Chain Gang All Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Buy on AmazonChain-Gang All-Stars takes place in the near future, where imprisoned people are made to fight to the death gladiator-style in a multimillion-dollar sporting league with America’s rapt attention and viewership. While the pages are futuristic with hovering cameras following the convicts’ every move, the footnotes cite real facts about imprisonment in America. A dystopian sci-fi with a message about for-profit prisons, the American prison industrial complex, and America’s love of violent sport, this book will have you feeling uncomfortable but also have you racing to the next page.
Recommended by
"Chain-Gang All-Stars takes place in the near future, where imprisoned people are made to fight to the death gladiator-style in a multimillion-dollar sporting league with America’s rapt attention and viewership. While the pages are futuristic with hovering cameras following the convicts’ every move, the footnotes cite real facts about imprisonment in America. A dystopian sci-fi with a message about for-profit prisons, the American prison industrial complex, and America’s love of violent sport, this book will have you feeling uncomfortable but also have you racing to the next page."
NPR Books We Love — 2023 · apps.npr.org
"Speaking for myself, it’s the footnotes which makes the novel – and I know the judges discussed these. The set-up is that criminals are made to fight each other, with the possibility that the eventual winner will be freed. In the notes, Adjei-Benyah gives more details about some of the minor characters, but more importantly discusses and provides statistics about the racism of the American ‘justice’ system and miscarriages of justice. It works as a gripping thriller, but it educates us or reminds us of the inequalities in society; it’s at times harrowing. It’s a reminder that Black Lives Matter."
The Best Science Fiction: The 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist · fivebooks.com