her (and her family) at times, and found myself drawn into the worlds she created. There’s not an archetype protagonist I can point to when describing her and there aren’t any residual echoes coming to mind of this type of storytelling or storyline. Kudos to Okorafor for such a masterful work I’ll be chewing on and recommending for quite some time. Gratitude to the publishers for the ARC!!

Zelu has lived her life in the struggling margins as a disabled writer, but who believes in the power of storytelling; Ankara is a post-apocalyptic robot who also believes in humanity's power of stories -- who is writing and who is being written? Compelling and circular, Okorafor presses at those issues which make us think about what makes us human and who do we owe our stories.

DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is an amazing accomplishment from an author whose work I already greatly admired. Somehow it is simultaneously a new direction for Nnedi and her works of Africanfuturism, but also the most Nnedi book ever, embracing many of the themes she has explored during her justifiably celebrated career. I was fascinated by both of the storyline plaits and their inevitable yet unexpected climax.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Death of the Author was my first novel by Okorafor so I cannot speak to how it compares to the author's previous work. However, I found myself struggling with this book. I felt like it had a hard time deciding what it wanted to be. It felt more literary fiction as opposed to sci-fi, which is what I was expecting. Though Death of the Author didn't fall within my preferred genre, I wanted to give it a fair go. I loved Yellowface and the comparison to it ultimately is what made me want to continue with this novel.

I enjoyed the Rusted Robot exerts that were sprinkled throughout the story. I would have loved more of those chapters. I enjoyed the last chapter and how it tied the entire story together. I also found the cultural aspects of this novel fascinating. I have never read an AfroFuturism book before, and this made me want to pick up more.

For what I didn't like - this book just felt so repetitive. It felt like I was reading the same family arguments and the same "everyone is out to get me" drama every couple of chapters. I didn't feel like Zelu's family really liked her, and I didn't feel like Zelu did much to improve her relationships with them either. I also felt like the interview chapters added nothing to the story. They felt so out of place for me and I wasn't invested in them at all.

I feel like those who enjoy literary intersectionality and AfroFuturism will love this book.

Thank you to Net Galley and William Morrow for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I truly enjoyed this one, to me this was considered a "fast read". Through diverse narratives that blend speculative fiction with rich cultural contexts, Okorafor challenges traditional notions of storytelling, emphasizing that once a narrative is shared, it transcends its creator. Each story features richly drawn characters navigating complex realities, with standout pieces like "The Last Train" encapsulating themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time. By incorporating elements of African folklore and contemporary issues, Okorafor enriches her narratives while inviting readers to engage deeply with the text and reflect on their own interpretations. This brilliant collection is a five-star triumph that solidifies Okorafor's place as a leading voice in contemporary speculative fiction, encouraging readers to reconsider the nature of authorship and the power of narrative.

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.

Thank you to William Morrow (and NetGalley) for allowing me to read this book!

This is, admittedly my first Nnedi Okorafor, which I know is a great travesty, as she's been on my list for... well. years.

The cover is beautiful, of course, and Zelu. . . . Zelu feels real. Irritated and tired, angry and stubborn, hopeful and independent against all those who try to keep her smaller, through ignorance or protectiveness.

However, I'm not really sure I brought part of the great concept-- her book captures the world and people so much that it's so massively successful and she's recognized everywhere she goes, and not just by the superfans. Unfortunately (and I hope I am proven wrong!!!) it seems hard for a book to be popular with a strong fandom of the type Zelu experiences her book as having unless it has a heavy romance subplot. I also feel as if the book was leading up to a certain ending that then didn't... well, happen (thankfully). Maybe that feeds more into the message of the book?

I did love the friendships Zelu made, and how her independence is something she and the narrative prioritizes. Zelu is able to have autonomy in away that her parents and family feel she never could-- but it's continued choices she continues to have.

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.

The premise sounded interesting, but it failed in execution. The pace was way too slow, and I had a hard time staying engaged. I was never able to connect with any of the characters. I do believe there is an audience for this, but sadly, that is not me. In general, I like a story within a story, but something with this one just didn't work for me.

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.

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC of this book!

Death of the Author tells the story of Zelu, a disabled Nigerian-American author, her sudden rise to popularity, and all the joys and troubles that came with it.
It also tells the story that launched Zelu’s career, Rusted Robots, a tale of robots and AI in a post-apocalyptic Nigeria.
I sometimes have an issue when an author includes metatextual praise of the book you’re reading in that same novel (it basically ruined Addie LaRue for me), but Rusted Robots holds up well enough, especially in the context of Zelu’s character, that it works.
Ultimately, Death of the Author is primarily a character study on Zelu. It’s fascinating how the Rusted Robots is so intrinsically her. The interviews from those close to her provide a lot of context for her life, and how she got where she is. And then the last chapter recontextualises the entirety of the book before in a way that made me stop for a solid minute and reconsider the book I read and decide what it meant to me. At some point I will probably reread it with the last chapter in mind, and I’m sure it’ll be a different experience.
I do have my issues: A lot of the side characters, especially the bulk of Zelu’s family, do suffer a little in their characterisation, not having much identity outside the aggregate, and it gets a little repetitive hearing the same three foods mentioned over and over. Overall, though, it was a great read, and I’m sure I’ll revisit it again in the future.

Wonderful to see the fruition and maturing of Okorafor's work. Loved the scifi book within a book. Truly creative, fun and exciting read.

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.