I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long time. Okorafor is always brilliant, but DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is a true triumph. The main character Zelu is a flawed and vibrant woman, and Okorafor makes sure you're rooting for Zelu even as you feel her family's pain at Zelu's various choices. It's rare to see a character so fully fleshed out, and it feels like a privilege to get to read Zelu's story. 

Zelu is a Black paraplegic woman who is both a princess and an adjunct lecturer. She's an incredible swimmer, a disobedient daughter, and a flaky sister. She is curious and angry, and at a low moment, she begins to write a book called Rusted Robots that soon gains worldwide popularity and changes her life. As she begins to draw the attention of billionaires, Nigerian aunties, and her former students, she just wants her family to see and accept her. Zelu tries so hard to be impressive, and is often met with disapproval. Her well-intentioned family wants to protect her, but Zelu is an impossible person to protect. She will go to the moon and back before she will sit at home safely, and this adventurous spirit comes through in the book she writes. 

Rusted Robots follows the robot Ankara and the AI Ijele as they traverse a world no long inhabited by humans. Set in a futuristic, post-Anthropocene Lagos, Zelu's book examines questions of tribalism, belonging, and storytelling, and I want to read so much more of it. 

DEATH OF THE AUTHOR is an ambitious book that never did anything I expected it to. Having a story-within-a-story can be fun but often feels clunky, but Okorafor delivers both stories with breathtaking grace and deft. I already want to reread this book.