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Death of the Author
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Science Fiction (2025)🎧Run Time = 16 hours and 13 minutes
In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative—a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you’ve read before.
The future of storytelling is here.
Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.
When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.
A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.
A Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award–winning author offers up “her best yet” (Kirkus Reviews starred review) in this “mind-bending” Earphones Award winner (The New York Times Book Review) that follows Zelu, a Nigerian American writer whose world is turned upside down by the unexpected success of her latest novel. “This one has it all” (George R.R. Martin).
In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrative—a surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything you’ve read before.
The future of storytelling is here.
Disabled, disinclined to marry, and more interested in writing than a lucrative career in medicine or law, Zelu has always felt like the outcast of her large Nigerian family. Then her life is upended when, in the middle of her sister’s lavish Caribbean wedding, she’s unceremoniously fired from her university job and, to add insult to injury, her novel is rejected by yet another publisher. With her career and dreams crushed in one fell swoop, she decides to write something just for herself. What comes out is nothing like the quiet, literary novels that have so far peppered her unremarkable career. It’s a far-future epic where androids and AI wage war in the grown-over ruins of human civilization. She calls it Rusted Robots.
When Zelu finds the courage to share her strange novel, she does not realize she is about to embark on a life-altering journey—one that will catapult her into literary stardom, but also perhaps obliterate everything her book was meant to be. From Chicago to Lagos to the far reaches of space, Zelu’s novel will change the future not only for humanity, but for the robots who come next.
A book-within-a-book that blends the line between writing and being written, Death of the Author is a masterpiece of metafiction that manages to combine the razor-sharp commentary of Yellowface with the heartfelt humanity of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Surprisingly funny, deeply poignant, and endlessly discussable, this is at once the tale of a woman on the margins risking everything to be heard and a testament to the power of storytelling to shape the world as we know it.
“An ambitious, inventive tribute to the power of storytelling itself.” — Nikki Erlick, New York Times bestselling author of The Measure
“A deeply felt dazzle. A blaze. It is true deep to the bones.” — Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of The House of Broken Angels
"There’s more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor’s work than in whole volumes." — Ursula K. Le Guin
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First published January 14, 2025
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About the author
Nnedi Okorafor
155 books17.9k followersNnedi Okorafor is a New York Times Bestselling writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. The more specific terms for her works are africanfuturism and africanjujuism, both terms she coined and defined. Born in the United States to two Nigerian (Igbo) immigrant parents and visiting family in Nigeria since she was a child, the foundation and inspiration of Nnedi’s work is rooted in this part of Africa. Her many works include Who Fears Death (winner of the World Fantasy Award and in development at HBO as a TV series), the Nebula and Hugo award winning novella trilogy Binti (in development as a TV series), the Lodestar and Locus Award winning Nsibidi Scripts Series, LaGuardia (winner of a Hugo and Eisner awards for Best Graphic Novel) and her most recent novella Remote Control. Her debut novel Zahrah the Windseeker won the prestigious Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. She lives with her daughter Anyaugo in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more about Nnedi at Nnedi.com and follow Nnedi on twitter (as @Nnedi), Facebook and Instagram.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,721 reviews
September 19, 2025
True storytelling has always been one of the few great things humanity could produce that no automation could.
Wow. It is not often I am without words, but Death of the Author has left me speechless and astounded.
I don't even know how to talk about this book because it isn't like anything else I've ever read. I'm going to try to come at it from a few different angles, so bear with me as I get my thoughts and feelings untangled here.
First, the genre. This is the perfect symbiosis of science fiction and contemporary lit. (If you're already thinking to yourself, huh? Yeah, like I said, you haven't seen anything like it before.) We alternate between the story of the writer, Zelu, and the story within the story of the robots, and each is its own riveting tale.
Zelu's narrative is instantly arresting. There is a lot going on, so I imagine every reader will bring their own experiences into it and take away something different. Racism, ableism, fame, social media, societal and familial pressure, the immigrant experience in general and the Nigerian American experience in particular were all integrated seamlessly and explored deftly within this compelling narrative.
Zelu is so richly drawn, she just leaps off the pages. You don't see many books featuring disabled main characters, so my interests were instantly peaked. Then the more I got to know her, the more dynamic and fierce she became. I wouldn't say she is particularly likable, but she's undeniably fascinating. And this narrative is her journey of formation and transformation, her coming of life, if you will.
Then we arrive at my favorite part of the book, and that is the robot story. (Come on now, you know how much I love sci-fi, so you can't possibly be surprised.) I adored every minute of this science fiction journey. It was such a creative tale through and through, embedded with social and political commentary relevant to our times. Every scene felt both captivating and profound, and it evoked such WALL E-esque feelings in me.
What does it mean to hold onto humanity when there are no humans left? And can the power of storytelling transcend those who invented it? Those are the questions Ankara the robot faces as she traverses a post-human apocalyptic world to make sense of herself and what's around her.
I know a lot of people think science fiction is inaccessible, but to me, the best of this genre always zeroes in on precisely what it means to be human. It encompasses our hopes and dreams, our emotions, our faith, and our will to survive. And so this story does too.
With her clear, precise prose, Nnedi Okorafor is able to hold a multitude of emotions within her sentences. They evoke feelings of love and conflict, logic and passion, nostalgia for the past but also hope for the future. To write a story partially from a robot's point of view and to inject so much emotion into the whole thing is nothing short of remarkable.
To experience this story and to see the two narrative strands weave back and forth, reflected in each other, as they slowly grow closer and closer, is to watch a master storyteller in action. And that ending, goodness me. I'm going to need many moments (days, weeks, months) to think on it and then think on it some more.
You know that feeling you get when you're in the midst of an extraordinary book, where every page causes goosebumps on your arms and tingles to run up and down your spine? And the moment you're done, you just want to go back to page one and start all over again? Well, that's this book right here.
More than anything, this pays homage to the power of storytelling. If you're a reader—and surely we all are—then this book comes as close as any to put into words why we read and what stories do for our hearts and our souls.
“I feel satisfied, but also not. It reminds me of myself, but it is not about me. I feel like I’ve met those I have never met. I’m thinking things I never thought before. I have many questions. Will you help me understand this?”
A singular and audacious tale deserving of all the praise. Surely one not to be missed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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December 23, 2024
What an absolutely incredible book! It had its low points and weak portions, but in its entirety, it's a perfect science fiction novel.
This book refuses to be put into a box, quite like its protagonist, Zelu, a paraplegic literary writing professor who is fired from her job and ends up writing a runaway science fiction novel, which is interspersed as part of this novel. Most of this novel is about the journey that the characters undertake, both to a destination and through their fears.
A book-within-a-book. To be more specific, a scifi book within a litfic book. This made it so difficult to judge objectively, which is what makes it fantastic. The style of book-within-a-book is difficult to execute, simply because we're told so much about how good a book is within a book, and that ends up meddling with our own judgment. Most of all, it takes talent to write two genres of books with different styles of writing and different internal voices for characters, something many authors cannot accomplish well. The scifi book has incredible worldbuilding but suffers from slightly simplistic prose. Then again, popular books tend to have simplistic prose to appeal to a broad demographic, which actually adds believability to the novel. The litfic book has great characterizations, albeit a convenient plot at times, but this a scifi book overall, which requires a little suspension of disbelief. All this happens in the backdrop of Nigerian culture and mythology, which permeates through both books. Nnedi Okorafor writes Africanfuturism, and the genre is cultivated at its finest in this book. She took on a mammoth task with this style, and delivered perfection.
At its core, this book is about creation (and creators), individualism, conformism, and our innate human instinct to assign meaning to everything. Where should the meaning of the text come from? The author’s intentions or the readers' myriad interpretations? Who gets to tell the stories of whom? Who gets to tell stories? Where do stories go when the author dies?
I didn't love Zelu's character, but found her so compelling and believable—she is amazingly well-written. She is a magnificent, adventurous, endearing character even while being realistic and annoying. It takes talent to write a character who could realistically write another character. Zelu's family and friends are so realistic—I can tell having grown up in a collectivist culture. Some brilliant characters within the scifi novel too—I mean, sometimes characterization suffers for worldbuilding, but everything works well here.
4.5 stars rounded up, this book is way too engrossing for anything less, but the ending was so good that I'm going to be thinking about this book for years. It may feel like too much at times for some readers, so I'd recommend this only if you're into scifi or new styles of storytelling.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow books for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book refuses to be put into a box, quite like its protagonist, Zelu, a paraplegic literary writing professor who is fired from her job and ends up writing a runaway science fiction novel, which is interspersed as part of this novel. Most of this novel is about the journey that the characters undertake, both to a destination and through their fears.
A book-within-a-book. To be more specific, a scifi book within a litfic book. This made it so difficult to judge objectively, which is what makes it fantastic. The style of book-within-a-book is difficult to execute, simply because we're told so much about how good a book is within a book, and that ends up meddling with our own judgment. Most of all, it takes talent to write two genres of books with different styles of writing and different internal voices for characters, something many authors cannot accomplish well. The scifi book has incredible worldbuilding but suffers from slightly simplistic prose. Then again, popular books tend to have simplistic prose to appeal to a broad demographic, which actually adds believability to the novel. The litfic book has great characterizations, albeit a convenient plot at times, but this a scifi book overall, which requires a little suspension of disbelief. All this happens in the backdrop of Nigerian culture and mythology, which permeates through both books. Nnedi Okorafor writes Africanfuturism, and the genre is cultivated at its finest in this book. She took on a mammoth task with this style, and delivered perfection.
At its core, this book is about creation (and creators), individualism, conformism, and our innate human instinct to assign meaning to everything. Where should the meaning of the text come from? The author’s intentions or the readers' myriad interpretations? Who gets to tell the stories of whom? Who gets to tell stories? Where do stories go when the author dies?
I didn't love Zelu's character, but found her so compelling and believable—she is amazingly well-written. She is a magnificent, adventurous, endearing character even while being realistic and annoying. It takes talent to write a character who could realistically write another character. Zelu's family and friends are so realistic—I can tell having grown up in a collectivist culture. Some brilliant characters within the scifi novel too—I mean, sometimes characterization suffers for worldbuilding, but everything works well here.
4.5 stars rounded up, this book is way too engrossing for anything less, but the ending was so good that I'm going to be thinking about this book for years. It may feel like too much at times for some readers, so I'd recommend this only if you're into scifi or new styles of storytelling.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow books for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
April 8, 2025
In a Nutshell: An OwnVoices literary fiction with sci-fi elements, NOT science-fiction with literary elements. Story within a story. Interesting disability representation (but mild vibes of ableism), great character detailing (but mostly unlikeable characters), unusual combination of futuristic elements with traditional family drama (but the two don’t blend well), good use of Nigerian + American setting and immigrant experience (no buts here; this was great.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
Your experience of this book will depend on the reason you picked it. From this author, you might expect a strong speculative fiction or fantasy or science fiction. It is present in this novel, but only in parts. More than half the book is a contemporary/near-future dysfunctional family drama, so if you don’t enjoy that genre, tough luck.
Bookish Yays:
🥳 Zelu: A complex and unlikeable lead, so if you necessarily want a protagonist who grows as the book progresses, not gonna happen! But I enjoyed the accurate depiction of her selfishness and shortsightedness. She represents so many real-life people who can’t think beyond their own needs and yet whine about their lot in life. It was interesting to read a lead character who doesn’t cater to popular preferences.
🥳 Zelu’s paraplegia is not handled the way disabilities usually are in fiction (in the rare cases when disabled characters actually get the lead role.) Though wheelchair-dependent, Zelu lives her life independently, and most of the other characters don’t view her only through the lens of sympathy or curiosity. The experiences of the disabled are also captured well. I especially liked the ironic depiction of how abled people think they know better than disabled people about what works better for them. (At the time of reading this, I wasn’t aware that the author herself has experienced below-waist paralysis like her character. Okorafor was able to regain her walking ability after extensive physiotherapy and now walks with a cane. The strong undertone of truth in fictional Zelu’s story is possibly because of her creator’s life experiences.)
🥳 OwnVoices in multiple ways – the author and her character Zelu are both sci-fi authors, the author is Nigerian-American like Zelu, AND the author has also experience of disability like Zelu.
