Reviews

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

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megrose27's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

thelostwayne's review against another edition

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challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Incredible book and absolutely one of my favorites I’ve read this year. Character development was flawless, the story epic and heart wrenching, and the underlying message of the terrors of the American prison system mixed with live action murder sports? A unique concept delivered perfectly. 5 stars all day.

dana_reads_books13's review against another edition

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4.0

Well then. This was something. And it was well written.

I loved our main chain-gang and reading about their stories. Our two main female protagonists were well developed and I enjoyed their journeys. The way the author included footnotes to help with the story was also useful.

My biggest qualm with the book was the numerous amount of characters. Some of the side stories just slowed the book down. I would have preferred more time with the chain, Micky, Mair, and Hendrix/SJC.

hspooner8's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sara_reads_and_wines's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

This was a hard read, but one that was written so well it was hard to out down.

In a not so distant dystopia future, there is technology in place that helps control the prison population. Ranging from forced silence, to a shock that can electrify your nervous system, the technology is truly terrifying.

But that isn't even the worst of it in this dystopia world. The prison system is now private and for profit. Inmates voluntarily (????) sign up to be part of these "Hard Action Sports". Divided into teams by their prison systems, the prisoners, now called 'links' fight to death in battles to gain ranks to their freedom.

We mainly follow two links Thurwar and Staxxx who are on the same chain (team) and both almost to the top rank to gain their freedow.
Told almost like a documentary, each chapter gives you different points of views from the different links, to fans watching the matches live or at home, to the board members of the hard action sports, to journalists and reporters, and to those protesting the injustice in and inhumane treatment of the links.

It hard to say you enjoy a book with such a troubling concept, but it was really well done. There are footnotes with real statistics and facts about the prison and justice systems that give you a double take. And stories for each person as they enter the prisons or loose their battles so you get a more human side of them outside of their crimes.

I will definitely be reading more by this author to see what other stories they tell.

Content Warnings