This is the author’s 22nd book, but the first I have read. The action is in the present day, but the story line bounces between that narrative, sections of a novel the main character wrote, and interviews with family and friends about that main character. The story centers around Zelu Onyenezi-Onyedele, an author who comes from a large Nigerian American family, living in the greater Chicago area. Her parents are both from Nigeria, and the novel presents a great deal of interesting cultural context, as the children frequently fly back to their parents’ homes to meet extended family and learn about their heritage. The clothing, food, language, family and community relationships are interesting, and add texture and depth to the story. Her siblings are each very accomplished, educated people, all very loving, but they tend to be overly protective of Zelu, bossy and don’t want her to take risks. Zelu suffered an accident when twelve years old, making her paraplegic and wheel-chair bound. She is a complex person, adventurous and risk-taking, while also deeply emotional and observant. This combination of qualities makes her into the wildly successful author she becomes.

While at a low point, Zelu is inspired to write the novel Rusted Robots, a sci-fi novel imbedded in this book. We also have segments of interviews from each family member, her husband Msizi, and others close to her. This hints that Zelu may not survive to the end, although Okorafor leaves this purposely vague, suggesting to me that something transformative occurs, and could lead to a sequel. Technology is central to this story, when Zelu meets MIT mechanical engineer and entrepreneur Dr. Hugo Wagner, inventor of exoskeletons, or exos, a device that wraps around the paraplegic's legs and enables them to walk. Her partner Msizi creates an app that plays a significant role in saving Zelu’s life. Zelu’s novel takes place in a post-human Earth, where networked AIs, known as Nobodies, or Ghosts, are at odds with Humes, AIs that possess bodies with features similar to humans.

Many questions are sure to arise as the reader considers characters’ reactions to technology, from repulsion to curiosity to appeal, and their various assumptions about what it means to adopt technologies. Are they a means to greater freedom, or are they inhuman and unnatural? In Rusted Robots, so many questions arise, about what it means to be human, what is creativity, are emotions good or a nuisance, and many more. Okorafor looks squarely at the reality of AI and humans adopting augmented tech in their lives, and unflinchingly poses so many of these questions through these stories. This is a fascinating novel, a good one for book discussion, for a group of readers willing to go deep and have these debates. Since we are well on our way to adopting these advances, we better start asking these questions. Highly recommended.