🥳 The African-American (or to be accurate, Nigerian-American) depiction is not the typical story of discrimination and struggle, though there are elements of these as well. It is refreshing to read a story of richer Nigerian-American immigrants, and their attitude toward those back in Nigeria, and vice versa.
🥳 The representation of Nigerian culture, with its glory and its blemishes. Loved the balanced portrayal. This is something most Indian-origin authors are yet to learn.
🥳 All the mentions of the yummy-sounding Nigerian food had me drooling!
🥳 Zelu’s story is set in the near future, so it also has some futuristic content such as self-driving cars (more advanced than the ones we have at present), robotic prosthetics, and commercial space travel (the kind Musk has dreamed about since ages.) I liked how these elements felt realistic enough to be part of our world a few years down the line.
🥳 Several other relevant themes such as social media fanaticism, dysfunctional family, immigrant experience, Hollywood whitewashing, cancel culture, perils of instant fame,… Most are handled well.
🥳 The ending. Won't satisfy everyone as it is open to interpretation. But I liked pondering upon the possible alternative theories and wondering which one fit best.
🥳 The title. Means so much more than it indicates.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🤔 The combination of literary fiction and science fiction sounds fabulous, but in actuality, the two stories are strictly compartmentalised and the narratives swap at random intervals. So it’s like reading two distinct stories with no bearing on each other. Only at the very end do we see a hint of the connection. It is trickier to maintain the reading flow with such diverse plotlines and writing styles (with the robot story being almost as dramatic as the human one, much to my surprise.)
🤔 The secondary characters. A healthy mix of good and not-so-good people. I wish there were at least a few positive members in Zelu’s family. Most of them were so toxic that I couldn’t figure out if they were like that because of Zelu’s rebellious nature or if Zelu turned out that way because of her family’s overprotective antagonism. Then again, a lot of their behaviour is rooted in reality, so…
🤔 The interlude interviews with Zelu’s family and friends, which appear at random in between the main story arcs. Some are really good Some made me wonder what was the point of that information.
🤔 The story-within-a-story. “Rusted Robots” the novel has the first-person narration of the humanoid Ankara. This storyline had some interesting arcs and themes but it was too ambitious a plotline and had too many character types for its length. I would have loved for this story to be its own novel as it had its strengths, but in this book, Zelu’s story held my attention much more than Ankara’s somewhat surface-level storytelling.
Bookish Yikes:
😱 In a bizarre way, (and I have no idea why), the Rusted Robots narrative contains a few elements that seem to reflect the current political shambles in the USA, which is quite weird as this book came out before the present US government came in. Zelu’s story also has a character who appears to be a weird amalgamation of Bezos and Musk. (Was it supposed to be sarcastic?!) I know this is dystopian sci-fi but I prefer the realistic dystopian components to stay away from the fictional ones.
All in all, this book offered quite an interesting reading experience. Several of its plot points fascinated me, but the characters and the “Rusted Robots” story needed some patience.
This is my first full-length novel by this acclaimed author of her self-coined term: ‘Africanfuturism’. I have read two of her standalone short stories (‘Just Out of Jupiter's Reach’ – 3.5 stars and ‘The Black Pages’ – 1.5 stars) and one short story collection titled ‘Kabu-Kabu’ – also 3.5 stars. All these stories had outstanding speculative and/or sci-fi elements, so I am a bit disappointed at the relative lack of impact created by this novel’s fantastical components. However, the dramatic content more than compensated for the relatively lacklustre sci-fi. But as the author’s core fan following is from the sci-fi world, I can only hope that they like general fiction well enough to enjoy this.
Recommended to those who enjoy atypical narratives, complex characters, and OwnVoices writing. Better if you enjoy toxic family stories. Not for those who prefer likeable characters.
3.75 stars.
This was a library read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Threads || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
Zelu’s life has not been easy. Disabled since her teen years, unexpectedly fired from her university job, and facing rejection yet again for her latest manuscript, she’s the least successful in a family of high-achievers. In frustration, she decides to write a book that is unlike her earlier works and isn’t even in a genre she likes. She pens a science fiction novel titled “Rusted Robots” about an apocalyptic world dominated by robots and AI after human extinction. Much to her surprise, this novel gets huge public and critical success. And Zelu’s life changes almost overnight. But is this for the better or for the worse?
The story comes to us from two parallel narratives: a third-person POV from Zelu’s life and a first-person POV of Ankara the robot speaking from the novel “Rusted Robots”. There are also interludes in the form of interviews with Zelu’s family members.
Your experience of this book will depend on the reason you picked it. From this author, you might expect a strong speculative fiction or fantasy or science fiction. It is present in this novel, but only in parts. More than half the book is a contemporary/near-future dysfunctional family drama, so if you don’t enjoy that genre, tough luck.
Bookish Yays:
🥳 Zelu: A complex and unlikeable lead, so if you necessarily want a protagonist who grows as the book progresses, not gonna happen! But I enjoyed the accurate depiction of her selfishness and shortsightedness. She represents so many real-life people who can’t think beyond their own needs and yet whine about their lot in life. It was interesting to read a lead character who doesn’t cater to popular preferences.
🥳 Zelu’s paraplegia is not handled the way disabilities usually are in fiction (in the rare cases when disabled characters actually get the lead role.) Though wheelchair-dependent, Zelu lives her life independently, and most of the other characters don’t view her only through the lens of sympathy or curiosity. The experiences of the disabled are also captured well. I especially liked the ironic depiction of how abled people think they know better than disabled people about what works better for them. (At the time of reading this, I wasn’t aware that the author herself has experienced below-waist paralysis like her character. Okorafor was able to regain her walking ability after extensive physiotherapy and now walks with a cane. The strong undertone of truth in fictional Zelu’s story is possibly because of her creator’s life experiences.)
🥳 OwnVoices in multiple ways – the author and her character Zelu are both sci-fi authors, the author is Nigerian-American like Zelu, AND the author has also experience of disability like Zelu.
🥳 The African-American (or to be accurate, Nigerian-American) depiction is not the typical story of discrimination and struggle, though there are elements of these as well. It is refreshing to read a story of richer Nigerian-American immigrants, and their attitude toward those back in Nigeria, and vice versa.
🥳 The representation of Nigerian culture, with its glory and its blemishes. Loved the balanced portrayal. This is something most Indian-origin authors are yet to learn.
🥳 All the mentions of the yummy-sounding Nigerian food had me drooling!
🥳 Zelu’s story is set in the near future, so it also has some futuristic content such as self-driving cars (more advanced than the ones we have at present), robotic prosthetics, and commercial space travel (the kind Musk has dreamed about since ages.) I liked how these elements felt realistic enough to be part of our world a few years down the line.
🥳 Several other relevant themes such as social media fanaticism, dysfunctional family, immigrant experience, Hollywood whitewashing, cancel culture, perils of instant fame,… Most are handled well.
🥳 The ending. Won't satisfy everyone as it is open to interpretation. But I liked pondering upon the possible alternative theories and wondering which one fit best.
🥳 The title. Means so much more than it indicates.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🤔 The combination of literary fiction and science fiction sounds fabulous, but in actuality, the two stories are strictly compartmentalised and the narratives swap at random intervals. So it’s like reading two distinct stories with no bearing on each other. Only at the very end do we see a hint of the connection. It is trickier to maintain the reading flow with such diverse plotlines and writing styles (with the robot story being almost as dramatic as the human one, much to my surprise.)
🤔 The secondary characters. A healthy mix of good and not-so-good people. I wish there were at least a few positive members in Zelu’s family. Most of them were so toxic that I couldn’t figure out if they were like that because of Zelu’s rebellious nature or if Zelu turned out that way because of her family’s overprotective antagonism. Then again, a lot of their behaviour is rooted in reality, so…
🤔 The interlude interviews with Zelu’s family and friends, which appear at random in between the main story arcs. Some are really good Some made me wonder what was the point of that information.
🤔 The story-within-a-story. “Rusted Robots” the novel has the first-person narration of the humanoid Ankara. This storyline had some interesting arcs and themes but it was too ambitious a plotline and had too many character types for its length. I would have loved for this story to be its own novel as it had its strengths, but in this book, Zelu’s story held my attention much more than Ankara’s somewhat surface-level storytelling.
Bookish Yikes:
😱 In a bizarre way, (and I have no idea why), the Rusted Robots narrative contains a few elements that seem to reflect the current political shambles in the USA, which is quite weird as this book came out before the present US government came in. Zelu’s story also has a character who appears to be a weird amalgamation of Bezos and Musk. (Was it supposed to be sarcastic?!) I know this is dystopian sci-fi but I prefer the realistic dystopian components to stay away from the fictional ones.
All in all, this book offered quite an interesting reading experience. Several of its plot points fascinated me, but the characters and the “Rusted Robots” story needed some patience.
This is my first full-length novel by this acclaimed author of her self-coined term: ‘Africanfuturism’. I have read two of her standalone short stories (‘Just Out of Jupiter's Reach’ – 3.5 stars and ‘The Black Pages’ – 1.5 stars) and one short story collection titled ‘Kabu-Kabu’ – also 3.5 stars. All these stories had outstanding speculative and/or sci-fi elements, so I am a bit disappointed at the relative lack of impact created by this novel’s fantastical components. However, the dramatic content more than compensated for the relatively lacklustre sci-fi. But as the author’s core fan following is from the sci-fi world, I can only hope that they like general fiction well enough to enjoy this.
Recommended to those who enjoy atypical narratives, complex characters, and OwnVoices writing. Better if you enjoy toxic family stories. Not for those who prefer likeable characters.
3.75 stars.
This was a library read.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Threads || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
December 26, 2024
3.5 stars.
This is more lit fic than sci-fi, so definitely manage your expectations. There was A LOT of family drama and family trauma, which put me off from giving this 4 stars or higher.
The dual narrative with Zelu's life and Zelu's novel was confusing to read, but mostly because you don't get enough time to stew in the sci-fi world that Zelu created. The sci-fi story chapters were too short to be immersive for me. I could feel myself settling in to read a chapter about robots in a post-human world, and then BAM, Zelu's family drama would be the focus for the next chapter.
But if you like lit fic with immigrant family themes and breaking out of the immigrant child mold of parental and familial expectations, then you might like this.
Zelu isn't a likable character. She's honest to a fault, she's mean at times, and she keeps it real. Despite being annoyed by her shortsightedness, pettiness, and (sometimes) immaturity, I actually liked how Nnedi Okorafor created such a real, authentic character that isn't just a mishmash of tropes.
This novel felt like I was reading about a real person instead of a fictional FMC. That's how masterful the author was in pulling this off.
But while I enjoyed reading this and I liked Zelu's journey as a disabled Black author who shot to stardom overnight, I was expecting more from the Yellowface comp. There were bits and pieces of satire on author behavior and social media, but it wasn't the point of the story. I was definitely let down, but it didn't deter me from liking the novel for what it was.
This isn't the type of book I'd usually pick up, but I did like the big subplots that branched out from the main storyline: robot legs, whitewashed Hollywood movie adaptations, being a one hit wonder, and fandom galore.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this arc.
This is more lit fic than sci-fi, so definitely manage your expectations. There was A LOT of family drama and family trauma, which put me off from giving this 4 stars or higher.
The dual narrative with Zelu's life and Zelu's novel was confusing to read, but mostly because you don't get enough time to stew in the sci-fi world that Zelu created. The sci-fi story chapters were too short to be immersive for me. I could feel myself settling in to read a chapter about robots in a post-human world, and then BAM, Zelu's family drama would be the focus for the next chapter.
But if you like lit fic with immigrant family themes and breaking out of the immigrant child mold of parental and familial expectations, then you might like this.
Zelu isn't a likable character. She's honest to a fault, she's mean at times, and she keeps it real. Despite being annoyed by her shortsightedness, pettiness, and (sometimes) immaturity, I actually liked how Nnedi Okorafor created such a real, authentic character that isn't just a mishmash of tropes.
This novel felt like I was reading about a real person instead of a fictional FMC. That's how masterful the author was in pulling this off.
But while I enjoyed reading this and I liked Zelu's journey as a disabled Black author who shot to stardom overnight, I was expecting more from the Yellowface comp. There were bits and pieces of satire on author behavior and social media, but it wasn't the point of the story. I was definitely let down, but it didn't deter me from liking the novel for what it was.
