I adore fiction that stares straight into the future’s harsh light and asks what it reveals about us now. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s Chain-Gang All-Stars is exactly that sort of novel: a dystopian spectacle with a beating human heart. Published on 02.05.2023, it turns the US prison-industrial complex into gladiatorial entertainment and dares us to reckon with why we’d watch.
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s debut novel, released in 2023, follows incarcerated people forced to fight in a sanctioned, wildly popular programme that promises freedom to those who survive enough bouts. It’s a premise both outrageous and chillingly plausible, grounded in the realities of exploitation and profit. The novel’s world hums with corporate jargon, contractual small print, and the braying of crowds—an arena where pain is monetised and dignity is the rarest prize.
At the centre are Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker, lovers and legends within the chains they’re bound to. Their relationship imbues the book with tenderness amid the carnage, reminding us that love, agency and solidarity can persist even when the system is designed to grind them down. Adjei-Brenyah renders them not as symbols but as people—funny, stubborn, brave—who carry the weight of survival alongside the hope of something better.
Stylistically, the novel is polyphonic and propulsive, punctuated by footnotes that cut through the spectacle to expose the carceral logic beneath. Those asides—part statistic, part legalese, part indictment—anchor the satire in a recognisable present. The result is a narrative that entertains, enrages, and persuades, refusing the easy comfort of distance while never losing sight of the human stakes.
Gladiatorial US prison dystopia and media spectacle 🍵🍵🍵🍵
Chain-Gang All-Stars is a blistering critique of carceral capitalism, and it understands how media turns suffering into a consumable. The fights are choreographed for maximum drama; the branding is slick; the commentary is breathless; the audience metrics tick ever upwards. We are made complicit, watching as algorithms amplify blood and banter alike, while sponsors polish their images and politicians feign clean hands.
Adjei-Brenyah’s worldbuilding is superb precisely because it feels like a half-step from our own: reality television’s grammar, influencer culture’s churn, the legal loopholes that launder cruelty. The violence is shocking, yes, but it’s never empty; it’s a moral argument delivered through action, choice, and consequence. Readers should be aware: it’s intense and confronting, but never gratuitous—every blow lands with purpose, and the quiet moments linger just as long.
As a lifelong lover of sci‑fi and dystopia, I found the book both exhilarating and sobering. The thematic ambition is matched by emotional clarity, and while a few expository beats can feel didactic, the overall effect is devastatingly persuasive. My rating: 🍵🍵🍵🍵 out of five. If you want a dystopia that stares back at the present with unflinching honesty—and still finds space for love and resistance—this is one to brew a pot for and read late into the night.
Chain-Gang All-Stars is a razor-edged, deeply human take on the prison-industrial complex as entertainment—gladiator matches reframed for a ratings age. It’s bold, furious, and unexpectedly tender, a novel that tests our appetite for spectacle and asks what it would take to refuse it. Put the kettle on, clear an evening, and step into the arena with Thurwar and Staxxx; you won’t emerge unchanged.