Review: Chain-Gang All Stars

4/5 stars

Chain-Gang All Stars, by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2023)

Trigger Warnings: Graphic violence, Imprisonment and enslavement, Mention of rape, Racism

Hunger Games books meets Gladiator movie meets Rene Denfeld's The Enchanted (fiction, set on death row in a maximum security prison, discusses the failings and corruption of the American prison system).

If that sounds like it would make for a very heavy book... yes. It's difficult, and cutting, and demands that the reader face it head-on - no blinking, no running away from the truth of it.

Set in a dystopian, near-future America, the narrative centers around the Criminal Action Penal Entertainment program, or CAPE, where convicted felons of capital crimes (mostly murder and rape) sign on to join chain gang groups to avoid the death penalty, and are forced to fight to the death. Masses of fans cheer and jeer as they watch - in person and from the comfort of their homes, watching "The Battleground" fights on primetime TV.

Are you not entertained?!

The majority of the story revolves around two popular "links" - Loretta Thurwar, one of the longest-lasting fighters and only a few wins away from earning her freedom ("high freedom"), and Hamara Stacker, known as Hurricane Staxx, a formidable fighter in her own right, and also Thurwar's lover. We also meet many of their fellow chain-gang links - other prisoners who each of their own back stories, levels of depravity/humanity, and reasons for signing on for this slow march towards their almost-inevitable death ("low freedom").

“Under the guise of economic stimulus and punitive prevention, we’ve allowed the state to administer public executions as entertainment.”

The fighters have almost no privacy, as drone cameras follow them everywhere they go, and they must march between each match at a pace set by an electronic "anchor." Prisoners are also implanted with what they call "mag cuffs," that allow those in control them through magnetic forces, restricting their movements and administering pain as punishment for disobedience. The more wins a prisoner has, the less they are controlled, and the more amenties they receive. For example, while on the road, Thurwar stays in a fancy tent with hot water, a bathtub, and gourmet meals, while the new recruits sleep on the ground outside and eat nothing but cheese sandwiches.

Most horrific of all, high-ranking jailers carry with them an "influencer" - nope, not an online personality, but a device that allows them to inflict unspeakable, unrelenting pain at will upon their prisoners. And while the crimes that got the "links" there in the first place are genuinely deplorable, their inhumane treatment is even more so, raising questions of how, and for how long, people should be punished.

We also get some sense of the governmental and private-company forces that have a stake in the CAPE program, which, while controversial, is also extremely popular and lucrative, and a glimpse at the small band of activists who protest the matches. And finally, we meet some of the games' fans, including one who starts out disgusted by the spectacle, and ends up a rabid follower.

It's a dystopian, futuristic, cynical view of America and its prison system. It's also clear-eyed, and painfully realistic.

A few people in my book club mentioned that the footnotes were too many, and distracted from the narrative. I listened to the audio version (couldn't find a single copy at local libraries!), so I didn't notice that, but it's something to note if you're planning to read a paper copy.

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UP NEXT: The Girl in Red, and Lost Boy, by Christina Henry