This isn't the type of book I'd usually pick up, but I did like the big subplots that branched out from the main storyline: robot legs, whitewashed Hollywood movie adaptations, being a one hit wonder, and fandom galore.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this arc.
January 24, 2025
if you lean more towards lit fic i would say definitely give this a try but if you prefer sci fi maybe not, unless you enjoy both! i really loved Zelu, she was so fun to read from and interesting. i also love family dramas in book but as a fan of scifi i just feel like where the scifi comes in at just falls flat. there are excerpts of the book zelu is writing that is included and i understand why obviously but i just didn’t care to read it until the end
November 2, 2024
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.
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.
December 14, 2024
This masterful novel refuses any genre boundaries or expectations, with an escape velocity powerful enough to shame any natural laws trying to hold it down. Nnedi Okorafor manages to seamlessly blend three distinct narratives in this story, the “main” narrative, a series of interviews about the main character, and the novel-within-the-novel. Each of these have a distinct voice, especially noticeable in the interviews which each builds a world for that interviewee in their speech patterns and what they share to tell, and yet they fall into each other, never competing for space but somehow building into a beautiful meta-narrative about identity, individuality, and family, and somehow so much more. Importantly, as you switch across these three modes it never feels like a gimmick, instead it feels necessary, like it is the only way to see a bigger picture, more zoomed out. The stories and memories and vague foreboding of the interviews make the parallels between the two narratives more apparent, and as those two narratives seek to understand and explain each other the interviews create a web of context.
The world-building is really skillful, giving such a strong sense of time and place. The way deep roots spread across continents, and the lives all of those locations are given through the characters’ relationships with and experiences and memories of them, gives the world-building a tangible feeling. This also goes for the post-human landscape in the novel-within-the-novel, a lush world that feels complete and full. The characters are all great. There are a lot of ancillary characters in the main narrative, as the main character has a big family, and not all of them are really fleshed out in a complete way, and yet each has a distinct role in the family, and they are colorful and exciting and still feel genuine. The family as a whole serves as a character, and all of the siblings and so forth are the unique parts, making the family both spectacular and relatable. The main character and a few of the more important ancillary characters are exquisitely developed, full of impulses and complications and genuine heart. The writing supports the characters, being straightforward and emotional in turn, meeting the needs of the scene. For a novel that definitely has a lot of ideas the writing never felt stuffy or pretentious, it felt very earthy, almost, and grounded. It made everything else in the story more convincing. I will repeat I especially appreciated how distinct each character felt in their interview chapters, showing a finesse with writing dialogue and sentiment in such a way as to build distinct and intentional realities.
On the one hand, none of the ideas of the novel are incredibly groundbreaking. It is asking how to find one’s place in the world, and that includes what it means to be surrounded by people who care for you and yet feel lonelier than ever. But on the other hand, the way it explores these ideas is so deft that they feel original. Disability, cultural identity, family dynamics, social expectations and fame/popularity, technological marvels and limitations, heritage, inheritance—these are all parts of the vocabularies used to adventure through these ideas. None of the characters or stories are defined by any one of those things, but they are used to build something unique and wonderful. It is worth thinking about the title, too. The “Death of the Author” represents a mid-twentieth century revolution in literary criticism, an approach that broke with the orthodoxy that insisted the detailed history of the author and their context and intentions defined any given text’s “ultimate meaning” and instead prioritized the individual experience of the reader, the subjectivity of the relationship created in the act of reading informed by the world and experiences of the reader. It isn’t hard to see parallels with and influences from the author’s own life, including the fact that she was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down after a surgery when she was nineteen and that became the origin of her writing career. So, in that way, the author isn’t dead, the author is very much in this novel. Yet, at the same time, this story is one that is inviting the reader into a relationship an act of co-creation, and it absolutely resists any stifling box such as “ultimate meaning.”
Maybe most important to say? This story is fun. A lot of fun. Once I started it I didn’t want to put it down. I felt invested and included in the lives being spun, and being able to bear witness to the journeys of discovery within these narratives was a genuine delight.
(Rounded up from 4.5)
I want to thank the authors, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The world-building is really skillful, giving such a strong sense of time and place. The way deep roots spread across continents, and the lives all of those locations are given through the characters’ relationships with and experiences and memories of them, gives the world-building a tangible feeling. This also goes for the post-human landscape in the novel-within-the-novel, a lush world that feels complete and full. The characters are all great. There are a lot of ancillary characters in the main narrative, as the main character has a big family, and not all of them are really fleshed out in a complete way, and yet each has a distinct role in the family, and they are colorful and exciting and still feel genuine. The family as a whole serves as a character, and all of the siblings and so forth are the unique parts, making the family both spectacular and relatable. The main character and a few of the more important ancillary characters are exquisitely developed, full of impulses and complications and genuine heart. The writing supports the characters, being straightforward and emotional in turn, meeting the needs of the scene. For a novel that definitely has a lot of ideas the writing never felt stuffy or pretentious, it felt very earthy, almost, and grounded. It made everything else in the story more convincing. I will repeat I especially appreciated how distinct each character felt in their interview chapters, showing a finesse with writing dialogue and sentiment in such a way as to build distinct and intentional realities.
On the one hand, none of the ideas of the novel are incredibly groundbreaking. It is asking how to find one’s place in the world, and that includes what it means to be surrounded by people who care for you and yet feel lonelier than ever. But on the other hand, the way it explores these ideas is so deft that they feel original. Disability, cultural identity, family dynamics, social expectations and fame/popularity, technological marvels and limitations, heritage, inheritance—these are all parts of the vocabularies used to adventure through these ideas. None of the characters or stories are defined by any one of those things, but they are used to build something unique and wonderful. It is worth thinking about the title, too. The “Death of the Author” represents a mid-twentieth century revolution in literary criticism, an approach that broke with the orthodoxy that insisted the detailed history of the author and their context and intentions defined any given text’s “ultimate meaning” and instead prioritized the individual experience of the reader, the subjectivity of the relationship created in the act of reading informed by the world and experiences of the reader. It isn’t hard to see parallels with and influences from the author’s own life, including the fact that she was temporarily paralyzed from the waist down after a surgery when she was nineteen and that became the origin of her writing career. So, in that way, the author isn’t dead, the author is very much in this novel. Yet, at the same time, this story is one that is inviting the reader into a relationship an act of co-creation, and it absolutely resists any stifling box such as “ultimate meaning.”
Maybe most important to say? This story is fun. A lot of fun. Once I started it I didn’t want to put it down. I felt invested and included in the lives being spun, and being able to bear witness to the journeys of discovery within these narratives was a genuine delight.
(Rounded up from 4.5)
I want to thank the authors, the publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
May 9, 2025
Perhaps this is a fiction book, like it’s been tagged by my library. Indeed, there are many sci-fi elements. Consequently, this could be a fiction-sci-fi genre if we’re getting technical.
And for a while, it was like reading a book within a book. Truly, Death of an Author is like nothing else I’ve ever read or viewed. To mention much about the plot would be denying the next reader’s curiosities from fully forming, so I’m just including my feelings here.
To be sure, the book is well done, and although I didn’t love the twist, I think it has to do with the author’s storytelling execution being novel. And it’s partially due to the numerous trials our society faces today, so I was really invested in the humanity aspect of the book.
This book is smart, well written, captivating, innovative, and dare I say, probably be one of the best books of 2025.
And for a while, it was like reading a book within a book. Truly, Death of an Author is like nothing else I’ve ever read or viewed. To mention much about the plot would be denying the next reader’s curiosities from fully forming, so I’m just including my feelings here.
To be sure, the book is well done, and although I didn’t love the twist, I think it has to do with the author’s storytelling execution being novel. And it’s partially due to the numerous trials our society faces today, so I was really invested in the humanity aspect of the book.
This book is smart, well written, captivating, innovative, and dare I say, probably be one of the best books of 2025.
January 31, 2025
2.5 Stars
This book was about Zelu, an author who became famous overnight because of a book about robots she wrote when she was in a really dark place. And yeah, she got all the praise and money, but because her feet didn’t work and she was Nigerian, people still had to be awful to her. Like, of course. Welcome to Earth.
The most prominent issue was her family. Her close family, her distant family, everybody. Just toxic. Her rich aunt and uncle in Nigeria were okay, maybe, but the rest? Horrible. Her extended family was the kind that you never meet, but somehow they still talk shit, demand money, and bring nothing but negativity. We’ve all got at least one or two of those, right? But her close family? Her parents and siblings? They were next-level bad. No support, no acknowledgment, no help. Just… awful. Her siblings especially were straight-up bitches. I hated how they treated her.
Zelu herself? I loved her at the start. She was smart, strong-willed, and sensitive. I rooted for her (well, not until the end, though).
I enjoyed 2/3 of the book (well, not much for the robot part, though). The last third was wonky. I felt it was rushed, and I don’t know, 'weird' in a bad way, in my opinion. The ending left a bad taste for me. The story about Ijele and Ankara didn’t spark my interest. Their ending was just too abrupt. I’m really not a fan of how this all wrapped up. But at least, i agreed with Zelu: "Fuck Patriarchy".
(When I first finished the book, I rated it 3 stars. Two days later, when I sat down to write this review, I realized I’d already forgotten most of the plot. So… I dropped it to 2.5 stars.)
Note: Thanks to William Morrow and the author for this ARC.
This book was about Zelu, an author who became famous overnight because of a book about robots she wrote when she was in a really dark place. And yeah, she got all the praise and money, but because her feet didn’t work and she was Nigerian, people still had to be awful to her. Like, of course. Welcome to Earth.
The most prominent issue was her family. Her close family, her distant family, everybody. Just toxic. Her rich aunt and uncle in Nigeria were okay, maybe, but the rest? Horrible. Her extended family was the kind that you never meet, but somehow they still talk shit, demand money, and bring nothing but negativity. We’ve all got at least one or two of those, right? But her close family? Her parents and siblings? They were next-level bad. No support, no acknowledgment, no help. Just… awful. Her siblings especially were straight-up bitches. I hated how they treated her.
Zelu herself? I loved her at the start. She was smart, strong-willed, and sensitive. I rooted for her (well, not until the end, though).
I enjoyed 2/3 of the book (well, not much for the robot part, though). The last third was wonky. I felt it was rushed, and I don’t know, 'weird' in a bad way, in my opinion. The ending left a bad taste for me. The story about Ijele and Ankara didn’t spark my interest. Their ending was just too abrupt. I’m really not a fan of how this all wrapped up. But at least, i agreed with Zelu: "Fuck Patriarchy".
(When I first finished the book, I rated it 3 stars. Two days later, when I sat down to write this review, I realized I’d already forgotten most of the plot. So… I dropped it to 2.5 stars.)
Note: Thanks to William Morrow and the author for this ARC.
June 29, 2025
RATING BREAKDOWN
Characters: 4⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 4⭐️
Themes: 5⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 4⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 4.5⭐️
This might be the most ORIGINAL novel I've ever read. It's fiction within fiction. It follows an author, but whole chapters are excerpts of the author's novel. It's about art and stories, but it's also about fame, and prejudice, and death, and identity, and family. It features fascinating and terrifying tech, but this book is about the human experience. The final chapter is subversive brilliance.
This one reads like literary fiction, but explores technology on a soulful level. Okorafor has so much range. The cultural background wrapped up in the pages is mesmerizing—the food, the language, the fabric, the pride, and the fear. The experience of a disabled, famous, American-Nigerian woman who has never fit any mold, as she bears the weight of a heavy protective love from her family—exquisite, butal, exhausting, and exhilarating. Zelu is a character I'll never be able to forget.
This one is emotionally evocative, intellectually rigorous, and even more beautiful in retrospect. It took some trust when the pacing slowed down. There were times I worried it wouldn't land. For naught. The end is transcendent. I loved this.
Characters: 4⭐️
Setting: 5⭐️
Plot: 4⭐️
Themes: 5⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4⭐️
Personal Enjoyment: 4⭐️
Total Rounded Average: 4.5⭐️
This might be the most ORIGINAL novel I've ever read. It's fiction within fiction. It follows an author, but whole chapters are excerpts of the author's novel. It's about art and stories, but it's also about fame, and prejudice, and death, and identity, and family. It features fascinating and terrifying tech, but this book is about the human experience. The final chapter is subversive brilliance.
