Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Chain-Gang All-Stars

Author: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Genre: Fiction, Dystopian

Publish Date: January 2024

Read: August 2025

Favorite Quote: An absurd thing for the murderous state to plead for, but, as always, the massive violence of the state was “justice,” was “law and order,” and resistance to perpetual violence was an act of terror. It would have been funny if there weren’t so much blood everywhere.

Story Synopsis: In a not-too-distant future of America, the prison-industrial complex has been turned in hard-action sports and entertainment. Incarcerated people can choose to participate in the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE) program, which allows them to fight in deadly gladiator-style battles which air live on TV for the chance at freedom.

We follow two of the most famous “Links” (fighters chained together in teams), Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, as they navigate fame, humanity, and their relationship amidst a brutal system designed to exploit and dehumanize them.

Why does this book beguile? I heard so much about Chain-Gang All-Stars when it came out, and I wanted to read it, but I knew it was heavy. Finally, I took the plunge, and it is as heavy as expected. While a fiction, Adjei-Brenyah satirizes and critiques real-world issues like mass incarceration and systemic racism, private prisons, and violence as a form of entertainment. Real-life laws are cited, and real names of those who died in police custody live on. It’s a gut-wrenching book. I think it would make an incredible screen adaptation that would likely prompt people to think more carefully about the prison-industrial complex and the blurred lines between freedom & captivity.

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