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Chain-Gang All-Stars

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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?

©2023 Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (P)2023 Penguin Audio Dystopian Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire Science Fiction Scary Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is one of the most exciting young writers in America. His work is urgent, engaging, wildly entertaining, formally bold and politically electrifying. Read one page, any page, and you'll see what I mean. (George Saunders, author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO)
A defiant, awe-inspiring novel that will be read, studied and celebrated for generations, Chain-Gang All-Stars leads with love. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah writes with stunning compassion and moral clarity as he interrogates every facet of our carceral world and the American spectacle of violence, never losing sight of the human cost of systemic injustice. Readers will be forever changed by this book. (Jessamine Chan, author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS)
Makes explicit how the spirit erodes as the body becomes currency. Adjei-Brenyah writes sharply about the economy of spectacle and the fickle alchemy between futility and hope. (Raven Leilani, author of LUSTER)
All stars
Most relevant
Absolutely LOVED this dark, gritty, gripping action thriller. The narrators were beyond excellent- storyline unpredictable and I simply didn’t want it to end when it ended. Expecting a sequel!

Gripping ‘page turner’

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This book is special and the narrators do an amazing job! Social commentary at its best.

This book is special

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A truly gripping listen that kept me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions! It was read really well, and I really enjoyed the different narrators. They were needed to help break up the jumps to different characters in the book.

Really strong start, the middle was slow and at times I did find it disjointed, the way it jumped to different characters. But the end was powerful and tragic and I’m so glad I stuck with it.

Bloody and brilliant

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What initially may feel like a very on the nose take on ultraviolence and the justice system finds nuance along the way. With a number of compelling characters and themes well narrated, it made a compelling listen.

Don't dismiss it as heavy handed

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Truly an excellent book. Grabs you in chapter one and never let's go. Even when you've finished it. This is a book with something to say and it isn't going to blink, hesitate or apologise for saying it. In fact it'll give you footnotes in case you try to blink. Cannot decide if I'd like to see a sequel. But I will read more by the author.

Oh. Wow

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