This one reads like literary fiction, but explores technology on a soulful level. Okorafor has so much range. The cultural background wrapped up in the pages is mesmerizing—the food, the language, the fabric, the pride, and the fear. The experience of a disabled, famous, American-Nigerian woman who has never fit any mold, as she bears the weight of a heavy protective love from her family—exquisite, butal, exhausting, and exhilarating. Zelu is a character I'll never be able to forget.
This one is emotionally evocative, intellectually rigorous, and even more beautiful in retrospect. It took some trust when the pacing slowed down. There were times I worried it wouldn't land. For naught. The end is transcendent. I loved this.
August 14, 2025
Blog | Instagram
Rating: 3.5 stars
‘Death of the Author’ mixes two interesting storylines, but they felt disconnected, and I wasn't deeply invested in either.
Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Writing: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Storyline: 🌟🌟🌟
Main character(s): 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Secondary characters: 🌟🌟🌟
Romance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Narration & Audio: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
At the heart of this book is Zelu, whose meteoric rise to a life in the spotlight is laid out with striking authenticity and emotional depth. Although Zelu is far from perfect, I couldn't help but root for her due to her fierce determination and the way she is treated by those around her, especially her family. The themes of disability, fame, social media, grief, social expectations, family, love, and more add layers that make her journey deeply relatable and nuanced.
"Life is short. Fortune is fleeting. Fame is just swirling dust."
In contrast, the science fiction storyline did not resonate with me as strongly. While it tackles complex themes of domination, AI and genocide, the characters lack the depth that makes Zelu so compelling. The resolution of this storyline also felt a bit too convenient and underwhelming, though I was impressed by the late twist that cleverly connects both storylines. Still, the two storylines didn’t quite mesh for me, as I'm not the biggest fan of either literary or science fiction. I also noticed some repetitive elements in both stories, which made them less engaging.
"Sometimes it was better to get what you needed than what you wanted."
What truly makes this book shine for me are its themes and the presentation of Nigerian culture. The writing style also flows smoothly, and the audiobook narration by Anthony Oseyemi, Chris Djuma, Jason Culp, and Liz Femi elevated the listening experience. Their natural inflexions and emotional ranges brought the characters to life. Notably, the secondary characters help drive the themes and storylines effectively, although some could have been more developed.
You can also find more of my thoughts and discussion questions on my blog! - I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Rating: 3.5 stars
‘Death of the Author’ mixes two interesting storylines, but they felt disconnected, and I wasn't deeply invested in either.
Cover: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Writing: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Storyline: 🌟🌟🌟
Main character(s): 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Secondary characters: 🌟🌟🌟
Romance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Narration & Audio: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
At the heart of this book is Zelu, whose meteoric rise to a life in the spotlight is laid out with striking authenticity and emotional depth. Although Zelu is far from perfect, I couldn't help but root for her due to her fierce determination and the way she is treated by those around her, especially her family. The themes of disability, fame, social media, grief, social expectations, family, love, and more add layers that make her journey deeply relatable and nuanced.
"Life is short. Fortune is fleeting. Fame is just swirling dust."
In contrast, the science fiction storyline did not resonate with me as strongly. While it tackles complex themes of domination, AI and genocide, the characters lack the depth that makes Zelu so compelling. The resolution of this storyline also felt a bit too convenient and underwhelming, though I was impressed by the late twist that cleverly connects both storylines. Still, the two storylines didn’t quite mesh for me, as I'm not the biggest fan of either literary or science fiction. I also noticed some repetitive elements in both stories, which made them less engaging.
"Sometimes it was better to get what you needed than what you wanted."
What truly makes this book shine for me are its themes and the presentation of Nigerian culture. The writing style also flows smoothly, and the audiobook narration by Anthony Oseyemi, Chris Djuma, Jason Culp, and Liz Femi elevated the listening experience. Their natural inflexions and emotional ranges brought the characters to life. Notably, the secondary characters help drive the themes and storylines effectively, although some could have been more developed.
You can also find more of my thoughts and discussion questions on my blog! - I'd love to hear your thoughts!
September 11, 2025
This was...not good. And that's coming from a fan of Nnedi Okorafor!
I was baffled by this book. It's hard to talk about it without spoiling things, so I will just say the sentence level writing in this is BAD. It felt like a first draft. So many sentences that start with, "And then..." just to move things along. It was noticeable and very distracting after a while.
None of the characters felt real; the dialogue was so clunky and unnatural; and everything is TOLD to you, never shown. I liked the story-within-the-story chapters the most, but even that in the end wasn't enough to save it for me.
I found the ending and explanation to be pretty predictable and silly. It gave off the vibe of something that thought it was smarter than it really was.
There's pretty much no character growth or arc at all in this book; the main character, Zelu was unlikeable from start to finish (and I can get on board with an unlikeable MC but WHY was she that way? I never felt like I understood her at all). Her family was awful to her and I just didn't get any insight into their motivations either. Overall, very flat characterization with no redemption.
I also found some of the subject matter to be questionable. I know that will differ reader to reader, but I was uncomfortable with the messaging around guns, there was a lot of unchecked ableism in the story, and in a way it almost seemed to be advocating for A.I. in the creation of stories/art?? Idk, man, just a very confusing reading experience over all. I would give this 1 star but that seems so harsh because I do genuinely like Okorafor and the other books from her I've read, but I can't recommend this one at all.
I feel like I read a completely different book than other people!
I was baffled by this book. It's hard to talk about it without spoiling things, so I will just say the sentence level writing in this is BAD. It felt like a first draft. So many sentences that start with, "And then..." just to move things along. It was noticeable and very distracting after a while.
None of the characters felt real; the dialogue was so clunky and unnatural; and everything is TOLD to you, never shown. I liked the story-within-the-story chapters the most, but even that in the end wasn't enough to save it for me.
I found the ending and explanation to be pretty predictable and silly. It gave off the vibe of something that thought it was smarter than it really was.
There's pretty much no character growth or arc at all in this book; the main character, Zelu was unlikeable from start to finish (and I can get on board with an unlikeable MC but WHY was she that way? I never felt like I understood her at all). Her family was awful to her and I just didn't get any insight into their motivations either. Overall, very flat characterization with no redemption.
I also found some of the subject matter to be questionable. I know that will differ reader to reader, but I was uncomfortable with the messaging around guns, there was a lot of unchecked ableism in the story, and in a way it almost seemed to be advocating for A.I. in the creation of stories/art?? Idk, man, just a very confusing reading experience over all. I would give this 1 star but that seems so harsh because I do genuinely like Okorafor and the other books from her I've read, but I can't recommend this one at all.
I feel like I read a completely different book than other people!
November 26, 2025
'How amazing! I have come to understand that author, art, and audience all adore one another. They create a tissue, a web, a network. No death is required for this form of life.'
A magnificent, totally left field ending turns this book on its head and into something truly special. Having said that, it could have been at least 150 pages shorter, and all the stronger for tighter editing of the Nigerian bulk, which is unfortunately too Nollywood to bear the import and weight of the meta narrative.
And despite what Okorafor says at the end, Zelu is clearly an amalgam of herself, while the title gives a solid middle finger to stodgy white theorists like Roland Barthes.
A notoriously prickly antagonist on her social media, I found it ironic how fuzzy-wuzzy Zelu is to her 'beloved' readers.
My main problem with Okorafor, and it is certainly not addressed by her latest, the least Afrofuturist of her novels to date, is no one knows what Africanfuturism is if you haven't read her 2019 blog.
Berating open-minded readers for conflating the two, when she herself is so disengaged from the discourse, plus many modern young readers are not versed in SF theory, is alienating to her fan base and growth as a meaningful contributor to the evolution of said discourse.
Rather be like Ijele and spread the love. And pollen.
And remind people Afrofuturism was defined by cis white male Mark Dery in 1994, rather than lambasting readers for their ignorance. Even 'Rusted Robots' can learn.
A lot of readers, I fear, are going to be frustrated by the sheer messiness of so much of the writing before that G-Spot happy ending.
A magnificent, totally left field ending turns this book on its head and into something truly special. Having said that, it could have been at least 150 pages shorter, and all the stronger for tighter editing of the Nigerian bulk, which is unfortunately too Nollywood to bear the import and weight of the meta narrative.
And despite what Okorafor says at the end, Zelu is clearly an amalgam of herself, while the title gives a solid middle finger to stodgy white theorists like Roland Barthes.
A notoriously prickly antagonist on her social media, I found it ironic how fuzzy-wuzzy Zelu is to her 'beloved' readers.
My main problem with Okorafor, and it is certainly not addressed by her latest, the least Afrofuturist of her novels to date, is no one knows what Africanfuturism is if you haven't read her 2019 blog.
Berating open-minded readers for conflating the two, when she herself is so disengaged from the discourse, plus many modern young readers are not versed in SF theory, is alienating to her fan base and growth as a meaningful contributor to the evolution of said discourse.
Rather be like Ijele and spread the love. And pollen.
And remind people Afrofuturism was defined by cis white male Mark Dery in 1994, rather than lambasting readers for their ignorance. Even 'Rusted Robots' can learn.
A lot of readers, I fear, are going to be frustrated by the sheer messiness of so much of the writing before that G-Spot happy ending.
February 20, 2025
edit: the more I thought about this book the more I genuinely hated it. I think that it feels very ableist and toxic, the politics are so horrid, and there's not a single redeeming detail I liked about it. Not. One. when I wasn't bored I was mad, when I wasn't mad I was frustrated.
I hadn't yet made my 'worst of 2025' tag on Goodreads because I genuinely hadn't needed it yet... until I read this book.
--------------------
Whoops, I got tricked into reading litfic again!
I Can't Believe It's Not Litfic:
Man, are the people who signed up for a scifi book going to be frustrated by this. I guess if you like Contemporary novels and getting into ongoing Nigerian family drama sounds good to you, then I would recommend this book. Why tf is this being marketed as scifi when literally all the elements in it are part of our current reality?
It kills me that this book is gonna be praised by the award crowd.
Everybody Sucks Here:
The main character has a major disability (paraplegic) since childhood. She's also got a very unlikable attitude and a giant chip on her shoulder and she seems to have constant friction with her loved ones. Understandable? Sure. Character growth? Not so much. Something I enjoy reading in a fiction novel for hobby fun time? Definitely not.
Would I have finished this if it didn't count for a Goodreads Challenge? Hah! No. She's very unlikable and combative, her family treats her pretty terribly. Everybody has guilt about what they're doing, but they never grow as people and stop hurting one another or being awful.
The Vibes Are Off:
If the main goal is to keep both the reader and the characters in a constant state of frustration and agitation, while routinely having some real hot takes with the politics, then I guess this was a success :/
Death of the Author?:
I loved the Binti series when I read it at the start of last year. But I was confused for most of this novel on when the scifi elements would start and the "lines between scifi and reality [would] blur" that was promised in the synopsis. Just market the book and synopsis correctly next time and I'll know not to read it. (Though honestly a lot of the snide handling of things like cancel culture and fangirling the Elon Musk insert is gonna make it tough for me to pick up this author again.)
2025 note: seeing the rich white guy character who owns tech companies and flew his car into space... being a character in this? Certainly hits different!! The fact that he's sometimes a sympathetic character or honestly anything other than a goon who bought his way into national politics... blech. Please don't remind me he exists. It's not enough to just change the name.
I hadn't yet made my 'worst of 2025' tag on Goodreads because I genuinely hadn't needed it yet... until I read this book.
--------------------
Whoops, I got tricked into reading litfic again!
I Can't Believe It's Not Litfic:
Man, are the people who signed up for a scifi book going to be frustrated by this. I guess if you like Contemporary novels and getting into ongoing Nigerian family drama sounds good to you, then I would recommend this book. Why tf is this being marketed as scifi when literally all the elements in it are part of our current reality?
It kills me that this book is gonna be praised by the award crowd.
Everybody Sucks Here:
The main character has a major disability (paraplegic) since childhood. She's also got a very unlikable attitude and a giant chip on her shoulder and she seems to have constant friction with her loved ones. Understandable? Sure. Character growth? Not so much. Something I enjoy reading in a fiction novel for hobby fun time? Definitely not.
Would I have finished this if it didn't count for a Goodreads Challenge? Hah! No. She's very unlikable and combative, her family treats her pretty terribly. Everybody has guilt about what they're doing, but they never grow as people and stop hurting one another or being awful.
