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

Expectation: A dark dystopian view of mass incarceration as blood sport entertainment.

Reality: While crammed a little too full of characters and plots, a highly creative concept, four stellar characters and a fantastic audiobook narration made this an engrossing read.

My Take:

“Chain-Gang All-Stars” exists in a dystopia that doesn’t feel far-fetched in a century that has seen the number of Americans incarcerated in private prisons increase threefold. It’s not unlikely to think that one day, the shareholders of these corporations may explore additional revenue streams from their captives. 

With the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment (CAPE) program, opted-in prisoners travel as links in Chain-Gangs and compete in gladiatorial combat for the masses. It’s the most popular sport in America, and its stars are household names as they complete one bloody battle after another on the quest to be “high freed.”

I was a huge fan of Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut short story collection, “Friday Black,” which paired horror and sci-fi plots with social justice sensibilities. He essentially sticks with the same formula in his first full length novel, turning the focus solely on state-supported neo-slavery.

This was one of the most interesting and creative concepts I’ve read since P. Djèlí Clark’s “Ring Shout.” Adjei-Brenyah weaves an array of topics — including capitalism, feminism, misogyny, systemic racism, mass incarceration and the value of Black bodies — into the pages, tackling the CAPE program from multiple angles. 

This was also the downfall of the story to some extent. Lots of characters and situations have no immediate connection to the core narrative — the Angola-Hammond chain, featuring lovers Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker — and it led to some confusing digressions, even with a stellar audiobook narration. 

Of course, all these people do factor into the story as they are in one way or another complicit to the brutality — whether as a fan attending the live events or watching the near 24-hour livestreams of the Chain-Gangs or sitting in a boardroom — or actively trying to dismantle it through protests and petitions. 

While I appreciated the holistic approach, what kept me going was my investment in Thurwar and Staxxx and later Hendrix Young and Simon J. Craft from a rival chain. It’s through these four we experience the toll of this life and the slow loss of humanity. It also raises interesting questions about the sympathy we offer to some convicted criminals and not others.

The last hour, which primarily featured them, was among the most thrilling I’ve read this year. Only those readers with a steel heart won’t be impacted by the ending that Adjei-Brenyah teases throughout but that you hope won’t come to fruition. 

I always appreciate when an author is bold. The concepts and questions raised are endlessly fascinating and Adjei-Brenyah creatively plays with story structure and points of view to keep the reader off-balance. 

Still, the story stumbled under its own weight of endless characters. My sense is his early drafts were much longer and in an attempt to make this more accessible to the masses, some key elements were removed that would’ve better connected the disparate pieces. 

With shades of “The Hunger Games” and “Survivor” this is an accessible work of speculative fiction that, even with its shortcomings, effectively pairs social commentary with macabre scenarios — a horror lover's dream. It will make you reassess the entertainment you consume, especially professional sports. 

If you do tackle this, I highly recommend the audiobook. Easily one of the best I’ve heard this year with Shayna Small (main narrator), Aaron Goodson (Hendrix Young), Michael Crouch (Simon J. Craft), Lee Osorio (Gunny Puddles) each doing exceptional work. 

The star here is Small, who provides a voice to Thurwar, Staxxx and every other major and minor character except those listed above. While she shined with variety and gravitas, it was Goodson and Crouch that delivered one emotional gut punch after another. 

Thank you to Pantheon, Penguin Random House, the author and Libro.fm for a gifted copy of the audiobok in exchange for my honest review.

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): 5/5 stars

Format: Audiobook (personal library)

Dates read: August 16 – August 25, 2023

Multi-tasking: Not recommended. The amount of characters makes it difficult to follow the story if you aren’t paying close attention. Only participate in low-focus activities, like walking and cleaning.