Chain Gang All Stars Audiobook Review

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah won over many readers with his 2018 novel Friday Black, an indictment of our society that explored dystopias not too dissimilar from our own. With Chain Gang All Stars he tackles another terrifying scenario – America where prisoners participate in lucrative yet controversial gladiator death-match performances on television for profit and popularity.

Story

In a dystopian America with extensive private prisons and sophisticated shock-devices, prisoners convicted of murder can fight their way back out through participation in a brutal gladiatori-style competition televised live to packed arenas. CAPE (Criminal Action Penal Entertainment), is run by a profit-seeking corporation specializing in prison entertainment. CAPE’s stars – known as Links – compete against each other in death matches that draw huge audiences of viewers eager for blood. Repeat survivors quickly gather fans and food, eventually becoming celebrities in their own right. Two of the most famous Links are Loretta Thurwar and her partner Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker; Thurwar is on her final two matches before fulfilling her three-year contract; with Stacker she has found some measure of peace and happiness.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah creates an imagined future world that mirrors our darkest moments using both fact and fiction. Her use of Juvenalian satire highlights our growing obsession with reality television’s appeal for violence as well as our oppression through “the justice system.”

Adjei-Brenyah creates an expansive cast of characters in her novel, from Links and protestors to corporate executives governing CAPE. However, her book may introduce too many individuals at once and cause it to slow down; luckily though, the excellent narration keeps listeners engaged in her narrative.

Characters

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah breaks the stereotypes surrounding prison life by creating an alternate reality where prison life can be harsh, violent and soap operatic. With his first novel, he provides us with a vivid view into violence’s impact on society; while his footnotes provide us with details regarding facts and horrors of prisons. And we meet two skilled killers and sensitive lovers at the core of his tale.

Prisoners in this near-future world can earn their freedom through volunteering to participate in Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, or CAPE, a reality show where participants compete until death – with winners released after three years. Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, teammates and lovers, star as two fan favorites of CAPE; Thurwar is only several matches away from freedom; however, corporate owners will do anything possible to protect the status quo and create obstacles in Thurwar’s way – leaving only her one way out if she wants it.

Chain Gang All Stars is an exciting, expansive, and vibrant novel set in a dystopian universe not too dissimilar from our own. It explores lawbreaking and punishment; psychological techniques of inflicting pain; as well as dirty deals people make to survive within such hostile systems.

Realism

Adjei-Brenyah employs footnotes as an ambitious yet effective means of expanding his fictional world and directly alluding to US carceral policies in this ambitious yet successful novel. Alternating chapters explore the lives of various characters ranging from those watching Chain-Gang All-Stars (including spinoff shows such as LinkLyfe ) through activists protesting outside arenas to a researcher whose search for relief results in her creating a device which shreds nervous systems – all the way down to ordinary Joes watching Chain-Gang All-Stars or flying through an arena and beyond!

World-building is accomplished with flair, making the gladiatorial matches feel real and terrifying at the same time. Although we know the prisoners will eventually lose, their fight scenes remain so gripping that our moral outrage never fully eradicates the primitive thrill of reading them.

This story also investigates the effect of technology on prison life, using Influencer rods – devices designed to inflict immense pain that are attached with wrist cuffs – as a metaphor for corporations profiting from torture. Furthermore, its spotlight shines a bright light on those responsible for designing these devices – their work often being considered terroristic acts by some observers – showing just why such work constitutes such an ethical breach in modern societies. Such intelligent criticism elevates this book from being just another sci-fi cliche into something truly meaningful and compelling!

Overall

Prison overcrowding has forced the US government to come up with creative punishments, and convicted felons who make the top are allowed to compete in gladiatorial death matches broadcast to millions as part of Criminal Action Penal Entertainment program. Prisoners who reach the top earn their freedom by fighting packed arenas and passionate fans – two such top performers being Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxx” Stackers; who are close to fulfilling their three-year contracts.

The two reluctantly accept their contract’s harsh conditions, yet are among the league’s top talents. Therefore, fans line up to watch each fight where fans cheer for Links or boo the losers while behind-the-scenes their handlers are working tirelessly to keep everything running smoothly.

Chain Gang All Stars draws upon genre fiction classics like The Handmaid’s Tale, Rollerball and Battle Royale to draw its inspiration. However, unlike more conventional genre fiction works, Adjei-Brenyah emphasizes his story’s basis in reality by including footnotes about such subjects as the 13th Amendment, imprisonment of people of color for long-term isolation torture as well as state murdering 14 year-old George Stinney in 1944.