The Vibes Are Off:
If the main goal is to keep both the reader and the characters in a constant state of frustration and agitation, while routinely having some real hot takes with the politics, then I guess this was a success :/
Death of the Author?:
I loved the Binti series when I read it at the start of last year. But I was confused for most of this novel on when the scifi elements would start and the "lines between scifi and reality [would] blur" that was promised in the synopsis. Just market the book and synopsis correctly next time and I'll know not to read it. (Though honestly a lot of the snide handling of things like cancel culture and fangirling the Elon Musk insert is gonna make it tough for me to pick up this author again.)
2025 note: seeing the rich white guy character who owns tech companies and flew his car into space... being a character in this? Certainly hits different!! The fact that he's sometimes a sympathetic character or honestly anything other than a goon who bought his way into national politics... blech. Please don't remind me he exists. It's not enough to just change the name.
April 7, 2025
Im so sorry ya’ll…this was boring
July 25, 2025
This book had interesting themes related to disability and technology, family conflict and relationships, and how writers can get lampooned by the public, especially in this digital age. Unfortunately I found the prose unconvincing and difficult to get into. The story within the story didn’t appeal to me either. In looking the positive reviews, it’s so interesting how people can walk away from reading the same book with such different opinions!
January 21, 2025
My Selling Pitch:
A tone-deaf author insert wish fulfillment family drama by an Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos apologist with a pointless Wall-E/Hail Mary mashup shoehorned into it that blasts cancel culture while managing to be misogynistic, ableist, transphobic, and racist. And then advocates for AI’s use in creating books.
Top of my do not read list.
Pre-reading:
Don't know anything about this book other than that a few book boxes have picked it, and meta fiction is having a major moment.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
It’s a little Fleabag, I May Destroy You, and Come and Get It in its traumatized messiness.
That is the plot of Wall-E.
Make sure the sci-fi bros know the robots have that robussy.
I do not like dolphins.
This AI is the villain in a sci-fi novel is kind of cliché and cheesy.
And that's basically the plot of Hail Mary. Even down to the spider partner.
I think this is fine. I do not think I personally like it.
As someone who can't drive, I feel that.
I don’t think of it as submitting to technology. I think of it as being serviced by technology.
Stop with the password pop culture drops
Is her novel gonna get canceled because of the incident at uni, and this is the author being like cancel culture is actually just racist oppression because like some of it yes, and other bits no.
I know it’s a different culture but the misogyny of it all and the phrases are pissing me off.
I will say the audiobook is very well done.
Name dropping The Martian when this book is so similar to Hail Mary is a choice.
And she's a surgeon. Parentified daughter much.
Like I know the point is that the sci-fi book is inspired by her life but it feels so heavy-handed and repetitive instead of letting the reader assume. Like I assumed the robot's teal legs came from her wheelchair before the book explicitly told me. It’s like hammering you over the head like do you see the themes yet???? And I’m over here like trust your reader to pick up some implied meaning. Let them work.
Her family kinda sucks. It’s a good examination of how you can love and care for someone to their detriment.
Where are we going with this? I feel bad being like I’m bored, but I’m bored.
Okay post apocalyptic row boat submarines as whale watching-pretty brilliant.
She deserves much better than the current love interest. He sucks.
I'm very live and let live with it but I don't understand this book’s preoccupation with weed.
Dolphin people are something else.
Oh, it figures this insecure man is a shortie.
I'm at the point where I would DNF. It's 50% I don't care. I don't see this miraculously changing up and making me care. (Ironically if I had DNFed here, the book would’ve had a higher rating.)
And it went exactly where I thought it was headed. Sigh. I'm boredddd.
Why wouldn't you answer no im mine? This book frustrates me.
This chapter is awful. The book feels very adolescent and wish fulfillment-y. I'm curious how old the author is and if she or a relative is disabled.
Like this chapter is so bad. So teenage angst. You don't even know me. Like what is this? And a quirky artsy fartsy hippie. Like this is garbage.
That felt like one of those planted influencer vpn ads.
How can you rail against “comfort food” when a good 10% of your book has just been literal comfort food.
Girl, you're a millionaire. My sympathy is nonexistent.
This is not Elon Musk sympathy fiction, is it? Because I'll lose it.
I'm taller. He is that short.
I fundamentally don’t understand how you could love a country and a system and an ideology that treats your family member so horribly. Like how much closer to you does it have to be so that you develop empathy for other human beings? What’s wrong with you?
If you’re wondering how American I am, I have been reading the audiobook and not following along And I kept hearing them mention what I heard as jello fries. And I was like huh, I wonder what style of french fries they’re talking about. I’m reading the book this morning with my eyeballs. Jollof rice. That makes a lot more sense. I-😂 I’m over here like man, they eat a lot of poutine!
How do you have the education to be a surgeon and yet are still that ignorant
What in the Elon Musk apologist is this dog shit? (Musk/Bezos interchangeable assholes.)
Imagine writing a nonconsensual wedding and thinking it’s romantic.
This is gonna be a two-star because it is a complete story that’s written and readable and has purpose but like absolutely one-star for personal enjoyment. Absolutely on my do not read list.
GIRL. This is not respectful. Be so fucking for real. This book’s morals are so beyond warped.
Hey bestie, keeping an activity secret from your husband that he’s morally against, super uncool. Very toxic. Beyond unhealthy
Oh, I’m PISSED. I know this book isn’t preaching all women who are models are vapid gold diggers. FUCK absolutely FUCK this toxic 5’7 man. I can’t believe a woman wrote this. In 2025. Fuck the two-star rating. I’m done. I’m so DONE.
I genuinely believe reading diversely is so important and you have to take in viewpoints and experiences that are different from your own, but if this author believes anything that her characters are preaching-like get so, so fucked.
I keep thinking it can’t get worse and then it does. Absolutely fuck this Elon Musk apologist. Don’t know how a woman of 2025 managed to write one of the most racist, misogynistic, ableist steaming piles of garbage I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading.
Oh cool, and now it’s transphobic. What the actual fuck. This book is really just like how else can I piss Sam off?
I’m shaking I’m so angry. How did this get published? It’s one thing to be a bad book. It’s another to have so much toxic messaging and be convinced you’re being woke and sharing important words with humanity as a whole. This is fucking delusional.
There’s no way they would let you go to space without retesting for pregnancy
Hey, I don’t think essentially advocating for AI’s use in the creation of stories even if you’ve anthropomorphized AI is kosher for artists.
I hate this book.
You know what feels incredibly tone-deaf? This pregnancy story arc when that NASA astronaut has been posting her infertility journey everywhere on social media.
Literally beyond unethical.
Post-reading:
It is so important to me to read stories from perspectives different. I want to understand people’s different life experiences and be exposed to new ideas and cultures. I come with an open mind. I’m willing to change my opinion when presented with sound reasoning and evidence. And I issue this disclaimer to cover my ass when I absolutely blast this book.
What the actual shit was this. How did this get published. In 2025.
And what baffles me is that it clearly thinks it’s woke and an advocate for change.
This has to be one of the most misogynistic, racist, transphobic, ableist pieces of work I’ve ever had the misfortune of picking up. And let’s break this down a bit.
You’re not a feminist for saying fuck the patriarchy. You are misogynistic for saying models only care about what they look like and date men for money.
You’re not antiracist just for featuring characters with diverse backgrounds. You are racist when you say all people from a country believe a rhetoric and their opinions can’t be changed.
You aren’t an ally for having a gender non-conforming character present in your work whose sole narrative purpose is to help another character learn to choose women that aren’t like other girls so he can be fulfilled. You are echoing and amplifying transphobic hate speech when you have a character wondering if someone has changed their identity just to rape them.
You aren’t inclusive just for having a disabled main character. You aren’t ableist for having a disabled character receive medical treatment. You are ableist when you use a fictionalized miracle vaccine to allow a pregnant woman to travel into space as a get out of jail free card so she can escape ethical concerns.
Like what the shit.
How do you sit here as an author and advocate for the use of AI in the creation of artwork? It’s just so incredibly tone-deaf. And even if we put aside all my moral qualms with the book, what are we left with?
An author insert wish fulfillment family drama? The characters are fundamentally unlikable and deeply hateful. And sure, you can do a character study on a toxic family unit, but you’re gonna be hard-pressed to make me enjoy it when no one’s redeemable. I can’t get over how toxic the main character’s romance is. That’s a hateful little man she’s been stuck with. The couple ignores each other’s ethical and moral boundaries at every turn, and the book still has the audacity to present them as something to strive for and emulate. All book we’re told how incredible Zelu’s work is with no evidence to support it. Even if you take the ending’s spin as fact, then it’s just a robot crafting a story about a hateful family.
To me, meta fiction works best when there’s an element of satire to it. I’m talking about your House of Leaves’ pretension, your Benjamin Stevenson cheeky fourth wall breaks. That’s absent here. This is one shitty story nestled into another shittier one. The robot chapters feel unnecessary to the family drama. It’s not like their themes combine for greater messaging, no matter which story you take at face value. Either you have a robot name dropping famous authors and characters from other works while it writes about a disabled human to process the destruction and subsequent upgrading of its own legs, or you have a human who canonically knows Andy Weir ripping off Wall-E and Hail Mary for some cliched post apocalyptic fiction. Both options are bad!
If this had just been a family drama, I’d still have my problems with its moral failings and general inaction. Zelu comes off like a whiny teenaged Wattpad author rather than a woman in her late thirties with a nuanced perspective. I’d still have problems with some fictionalized Bezos/Musk character randomly taking our main character into space and jettisoning any ethical considerations for how their fortunes and technology are even possible, let alone the complete suspension of disbelief necessary to buy into sending a completely unqualified astronaut into space for a joy ride for free.
If this had just been another robot book, I probably would’ve gotten through this with a it’s nothing new but it’s technically readable vibe.
But put together? What are we doing. I sincerely hope the author doesn’t actually believe the messages her characters are spewing. You can write from perspectives different than your own, but dear god, what was the point? This is shooting to the top of my do not read list. It’s a boring story and it’s got hateful messaging, and I think that easily outweighs any worth someone could glean from reading this.
Who should read this:
No one
Fans of diverse representation family dramas who are capable of reading critically
Ideal reading time:
Anytime
Do I want to reread this:
Fuck no.
Would I buy this:
Hard, hard pass.
Similar books:
* The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu-mixed media, meta, sci-fi Hamlet retelling, queer romance
* I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman-character study, meta fiction, queer
* Come and Get It by Kiley Reid-lit fic character study, social commentary, queer
* Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter-character study lit fic, dystopian satire, family drama, mental health
* Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir-dude bro sci-fi romp
* Annie Bot by Sierra Greer-sci-fi dystopian, social commentary
* House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski-mixed media, meta fiction, character study, lit fic, horror
* Mood Swings by Frankie Barnet-dystopian satire, social commentary
* The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden-lit fic memoir linking viruses to technology
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly-lit fic, character study, family drama, queer
* Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley-lit fic, character study, family drama
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A tone-deaf author insert wish fulfillment family drama by an Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos apologist with a pointless Wall-E/Hail Mary mashup shoehorned into it that blasts cancel culture while managing to be misogynistic, ableist, transphobic, and racist. And then advocates for AI’s use in creating books.
Top of my do not read list.
Pre-reading:
Don't know anything about this book other than that a few book boxes have picked it, and meta fiction is having a major moment.
(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
It’s a little Fleabag, I May Destroy You, and Come and Get It in its traumatized messiness.
That is the plot of Wall-E.
Make sure the sci-fi bros know the robots have that robussy.
I do not like dolphins.
This AI is the villain in a sci-fi novel is kind of cliché and cheesy.
And that's basically the plot of Hail Mary. Even down to the spider partner.
I think this is fine. I do not think I personally like it.
As someone who can't drive, I feel that.
I don’t think of it as submitting to technology. I think of it as being serviced by technology.
Stop with the password pop culture drops
Is her novel gonna get canceled because of the incident at uni, and this is the author being like cancel culture is actually just racist oppression because like some of it yes, and other bits no.
I know it’s a different culture but the misogyny of it all and the phrases are pissing me off.
I will say the audiobook is very well done.
Name dropping The Martian when this book is so similar to Hail Mary is a choice.
And she's a surgeon. Parentified daughter much.
