NOTE: This is NOT a mystery novel. This is a science fiction work, which I just happen to think is such an important work, I’m writing a “review” for it.

History—and not just pop culture history—will look back on Nnedi Okorafor’s Death of the Author as a decisive and influential work: a product of its time that somehow manages to reflect a timeliness that encompasses our past, the present, an unknown future, and the glorious infinite. All at once.

While firmly rooted in the science fiction tradition, Death of the Author forges its own path to create a once-in-a-lifetime reading experience that is truly unforgettable. The skeleton of Okorafor’s epic exists in many of society’s entrenched flaws—racism, misogyny, and ablism—but there are bones in this body that touch on homophobia, economic disparity, sectionalism, privilege, and more. But no doubt, the central nervous system relies on the clash between art and automation. Any readers looking to understand the complexities of AI, but uninterested in incomprehensible technical and pedagogical analysis, just need to make the acquaintance of these characters.

It’s important to understand the concept of “The Death of the Author (La mort de l’auteur)”—Roland Barthes’s 1967 essay on literary criticism. At its base level—and believe me, it’s much more complex than this and well worth studying—the idea is that once an author (or any artist) puts a creative work out into the public space, their intention no longer matters. What the reader (or consumer) of the work gets out of it is all that ultimately matters. (It’s an interesting concept to consider during these times of cancel culture and the clash between the art and the artist (ie. Neil Gaiman, J. K. Rowling, Wagner, etc.)

So, while Nnedi Okorafor is telling a gripping sci-fi story about “the dangers” of AI, Death of the Author is a story about the act of writing and authorship itself. Each of the various stages of creation are presented—the spark of an idea, the struggle with writer’s block, the excitement of publication, the public response, the insatiable clamor for more, more, more. Okorafor explores both the good and the bad side of celebrity, including the dichotomous nature of social media, the challenge of fan fiction, the loss of privacy, and the effects on one’s personal life and family.

Death of the Author is a genius work. Easily one of the most important novels of the last decade. Here is a mind that works on a level the rest of us can only aspire to. It’s a balm for our troubled times that refuses to patronize. In a story about robots, Nnedi Okorafor taps into our very humanity. Shows us that we are better when we are together. Better when we are different. Better when we are different together and altogether different.

Death of the Author is recounted in layers. The framework is the story of Zelu and her writing and publication of a book called Rusted Robots—a dystopian novel that essentially goes viral. Interrupting that story, the reader is given chapters from Rusted Robots itself. And then every so often, the narrative is interrupted by interviews with various members of Zelu’s family, giving deeper insight in her origins, her personal life, and her internal desires.

In the end, the reading experience called to mind one of my favorite quotes from the musical RENT. “The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation!” Read Death of the Author and truly understand what that means and how it can manifest a better future for us all.

BUY LINKS: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor