A review by ed_moore
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

“There’s a whole lot of prisoners for a land that claims free” 

‘Chain-Gang All-Stars’ is set in a dystopian America where as capital punishment prisoners can sign up for three years on the chain gang circuit, fighting weekly in a one-on-one match to the death that is broadcast in a ‘Hunger Games’ style public spectacle. Survive three years and the individual arrested for crimes such as murder and rape walks free a celebrated hero, but nobody ever makes it that far. 

Adeji-Brenyah writes a scathing criticism of capital punishment and the American prison system, criticising corrupt policing and racist judicial systems. Interwoven within the narrative are facts and statistics about the reality of the current judicial system which was an element I very much enjoyed. 

The concept and the world-building were really strong, though something prevented me fully getting into this book, perhaps the underlying factor that all the perspective characters were rapists and murderers and therefore found the adoration of them by the crowds really difficult to get onto the same page as. Part of this is down to the merit of the concept and has you questioning which degree of sympathy and just treatment these people deserve, because on the one hand the system mistreats them and the criticism of this is brilliant, on the other hand they are heralded as heroes for murder both outside of and now within the justice system. 

It’s a really difficult concept to grapple with, and there are scenes of protest in the book which opened it up to wider political stakes aligned with the perspective of the author, however these never really come to any conclusion, wether this be progressive outcomes or the regime prevailing, they are more just occurring in the background as focus remains on arena bloodshed. I also didn’t like the narration that much, it really played into characters but wasn’t my style (especially the voice of Simon J Kraft his perspective voice just went straight through you!) I also found that elements of this book felt like disconnected short stories and thought they did eventually converge it wasn’t in some sort of revolutionary moment as everything fits, hence the story felt like a very disconnected narrative. I eventually appreciated the other perspectives beside the primary one of Thruwar and Staxx as it added weight to the penultimate ending, but then found the definitive ending a little expected and weak. 

I feel like there’s so much more to say with this book but am already struggling not to present these opinions without spoilers, all in all this book had distinct pros and a little more blurred cons.