Like I know the point is that the sci-fi book is inspired by her life but it feels so heavy-handed and repetitive instead of letting the reader assume. Like I assumed the robot's teal legs came from her wheelchair before the book explicitly told me. It’s like hammering you over the head like do you see the themes yet???? And I’m over here like trust your reader to pick up some implied meaning. Let them work.
Her family kinda sucks. It’s a good examination of how you can love and care for someone to their detriment.
Where are we going with this? I feel bad being like I’m bored, but I’m bored.
Okay post apocalyptic row boat submarines as whale watching-pretty brilliant.
She deserves much better than the current love interest. He sucks.
I'm very live and let live with it but I don't understand this book’s preoccupation with weed.
Dolphin people are something else.
Oh, it figures this insecure man is a shortie.
I'm at the point where I would DNF. It's 50% I don't care. I don't see this miraculously changing up and making me care. (Ironically if I had DNFed here, the book would’ve had a higher rating.)
And it went exactly where I thought it was headed. Sigh. I'm boredddd.
Why wouldn't you answer no im mine? This book frustrates me.
This chapter is awful. The book feels very adolescent and wish fulfillment-y. I'm curious how old the author is and if she or a relative is disabled.
Like this chapter is so bad. So teenage angst. You don't even know me. Like what is this? And a quirky artsy fartsy hippie. Like this is garbage.
That felt like one of those planted influencer vpn ads.
How can you rail against “comfort food” when a good 10% of your book has just been literal comfort food.
Girl, you're a millionaire. My sympathy is nonexistent.
This is not Elon Musk sympathy fiction, is it? Because I'll lose it.
I'm taller. He is that short.
I fundamentally don’t understand how you could love a country and a system and an ideology that treats your family member so horribly. Like how much closer to you does it have to be so that you develop empathy for other human beings? What’s wrong with you?
If you’re wondering how American I am, I have been reading the audiobook and not following along And I kept hearing them mention what I heard as jello fries. And I was like huh, I wonder what style of french fries they’re talking about. I’m reading the book this morning with my eyeballs. Jollof rice. That makes a lot more sense. I-😂 I’m over here like man, they eat a lot of poutine!
How do you have the education to be a surgeon and yet are still that ignorant
What in the Elon Musk apologist is this dog shit? (Musk/Bezos interchangeable assholes.)
Imagine writing a nonconsensual wedding and thinking it’s romantic.
This is gonna be a two-star because it is a complete story that’s written and readable and has purpose but like absolutely one-star for personal enjoyment. Absolutely on my do not read list.
GIRL. This is not respectful. Be so fucking for real. This book’s morals are so beyond warped.
Hey bestie, keeping an activity secret from your husband that he’s morally against, super uncool. Very toxic. Beyond unhealthy
Oh, I’m PISSED. I know this book isn’t preaching all women who are models are vapid gold diggers. FUCK absolutely FUCK this toxic 5’7 man. I can’t believe a woman wrote this. In 2025. Fuck the two-star rating. I’m done. I’m so DONE.
I genuinely believe reading diversely is so important and you have to take in viewpoints and experiences that are different from your own, but if this author believes anything that her characters are preaching-like get so, so fucked.
I keep thinking it can’t get worse and then it does. Absolutely fuck this Elon Musk apologist. Don’t know how a woman of 2025 managed to write one of the most racist, misogynistic, ableist steaming piles of garbage I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading.
Oh cool, and now it’s transphobic. What the actual fuck. This book is really just like how else can I piss Sam off?
I’m shaking I’m so angry. How did this get published? It’s one thing to be a bad book. It’s another to have so much toxic messaging and be convinced you’re being woke and sharing important words with humanity as a whole. This is fucking delusional.
There’s no way they would let you go to space without retesting for pregnancy
Hey, I don’t think essentially advocating for AI’s use in the creation of stories even if you’ve anthropomorphized AI is kosher for artists.
I hate this book.
You know what feels incredibly tone-deaf? This pregnancy story arc when that NASA astronaut has been posting her infertility journey everywhere on social media.
Literally beyond unethical.
Post-reading:
It is so important to me to read stories from perspectives different. I want to understand people’s different life experiences and be exposed to new ideas and cultures. I come with an open mind. I’m willing to change my opinion when presented with sound reasoning and evidence. And I issue this disclaimer to cover my ass when I absolutely blast this book.
What the actual shit was this. How did this get published. In 2025.
And what baffles me is that it clearly thinks it’s woke and an advocate for change.
This has to be one of the most misogynistic, racist, transphobic, ableist pieces of work I’ve ever had the misfortune of picking up. And let’s break this down a bit.
You’re not a feminist for saying fuck the patriarchy. You are misogynistic for saying models only care about what they look like and date men for money.
You’re not antiracist just for featuring characters with diverse backgrounds. You are racist when you say all people from a country believe a rhetoric and their opinions can’t be changed.
You aren’t an ally for having a gender non-conforming character present in your work whose sole narrative purpose is to help another character learn to choose women that aren’t like other girls so he can be fulfilled. You are echoing and amplifying transphobic hate speech when you have a character wondering if someone has changed their identity just to rape them.
You aren’t inclusive just for having a disabled main character. You aren’t ableist for having a disabled character receive medical treatment. You are ableist when you use a fictionalized miracle vaccine to allow a pregnant woman to travel into space as a get out of jail free card so she can escape ethical concerns.
Like what the shit.
How do you sit here as an author and advocate for the use of AI in the creation of artwork? It’s just so incredibly tone-deaf. And even if we put aside all my moral qualms with the book, what are we left with?
An author insert wish fulfillment family drama? The characters are fundamentally unlikable and deeply hateful. And sure, you can do a character study on a toxic family unit, but you’re gonna be hard-pressed to make me enjoy it when no one’s redeemable. I can’t get over how toxic the main character’s romance is. That’s a hateful little man she’s been stuck with. The couple ignores each other’s ethical and moral boundaries at every turn, and the book still has the audacity to present them as something to strive for and emulate. All book we’re told how incredible Zelu’s work is with no evidence to support it. Even if you take the ending’s spin as fact, then it’s just a robot crafting a story about a hateful family.
To me, meta fiction works best when there’s an element of satire to it. I’m talking about your House of Leaves’ pretension, your Benjamin Stevenson cheeky fourth wall breaks. That’s absent here. This is one shitty story nestled into another shittier one. The robot chapters feel unnecessary to the family drama. It’s not like their themes combine for greater messaging, no matter which story you take at face value. Either you have a robot name dropping famous authors and characters from other works while it writes about a disabled human to process the destruction and subsequent upgrading of its own legs, or you have a human who canonically knows Andy Weir ripping off Wall-E and Hail Mary for some cliched post apocalyptic fiction. Both options are bad!
If this had just been a family drama, I’d still have my problems with its moral failings and general inaction. Zelu comes off like a whiny teenaged Wattpad author rather than a woman in her late thirties with a nuanced perspective. I’d still have problems with some fictionalized Bezos/Musk character randomly taking our main character into space and jettisoning any ethical considerations for how their fortunes and technology are even possible, let alone the complete suspension of disbelief necessary to buy into sending a completely unqualified astronaut into space for a joy ride for free.
If this had just been another robot book, I probably would’ve gotten through this with a it’s nothing new but it’s technically readable vibe.
But put together? What are we doing. I sincerely hope the author doesn’t actually believe the messages her characters are spewing. You can write from perspectives different than your own, but dear god, what was the point? This is shooting to the top of my do not read list. It’s a boring story and it’s got hateful messaging, and I think that easily outweighs any worth someone could glean from reading this.
Who should read this:
No one
Fans of diverse representation family dramas who are capable of reading critically
Ideal reading time:
Anytime
Do I want to reread this:
Fuck no.
Would I buy this:
Hard, hard pass.
Similar books:
* The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu-mixed media, meta, sci-fi Hamlet retelling, queer romance
* I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman-character study, meta fiction, queer
* Come and Get It by Kiley Reid-lit fic character study, social commentary, queer
* Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter-character study lit fic, dystopian satire, family drama, mental health
* Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir-dude bro sci-fi romp
* Annie Bot by Sierra Greer-sci-fi dystopian, social commentary
* House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski-mixed media, meta fiction, character study, lit fic, horror
* Mood Swings by Frankie Barnet-dystopian satire, social commentary
* The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden-lit fic memoir linking viruses to technology
* Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly-lit fic, character study, family drama, queer
* Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley-lit fic, character study, family drama
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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January 17, 2025Lets goooooo
January 12, 2025
This was my first ARC of the year, and a disappointing way to start my 2025 reading.
DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is a sci-fi book within a general fiction book (I hesitate to call it literary fiction). The main story is about Zelu, a Nigerian American paraplegic woman, recently fired from her job and at rock bottom, who writes a sci-fi novel that becomes an international phenomenon. The story takes off from there as Zelu navigates her fame and all it gives her access to and the ways it impacts her relationships. It seems to take place in the near future and involves technology that doesn’t quite exist yet, but feels close.
I’ll start with the good. Zelu is a Black and disabled main character, and I loved the representation and learning more about her challenges and how she navigates the world and the celebration of Nigerian food and culture. The food sounded so amazing that I ended up finding and a recipe for jollof rice and making it this week!
That’s as much praise as I can give it. The writing style felt stilted and clunky to me. The premise sounds amazing because of all the topics it covers - fame, the publishing industry, cancel culture, race, disability, technology, etc. - but I didn’t feel satisfied on its exploration of any of those. I felt like I was just reading Zelu and her family argue with each other over and over and over again without any character growth. Zelu is incredibly immature, and that’s a huge pet peeve of mine in books. She’s angry at the world, and as justified as that may be, it’s exhausting to read about for 450 pages. On top of that, we were told over and over how amazing her novel was, and yet I hated the book within the book. It felt incongruous and annoying to be beat over the head with how brilliant and phenomenal the book was, meanwhile all I saw of the author was how annoying and immature she was, and then the excerpts weren’t even good. This book was way too long and felt that way. The writing style reads quickly, but it was so repetitive I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
This book is getting a lot of pre-publication buzz and seems to have a huge marketing budget, and I’ve read some glowing reviews, so clearly this is working for some readers. And I have to be honest, the deluxe limited edition is gorgeous. If you’ve had success with Okorafor’s work in the past, this is probably worth a shot. Otherwise, I would give it some time to see if it has staying power once the initial marketing push is over before grabbing this one.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.
DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is a sci-fi book within a general fiction book (I hesitate to call it literary fiction). The main story is about Zelu, a Nigerian American paraplegic woman, recently fired from her job and at rock bottom, who writes a sci-fi novel that becomes an international phenomenon. The story takes off from there as Zelu navigates her fame and all it gives her access to and the ways it impacts her relationships. It seems to take place in the near future and involves technology that doesn’t quite exist yet, but feels close.
I’ll start with the good. Zelu is a Black and disabled main character, and I loved the representation and learning more about her challenges and how she navigates the world and the celebration of Nigerian food and culture. The food sounded so amazing that I ended up finding and a recipe for jollof rice and making it this week!
That’s as much praise as I can give it. The writing style felt stilted and clunky to me. The premise sounds amazing because of all the topics it covers - fame, the publishing industry, cancel culture, race, disability, technology, etc. - but I didn’t feel satisfied on its exploration of any of those. I felt like I was just reading Zelu and her family argue with each other over and over and over again without any character growth. Zelu is incredibly immature, and that’s a huge pet peeve of mine in books. She’s angry at the world, and as justified as that may be, it’s exhausting to read about for 450 pages. On top of that, we were told over and over how amazing her novel was, and yet I hated the book within the book. It felt incongruous and annoying to be beat over the head with how brilliant and phenomenal the book was, meanwhile all I saw of the author was how annoying and immature she was, and then the excerpts weren’t even good. This book was way too long and felt that way. The writing style reads quickly, but it was so repetitive I couldn’t wait for it to be over.
This book is getting a lot of pre-publication buzz and seems to have a huge marketing budget, and I’ve read some glowing reviews, so clearly this is working for some readers. And I have to be honest, the deluxe limited edition is gorgeous. If you’ve had success with Okorafor’s work in the past, this is probably worth a shot. Otherwise, I would give it some time to see if it has staying power once the initial marketing push is over before grabbing this one.
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.
