Chain-Gang All-Stars in Daily Show / Colbert Report / Nightly Show / The Opposition

May 29, 2023 Phyllis | Mocha Drop rated it really liked it

Art imitates life and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah builds a futuristic America in which the incarcerated fight to the death for their freedom in a gladiator-esque setting complete with heightened sensationalism of the NBA/NFL playoffs with all the garrish machinations and outrageous hype of the Met Gala. In this world, the prisoners, are strategically elevated to celebrity status with each match win (which is really a fight to the death). They develop crazed fan-bases, don branded clothing (or if lu ...more

7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 08, 2023 Ronald rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, dystopian

Chain Gang All Stars was a good book. I was expecting something different from hearing the author talk so I was kind of disappointed in the final product. But I don’t want that to change what should otherwise be a good review. The thing is I don’t like books that have super short chapters (I was just complaining about books with no chapter or other breaks in the narrative), the book switches characters a lot. Those characters have many names they go by or are called or described. There are a lot Chain Gang All Stars was a good book. I was expecting something different from hearing the author talk so I was kind of disappointed in the final product. But I don’t want that to change what should otherwise be a good review. The thing is I don’t like books that have super short chapters (I was just complaining about books with no chapter or other breaks in the narrative), the book switches characters a lot. Those characters have many names they go by or are called or described. There are a lot, I mean a lot of characters in this book. Some characters only appear once or we get to know them over half the book and then they just kind of fade away and never appear again. There is very little actual world building. But in the end it was still a good book even if it took me forever to make it to the end.

Chain Gang All Stars was an indictment of our current Prison Industrialist Complex or the more accurate name of “for profit prisons”. This is our world where the police state harasses and over enforces laws for the pour, the disposed, the homeless and any out of favor minority group. It is horrifying now how the police and “Justice” system destroy human people for the profit of a bunch of already rich, old white men. The book has footnotes just to point out how what is in this work of fiction is real in our world now and not just some horrible dark future. In the world of the book convicts are no better than slaves. Those slaves are then forced to fight to the death in the biggest “sport” in the world. At this point we are not far from the world in this book, we have camps, we have for profit prisons and we have a racists radicalized justice system all to happy to dump people into the profit camps for little to no reason. So warning, lots of blood and carnage and death.

In the end it is a sad story. It was well written. I have many minor quibbles with the story that I could have dumped here but really while not my thing as fiction goes I still think you should still check it out. This should have won the 2023 Goodreads Readers Choice Awards. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 20, 2024 Liz Murray rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2024, dystopian, abolitionism, carceral-state

Damn what a ride, churns you up and spits you out. Horrible in so many places but it’s horror built on the logical conclusions of today’s carceral state and punishment machine. It’s a real-life hunger games. In this dystopian future prisoners can “leave” prison to fight each other to the death for their freedom. We follow two women, Loretta Thurwar and Hurricane Staxx (Humara Stacker), who are lovers and on the same chain, therefore spared having to fight/kill the other in the Battleground. Othe ...more

Like · see review

Dec 08, 2024 Erin rated it liked it

Subject matter is great and the overall message is good - loved the weaving in of factual information about the prison industrial complex. My main bone to pick is that I had a really hard time with the world building and differentiating the main characters. I didn’t enjoy reading this. I put it down for months. Just finished it and only cause I’m a completionist. 2.5 stars.

Like · see review

Sep 24, 2023 Lauren Snell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

To say I loved this feels wrong as it was incredibly dark and horrific. I think this is the type of book that if you love it, you LOVE it, but if it's not your taste, you'll hate it. A very fucked up near-future america where the prison system recruits inmates for televised death matches. Powerfully written and heart wrenching ...more

Like · see review