“She felt their eyes, all those executioners…

Enter a world where, watched by millions, prisoners fight like gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars, the popular and highly controversial programme inside America’s private prison system. In packed arenas, live-streamed by millions, 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?”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. Chain-Gang All-Stars was published by Vintage Books on 13th July 2023 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow next year. I chose to read a free eARC of Chain-Gang All-Stars but that has in no way influenced my review.

Chain-Gang All-Stars is a devastating dystopian thriller from a debut author who has rocked the literary world with his first full length work. Adjei-Brenyah has created a terrifying, far too lifelike world where the US penal system has taken a drastic turn. Prisoners, instead of spending their days in jail, can opt to become a Link. In signing up to be a Link you’re committing to the CAPE (Criminal Action Penal Entertainment) programme for a maximum of three years. If you make it to the three year mark, you’re free. But hardly anyone ever makes it to the three year mark. To get there Links have to win every single one of their gladiator-style battles. Kill your opponent before they kill you. Weapons drawn, rivers of gore, lose and you’re dead. And all of this whilst the show is live streamed to millions of homes, the blood-lust high!

The story mainly focuses on Loretta Thurwar and Hamara ‘Hurricane Staxxx’ Stacker who are teammates and two of the most popular Links. They’re also lovers and both approaching the end of their three year tenure. Loretta first, shortly followed by Hurricane. I completely believed in these two women. They were real to me. Their relationship, their interactions with each other, and the other characters. The Links on the same Chain (a ‘Chain’ is a team of Links who live and travel together when not locked in battle) all bring something to the narrative and were all fully formed characters in their own right. I loved how the Chain muddled along with the different personalities coming to the fore, knocking shoulders and creating beautifully written tension. Of course, there’s no rule to say you can’t kill your own teammates (it’s not encouraged) but Loretta and Hamara as unofficial team leaders are trying to do things differently for their Chain. But can anyone ever really be trusted…?

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Chain-Gang All-Stars is a dark, devastating, somewhat affecting novel that I will remember for a very long time. It’s heavily political with the plot firmly rooted in real world issues, so it doesn’t make for light, easy reading. However, once you pick the book up, you won’t be able to put it down again. The author’s world-building makes it feel all too realistic and near future-ish. Let’s hope this isn’t the terrifying direction society is heading in. I have to admit, I did see the big twist in the tale coming from early on but that didn’t spoil my reading experience one jot. All in all a terrifying, highly compelling read that’s both violent and emotional in equal measure. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free eARC of Chain-Gang All-Stars. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was published in the UK by Vintage Books on 13th July 2023 and is available in hardcover, audio and digital formats with the paperback to follow (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is from Spring Valley, New York. He graduated from SUNY Albany and went on to receive his MFA from Syracuse University.

He was the ’16-’17 Olive B. O’Connor fellow in fiction at Colgate University.

His work has appeared or is forthcoming in numerous publications, including Guernica, Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing, Printer’s Row, Gravel, and The Breakwater Review, where he was selected by ZZ Packer as the winner of the 2nd Annual Breakwater Review Fiction Contest. Friday Black is his first book.