February 3, 2025
A couple months ago I read my first Nnedi Okorafor story (Binti), and I liked it well enough, but wanted a bit more from it. It seemed too... simplistic to me, and I assumed that it was the length causing that, and that a full length novel would allow more space for nuance and plotting and characterization and so on. So when I saw that she had a new book coming out, and it was a full length novel, I jumped on it and got on the library hold list.
And now I think that maybe Nnedi Okorafor's writing, or storytelling style, just isn't for me. So many times throughout the 400+ pages of this book I decided to DNF it. I didn't though, because I WAS curious where it was going. But I kinda wish I had now. (And I admit to skimming most of the Akara and Ijele chapters.)
**Probable spoilers below - Read at your own risk.**
So much of this book just frustrated and annoyed me. After finishing, I am like 99% sure that the conceit of it () is the reason for my frustrations. But it doesn't change them. Maybe it adds a little context and justification for the lack of nuance and repetitiveness and the absolute overkill of the unending and over the top adoration aimed at Zelu after writing one book.
Look, I've read a lot of books. I've read a lot of amazing books. I have a GR shelf specifically for all of the books that would make me fangirl at the author should I perchance to meet them in the world. Turns out, it's hyperbole though, because I HAVE encountered several of them, and managed to NOT junk my jeans. I have gone to signings & events for authors who have had multi-decade careers writing many, many immensely popular books, who have had movies and TV shows adapted from their work, who have millions upon millions of fans, and the level of fandom and adoration and desperation mania and depicted in this book blew all of those combined out of the water.
Y'all. Zelu invented STORYTELLING. Like. The concept. Apparently. She is a one hit wonder that seemingly broke the WORLD with the amazetacticalnessosity of her book. It is the singular best book to ever be.
And again, with the hindsight conceit of the book, I kinda get it. But the fact that was repeated throughout the entire narrative... Over and over and over... was VERY ANNOYING. It got to the point where if I saw the words "writer" or "author" or "robot" or "book", my eye started twitching. I lost track of how many highlights and notes I added to the book (and it's a very good thing I don't link my kindle to my GR account, because I think I would have lost friends over the literal bombardment of annoyance commentary I left). Considering the fact that this book is ABOUT Zelu's book... that's not great.
It was just so much. So over the top - especially given the excruciatingly mediocre writing of the story-within-the-story chapters. And if you read my spoiler above and are wondering which way I mean that...
Yep.
The character dynamics in this book were maddening as well. Zelu's family was straight up toxic and terrible, and I could not stand any of them. And I was super annoyed by Zelu's inability to see them for who they are. I saw a group of toxic, controlling, manipulative people. I saw a bunch of people who could not let her even TRY to live if it wasn't under their collective thumb. When she was writing her book, they accused her of being lazy, and she should get a real job. When her book was published, and blowing up, they refused to read it, showed zero interest, couldn't care less, accused her of letting the fame go to her head. They sabotaged and undermined and belittled her every chance they got.
Zelu apparently saw people who were on her side, and who always had her best interests in mind.
Despite the fact that she had to literally lie, evade, and go around them to do EVERYTHING she wanted to do. A grown woman. She had an opportunity to trial a new exoskeleton-style mobility aid to help her walk again after 20 years of paralysis. Her family was 100% negative, against, appalled, horrified, and straight up acted like she was deranged for even suggesting trying such a thing out. And the kicker was they just kept asking "What if it doesn't work?"
Is that seriously the best argument you have? If it doesn't work... then she goes back to how she is now. It's an entirely EXTERNAL AID. No surgery, no brain chip, no body modification. Just training and learning how to use the device. If it doesn't work... NOTHING HAPPENS.
Now, I can understand a cultural attitude around the "unnaturalness" of the aid, if that's the argument (they also treated her wheelchair with the same disdain, though I'm sure they were just more used to THAT unnatural mobility aid), but it honestly felt to me like they just didn't want her to have freedom, and further that they just completely disliked her in general. They blamed her for the accident that paralyzed her. They refused to let her go to Nigeria to see the grave of her loved one, even though all 502 of her siblings were free to go. Apparently it was "dangerous" for her to go. But they never communicated why exactly. They had a lot of arguments, but it was all crying wolf to me all the time with them. No argument could be real because they were all controlling mechanisms dressed up as "concern" arguments.
Zelu does go on her own (with several friends) when they refuse to let her come with the family for two years running, and the trip is entirely uneventful (except for staring kids and rude strangers, and of course EVERY OTHER PERSON needing her to autograph their copy of the book they carry around just in case *eye twitch*), until the return drive to the airport, which is stopped by armed men, who (OF COURSE) demand to know if she's the writer, and try to take her.
So... I'm sorry, was the danger only to her because of her fame? Because I see zero reason why they couldn't have ACCOMPANIED HER to protect her if that was the concern. But no, their solution was that she should just never get to go back to Nigeria or visit the grave of her loved one... apparently ever again. They don't treat her like a person - they treat her like a dog. Sit. Stay. Good girl.
Even her PARTNER begged her to not go to Nigeria, but didn't offer to go with her. He froze her out on a number of occasions when they argued, and several times would refuse to answer her calls or call her back. But again, with him, she sees him as always standing by her. I don't get it.
I will admit that family dynamics like this are lost on me. I don't believe the whole "family is the most important thing" claim. Family is a relationship, there should be give and take. There should be understanding and support and love and acceptance. And if there aren't those things... what use are they? But I don't have or hold strong cultural traditions or beliefs, and that likely makes a big difference. I'm not the type to keep toxicity in my life - if you aren't ADDING to my life, you are taking away from it, and I don't need that.
So... yeah. I wish I could say that I liked this as much as others seem to, but I did not. It didn't work for me on really any level. The concept is clever, but the actual writing and story failed for me.
But that's OK. Not every book is for every reader. I mean, in real life, that is. /snark
And now I think that maybe Nnedi Okorafor's writing, or storytelling style, just isn't for me. So many times throughout the 400+ pages of this book I decided to DNF it. I didn't though, because I WAS curious where it was going. But I kinda wish I had now. (And I admit to skimming most of the Akara and Ijele chapters.)
**Probable spoilers below - Read at your own risk.**
So much of this book just frustrated and annoyed me. After finishing, I am like 99% sure that the conceit of it () is the reason for my frustrations. But it doesn't change them. Maybe it adds a little context and justification for the lack of nuance and repetitiveness and the absolute overkill of the unending and over the top adoration aimed at Zelu after writing one book.
Look, I've read a lot of books. I've read a lot of amazing books. I have a GR shelf specifically for all of the books that would make me fangirl at the author should I perchance to meet them in the world. Turns out, it's hyperbole though, because I HAVE encountered several of them, and managed to NOT junk my jeans. I have gone to signings & events for authors who have had multi-decade careers writing many, many immensely popular books, who have had movies and TV shows adapted from their work, who have millions upon millions of fans, and the level of fandom and adoration and desperation mania and depicted in this book blew all of those combined out of the water.
Y'all. Zelu invented STORYTELLING. Like. The concept. Apparently. She is a one hit wonder that seemingly broke the WORLD with the amazetacticalnessosity of her book. It is the singular best book to ever be.
And again, with the hindsight conceit of the book, I kinda get it. But the fact that was repeated throughout the entire narrative... Over and over and over... was VERY ANNOYING. It got to the point where if I saw the words "writer" or "author" or "robot" or "book", my eye started twitching. I lost track of how many highlights and notes I added to the book (and it's a very good thing I don't link my kindle to my GR account, because I think I would have lost friends over the literal bombardment of annoyance commentary I left). Considering the fact that this book is ABOUT Zelu's book... that's not great.
It was just so much. So over the top - especially given the excruciatingly mediocre writing of the story-within-the-story chapters. And if you read my spoiler above and are wondering which way I mean that...
Yep.
The character dynamics in this book were maddening as well. Zelu's family was straight up toxic and terrible, and I could not stand any of them. And I was super annoyed by Zelu's inability to see them for who they are. I saw a group of toxic, controlling, manipulative people. I saw a bunch of people who could not let her even TRY to live if it wasn't under their collective thumb. When she was writing her book, they accused her of being lazy, and she should get a real job. When her book was published, and blowing up, they refused to read it, showed zero interest, couldn't care less, accused her of letting the fame go to her head. They sabotaged and undermined and belittled her every chance they got.
Zelu apparently saw people who were on her side, and who always had her best interests in mind.
Despite the fact that she had to literally lie, evade, and go around them to do EVERYTHING she wanted to do. A grown woman. She had an opportunity to trial a new exoskeleton-style mobility aid to help her walk again after 20 years of paralysis. Her family was 100% negative, against, appalled, horrified, and straight up acted like she was deranged for even suggesting trying such a thing out. And the kicker was they just kept asking "What if it doesn't work?"
Is that seriously the best argument you have? If it doesn't work... then she goes back to how she is now. It's an entirely EXTERNAL AID. No surgery, no brain chip, no body modification. Just training and learning how to use the device. If it doesn't work... NOTHING HAPPENS.
Now, I can understand a cultural attitude around the "unnaturalness" of the aid, if that's the argument (they also treated her wheelchair with the same disdain, though I'm sure they were just more used to THAT unnatural mobility aid), but it honestly felt to me like they just didn't want her to have freedom, and further that they just completely disliked her in general. They blamed her for the accident that paralyzed her. They refused to let her go to Nigeria to see the grave of her loved one, even though all 502 of her siblings were free to go. Apparently it was "dangerous" for her to go. But they never communicated why exactly. They had a lot of arguments, but it was all crying wolf to me all the time with them. No argument could be real because they were all controlling mechanisms dressed up as "concern" arguments.
Zelu does go on her own (with several friends) when they refuse to let her come with the family for two years running, and the trip is entirely uneventful (except for staring kids and rude strangers, and of course EVERY OTHER PERSON needing her to autograph their copy of the book they carry around just in case *eye twitch*), until the return drive to the airport, which is stopped by armed men, who (OF COURSE) demand to know if she's the writer, and try to take her.
So... I'm sorry, was the danger only to her because of her fame? Because I see zero reason why they couldn't have ACCOMPANIED HER to protect her if that was the concern. But no, their solution was that she should just never get to go back to Nigeria or visit the grave of her loved one... apparently ever again. They don't treat her like a person - they treat her like a dog. Sit. Stay. Good girl.
Even her PARTNER begged her to not go to Nigeria, but didn't offer to go with her. He froze her out on a number of occasions when they argued, and several times would refuse to answer her calls or call her back. But again, with him, she sees him as always standing by her. I don't get it.
I will admit that family dynamics like this are lost on me. I don't believe the whole "family is the most important thing" claim. Family is a relationship, there should be give and take. There should be understanding and support and love and acceptance. And if there aren't those things... what use are they? But I don't have or hold strong cultural traditions or beliefs, and that likely makes a big difference. I'm not the type to keep toxicity in my life - if you aren't ADDING to my life, you are taking away from it, and I don't need that.
So... yeah. I wish I could say that I liked this as much as others seem to, but I did not. It didn't work for me on really any level. The concept is clever, but the actual writing and story failed for me.
But that's OK. Not every book is for every reader. I mean, in real life, that is. /snark
March 5, 2025
Death of the Author is largely a contemporary novel, but with light sci-fi elements. It was different from anything I've read from Okorafor in the past and leans a bit more literary in terms of the themes being explored, but I really loved it. I think the way it ended elevated my feelings on it even more and it's something that will stick with me.
I think this novel cemented for me that I typically love the characters Okorafor writes- resilient, strong-minded women who push back on what's expected of them. Zelu is a brash Nigerian-American woman who has been unable to use the lower half of her body since an injury in childhood. She has an overbearing, often intrusive family that she has a complicated though loving relationship with, and she is a writer. She is fiercely independent and chafes at restrictions on her movement, experiences, and ideas, which is a huge part of what drives the novel forward.
After being fired from her adjunct teaching job because of being harsh with a writing student, she writes a sci-fi novel from the midst of her hopelessness. Unexpectedly it becomes a huge bestseller and changes her life, but even success is complicated. We get excerpts of her book - Rusted Robots - throughout, which I admit are a little less interesting than the main narrative for most of the book. I didn't think I would give this 5 stars, but for me the ending really pulled it all together and I found this to be so impactful. I love the way it talks about disability, and the treatment of authors and bestselling novels in the limelight. It's smart with commentary that is often pointed. I liked seeing something different from Okorafor and will continue to read whatever she writes! I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
I think this novel cemented for me that I typically love the characters Okorafor writes- resilient, strong-minded women who push back on what's expected of them. Zelu is a brash Nigerian-American woman who has been unable to use the lower half of her body since an injury in childhood. She has an overbearing, often intrusive family that she has a complicated though loving relationship with, and she is a writer. She is fiercely independent and chafes at restrictions on her movement, experiences, and ideas, which is a huge part of what drives the novel forward.
