Y’all, this is where I throw in the towel. I’ve been trying to like Nnedi Okorafor for almost 15 years now. I think I even purchased Who Fears Death at a Borders, that’s how long I’ve been struggling with this author. I decided to take a break after Noor, when I noticed some trends in her characters and stories that weren’t working for me. But the buzz around Death of the Author said this was something new and different, and I decided to get on that hype train.
Death of the Author is something new and different, but it still did not work for me, and it was honestly a real slog for me to get through. I’m really glad that other people are enjoying it, and I wish I was having the same reading experience as them.
After ten years of rejection for the literary fiction novel she’s been trying to sell, Zelu writes a science fiction novel in a whirlwind of inspiration. Her agent is blown away, manages to get several publishers into a bidding war, and secures her a three-book, seven-figure deal, shortly followed by movie rights. Zelu is catapulted into fame.
This is not a rags to riches story, by the way. Zelu loses her teaching job after tearing apart the writing of a smug student, but she moves in with her parents. Her mom is a literal Yoruba princess and her family seems quite comfortable. There are definite emotional drawbacks to living with her smothering family, but she’s never in any true financial peril before that advance hits her bank account.
What follows is a story about the highs and lows of suddenly catapulting into fame and wealth; Zelu’s family is not particularly supportive of her writing career or really any single choice she makes in the entire book (they’re not always wrong, but they usually are); a scientist working at the cutting edge of mobility hooks her up with cool exo-skeleton legs so she can walk again after having been paraplegic since age 12; she gets a gorgeous condo with a lake view; fans are demanding to know when book two is coming; etc etc etc.
Woven between the chapters of this story are chapters of her novel, Rusted Robots, and interviews with her family members. This story-in-a-story feature has really been touted in the buzz around the book, and for sure, as a big speculative fiction reader, I enjoyed the robots a lot more than Zelu’s big, opinionated family having big opinions about her.
My other problem with the main story is Zelu herself. She can’t stand one single ounce of pushback or disagreement from anyone in her life. Even her closest relationships feel incredibly antagonistic. Her resentment towards her agent, editor, and fans asking when book 2 is coming was especially frustrating to me. Like yes, I’m a writer, I understand that you can’t write on command, but you already got paid millions of dollars for these books. People are right to ask where they are.
Honestly, my biggest problem with this book is probably that I just have an incredibly hard time with wealthy protagonists these days. When a space billionaire who definitely isn’t Jeff Bezos approaches Zelu with an offer of space travel and she doesn’t tell him to fuck off into the sun, how am I supposed to root for her as a character?
I can probably leave it at that. Billionaires are a moral failure, even in fiction.
CWs and TWs: SO MUCH ABLEISM. Racism. Sexism. Drug use. Death of a parent. Gun violence. Mild sexual content. Plenty of cursing.
Source and Format: I borrowed the ebook from Sno-Isle Libraries.
Book Challenge Prompts
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): Getting Rich and/or Famous. Zelu becomes both rich and famous in this book. I’d question whether an author would be recognized in public as much as she is, but it definitely becomes a lot more believable once she’s sporting bright aqua blue exos on her legs.
Book Riot: 2025 Release by a BIPOC Author. I thought this would be a great pick for this prompt since it was such an anticipated release, right at the start of the year. I suspect there will be other releases from authors of color later this year that I will enjoy more, and I’d welcome suggestions for more to add to my TBR.
Brick & Mortar: e-Book or Audiobook. Every book I’ve finished so far this year has been an ebook or audiobook. Libby is life.
World of Whimm: Written by a P.O.C. Look, I really wanted to DNF this book, so to reward myself for sticking with all 400ish pages of it, I’m going to make it count for every single challenge it can.
Reading Challenge Progress
Nook & Cranny (Card 1): 2 of 25, no bingos.
Nook & Cranny (Card 2): 4 of 25, no bingos.
Book Riot: 3 of 25.
Physical TBR: 0 of 12.
Brick & Mortar: 8 of 25, 0 bingos*.
*I’ve completed several of the non-reading prompts, hence the mismatch with the number of reviews!
World of Whimm: 3 out of 24, no bingos.