Chain-Gang All-Stars cover art

Chain-Gang All-Stars

'America's new Hunger Games' SUNDAY TIMES

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Chain-Gang All-Stars

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Narrated by: Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, Aaron Goodson
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About this listen

Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars - the popular and highly controversial programme inside America's prison system. In packed arenas, watched by millions of live-stream viewers, prisoners compete as gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

Fan favourites Loretta Thurwar and Hamara 'Hurricane Staxxx' Stacker are teammates and lovers. Thurwar is nearing the end of her time on the circuit, free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares for her final encounters, as protestors gather at the gates, and as the programme's corporate owners stack the odds against her - will the price be simply too high?

 Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire Science Fiction

Critic Reviews

Criminally entertaining.
Adjei-Brenyah's acerbic vision lands like a lightning bolt of truth.
Grimly funny, epically violent and - at times - surprisingly tender. Quite the ride.
Magnificent. A radical interrogation of incarceration, racism, entertainment, the whole fabric of American injustice, as well as a pure fire page turner. (Max Porter, author of SHY)
A sort of The Hunger Games meets Gladiator meets WWE meets the modern private prison system.
Like Orwell's 1984 and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Adjei-Brenyah's book presents a dystopian vision so upsetting and illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we're capable of doing... Shockingly intimate and moving.
Compelling... The range of different narrators provides a smart 360-degree perspective of the too-familiar society that demands murder for entertainment.
A brutal, heart-wrenching story that feels so close to reality.
A hugely imaginative read - the world-building is masterful... Unmissable.
One of the most exciting young writers in America. (George Saunders, author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO)
All stars
Most relevant
This book felt like it had a very slow start, like, 3/4 of the book slow start, but then the build up to that final blow, that final death… it was exhilarating! Phew!

Well shit

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really enjoyed this one.
think hunger games x blm
dystopia, like our world but little bit diff'rent

voices were great!

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An entertaining story well told by a first-class cast. Highly recommend reading now before it no doubt becomes a film in coming years.

Brilliant book, from start to end

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This is without a doubt the best book I’ve read this year!
The descriptions of a not too distant American prison system felt so real, so alive.
Read it! Read it!
The performances are so good, best audiobook I’ve listened to
The stories are filled with nuance and compassion,
Loved every minute of it

Everyone should read this!

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Really really great book. To balance the satire whilst having a really interesting and engaging story takes skill and Nana nails it here. The little segments of real life facts sprinkled through the book are done very well, where a lesser writer would struggle with integrating facts like this, Nana does it seamlessly. Very thought provoking book with real life connotations (scarily so). Manages to humanise the people that we as a society in the current world and system actively de-humanise, but without shying away from the actions that landed them in prison in the first place.
Very well done and a must read for anyone that can stomach some violence.

The story with the factual asides

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