After being fired from her adjunct teaching job because of being harsh with a writing student, she writes a sci-fi novel from the midst of her hopelessness. Unexpectedly it becomes a huge bestseller and changes her life, but even success is complicated. We get excerpts of her book - Rusted Robots - throughout, which I admit are a little less interesting than the main narrative for most of the book. I didn't think I would give this 5 stars, but for me the ending really pulled it all together and I found this to be so impactful. I love the way it talks about disability, and the treatment of authors and bestselling novels in the limelight. It's smart with commentary that is often pointed. I liked seeing something different from Okorafor and will continue to read whatever she writes! I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher, all opinions are my own.
January 9, 2025
This deserves five stars, without reservation. I will admit, I didn’t really get into it for the first fifty pages, at least, and part of it was because I loathe the F word with a passion. Note: said word is the expression of choice, repeatedly, for nearly every character in the book. However! The book is fabulous. It’s a book within a book, and I loved both stories. I actually would like to read the main character’s book in its entirety.
I don’t want to say much more, but I will say this: The way Zelu’s family treats her is abhorrent. It made me so upset for her.
Just read this. It’s phenomenal.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the pleasure of reading this book. All opinions are mine alone.
PS: I would love to see a sequel, but I won’t harass Ms. Okorafor online for it. If it comes, it comes. IYKYK.
I don’t want to say much more, but I will say this: The way Zelu’s family treats her is abhorrent. It made me so upset for her.
Just read this. It’s phenomenal.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the pleasure of reading this book. All opinions are mine alone.
PS: I would love to see a sequel, but I won’t harass Ms. Okorafor online for it. If it comes, it comes. IYKYK.
January 10, 2026
An incredible work of science fiction, Death of the Author interweaves the futuristic life of an author with her best-selling novel about robots. I preferred the robot story, with its unlikely friendship; the prickly author and her unsupportive family can be a bit much. However, the two stories work beautifully in tandem: each informs the other and elevates the art of storytelling.
October 6, 2025
An author writes a story that will change her life. Africanfuturism. Family, fame, unresolved trauma, stories and death, technology and disability. This was a celebration of African cultures, history, food and landscape. Loved that. This has a very accurate representation of an African family. Full and protective but ignorant and emotionally toxic. Liked that. I also liked the h. She was fearless, bright, vulnerable, and so stubbornly independent. The bad. Midway the h gets hung up on something and it feels like the story stalls while she tries to clear her head. We were building up 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. 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. Then the novel within the novel became this philosophical convoluted thing that I cared less and less about. 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 met in the middle with no bridge. Overall, this was a very promising but ultimately a very disappointing reading experience.
*Thank you N. Okorafor and William Morrow for the, Death of the Author ARC. My opinions are my own.
*Thank you N. Okorafor and William Morrow for the, Death of the Author ARC. My opinions are my own.
March 18, 2025
I think this is the lowest I've ever rated a book by this author. It was ambitious and outside of her usual story structure. It required her to carry essentially two separate stories together while keeping them tonally compatible though they were very different. She was wildly successful at that. Each story kept it's integrity while it progressed hand in hand with the other.
We start with the first story which is the near future tale of adjunct English Writing professor and failed novelist Zelu. Well, she was an adjunct professor until she gets fired via email at her sister's destination wedding in Tortuga. Zelu is impulsive, hot tempered (how she got fired), and self absorbed (not selfishly, but in the way a family's black sheep is.) She is also paraplegic. Most of the time, the story is told from her point of view but sometimes it switched to other point of views.
The second story is called Rusted Robots. It is a cozy far future Sci Fi tale of a philosophical AI residing in a bipedal robot who leaves its home in post human Lagos, Nigeria in search of human history and stories.
You could say the common thread between both stories is love discovered under difficult circumstances.
I think my problem was with the Zelu storyline. I didn't enjoy the random changes in the point of view voices. Zelu's chaotic actions and impulsive decision making could be jarring. She was often her own worst enemy. I loved her sprawling, smothering, and demanding family that still somehow managed to emotionally neglect her. I thought the disability representation was good. (Disclaimer: I have mobility issues from a spinal injury. Everyone reacts differently to that.)
As for Rusted Robots - chef's kiss. Maybe I just love robots more than humans right now.
My final assessment is that this was an ambitious, well written experiment that didn't 100% land for me but I expect many people will love. I expect award nominations.
It is worth your time to read.
We start with the first story which is the near future tale of adjunct English Writing professor and failed novelist Zelu. Well, she was an adjunct professor until she gets fired via email at her sister's destination wedding in Tortuga. Zelu is impulsive, hot tempered (how she got fired), and self absorbed (not selfishly, but in the way a family's black sheep is.) She is also paraplegic. Most of the time, the story is told from her point of view but sometimes it switched to other point of views.
The second story is called Rusted Robots. It is a cozy far future Sci Fi tale of a philosophical AI residing in a bipedal robot who leaves its home in post human Lagos, Nigeria in search of human history and stories.
You could say the common thread between both stories is love discovered under difficult circumstances.
I think my problem was with the Zelu storyline. I didn't enjoy the random changes in the point of view voices. Zelu's chaotic actions and impulsive decision making could be jarring. She was often her own worst enemy. I loved her sprawling, smothering, and demanding family that still somehow managed to emotionally neglect her. I thought the disability representation was good. (Disclaimer: I have mobility issues from a spinal injury. Everyone reacts differently to that.)
As for Rusted Robots - chef's kiss. Maybe I just love robots more than humans right now.
My final assessment is that this was an ambitious, well written experiment that didn't 100% land for me but I expect many people will love. I expect award nominations.
It is worth your time to read.
January 19, 2025
A surprisingly unselfaware work of self-referential metafiction that ends on a bizarre note of self-congratulation. What if you wrote a book so good it could save earth? What if that book were actually just kind of flat, mediocre, and tediously long.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2025
While I haven’t loved everything Nnedi Okorafor has written, I usually keep an eye out for her releases. Unfortunately, Death of the Author was a disappointment. At the risk of sounding harsh, more than once, I found myself feeling like I was reading an Okorafor knockoff. The storytelling lacks the atmosphere and vision I associate with her work (when she’s at her best). Worse, the world-building, sci-fi elements, and social commentary—especially on AI—felt underdeveloped.
When it comes to novellas, Okorafor’s storytelling usually delivers, but here, in a full-length novel, the story flounders. Death of the Author suffers from an identity crisis, occasionally reading like a frothy Taylor Jenkins Reid-esque drama or a generic Black Mirror episode about the pros and perils of technology (and for the record, I think Black Mirror tends to be surface-level in its tech commentary). I kept waiting for the real plot to kick in—but it never did. The summary essentially tells you everything:
Zelu, our protagonist, is a writer who finally gets her big break after a string of injustices—she’s mistreated by her family, unfairly dismissed from her job, and generally gets the short end of the stick. When her manuscript becomes a hit, she gains financial independence but also public scrutiny. The story's portrayal of the media and Hollywood was very cartoonish, and in a way that didn’t strike me as poorly executed satire. Much of the book is also about how her family and the public don’t understand her decision to undergo a cutting-edge procedure that, after extensive therapy, allows her mobility. There are also several scenes dedicated to self-driving cars… and suffice to say I found them repetitive.
The novel also intersperses chapters from Zelu’s book—which, like so many “fiction within fiction” narratives, suffers from a noticeable dip in writing quality. Zelu’s novel reads like a rushed, surface-level imitation of Okorafor’s actual work, which made me it harder for me to believe that Zelu deserved recognition. The story treats Zelu’s book as this groundbreaking work…when it reads like a generic sci-fi churned out by netflix, where non-human characters, beyond a few ‘robotic’ sentences here and there, sound and behave like humans. There are also interviews from Zelu’s family members that add nothing to the story and feel like they belong in a completely different book.
Zelu’s characterization is mostly built through encounters where she is wronged, but this one-note approach makes her feel very one-dimensional and somewhat of a martyr. Her family members are indistinct and unconvincing—honestly, even the melodramatic villains (usually a stepmother or stepsister) in period C-dramas are more nuanced or at least entertaining. Despite the novel’s title, there’s barely any meaningful exploration of authorial intent, public personas, or the relationship between writers and their work. Zelu gets unfairly “canceled” at one point, but that’s about it. And the stand-in for Musk? Let’s just say Okorafor was way too generous in her portrayal of this pathetic man.
Ultimately, Death of the Author was neither a good nor entertaining read. The dialogue is painfully on-the-nose (on the lines of a powerful man announcing that he is indeed an important man). I kept comparing it to Okorafor’s other works, and it feels both diluted (in themes and characterization) and bloated (in length and plot). There’s a lot of bickering, but not much actually happens.
This review is just my personal take, so if this novel is on your radar, I encourage you to give it a shot, or at least check out some more positive reviews.
When it comes to novellas, Okorafor’s storytelling usually delivers, but here, in a full-length novel, the story flounders. Death of the Author suffers from an identity crisis, occasionally reading like a frothy Taylor Jenkins Reid-esque drama or a generic Black Mirror episode about the pros and perils of technology (and for the record, I think Black Mirror tends to be surface-level in its tech commentary). I kept waiting for the real plot to kick in—but it never did. The summary essentially tells you everything:
Zelu, our protagonist, is a writer who finally gets her big break after a string of injustices—she’s mistreated by her family, unfairly dismissed from her job, and generally gets the short end of the stick. When her manuscript becomes a hit, she gains financial independence but also public scrutiny. The story's portrayal of the media and Hollywood was very cartoonish, and in a way that didn’t strike me as poorly executed satire. Much of the book is also about how her family and the public don’t understand her decision to undergo a cutting-edge procedure that, after extensive therapy, allows her mobility. There are also several scenes dedicated to self-driving cars… and suffice to say I found them repetitive.
The novel also intersperses chapters from Zelu’s book—which, like so many “fiction within fiction” narratives, suffers from a noticeable dip in writing quality. Zelu’s novel reads like a rushed, surface-level imitation of Okorafor’s actual work, which made me it harder for me to believe that Zelu deserved recognition. The story treats Zelu’s book as this groundbreaking work…when it reads like a generic sci-fi churned out by netflix, where non-human characters, beyond a few ‘robotic’ sentences here and there, sound and behave like humans. There are also interviews from Zelu’s family members that add nothing to the story and feel like they belong in a completely different book.
Zelu’s characterization is mostly built through encounters where she is wronged, but this one-note approach makes her feel very one-dimensional and somewhat of a martyr. Her family members are indistinct and unconvincing—honestly, even the melodramatic villains (usually a stepmother or stepsister) in period C-dramas are more nuanced or at least entertaining. Despite the novel’s title, there’s barely any meaningful exploration of authorial intent, public personas, or the relationship between writers and their work. Zelu gets unfairly “canceled” at one point, but that’s about it. And the stand-in for Musk? Let’s just say Okorafor was way too generous in her portrayal of this pathetic man.
Ultimately, Death of the Author was neither a good nor entertaining read. The dialogue is painfully on-the-nose (on the lines of a powerful man announcing that he is indeed an important man). I kept comparing it to Okorafor’s other works, and it feels both diluted (in themes and characterization) and bloated (in length and plot). There’s a lot of bickering, but not much actually happens.
This review is just my personal take, so if this novel is on your radar, I encourage you to give it a shot, or at least check out some more positive reviews.
August 25, 2025
I encourage readers to read the many positive reviews about Death of the Author because my rating is an outlier. Fantasy and sci-fi are not the typical genres I read, and I struggled to remain engaged with this book.
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June 20, 2025₊˚✧ ﾟ.𝒑𝒓𝒆-𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅
i am a big fan of nnedi okorafor, and this is one of my most anticipated books of 2025, so i’m very excited to get into this book!! hoping to start once i’m back home in a few days <33
i am a big fan of nnedi okorafor, and this is one of my most anticipated books of 2025, so i’m very excited to get into this book!! hoping to start once i’m back home in a few days <33
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