The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Chain-Gang All-Stars
Author: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Published: 2023
Genre: Dystopian
Themes: Incarceration, queer love, found family, loss.

One sentence summary: Set in a dystopian world where prisoners can opt into a winner goes free, whoever kills wins style competition, Loretta Thurwar is close to freedom, but how far can she go?

One sentence review: A brilliant critique of not only incarceration but society’s need for live entertainment and the expense of others.

Review:

Set in a dystopian world where prisoners can opt into a winner goes free, whoever kills wins style competition, Loretta Thurwar is close to freedom. She’s been in this game for three years and the end is in sight.

Her chain is behind her, the public are behind her (because of course it’s all streamed like a sport), her friend and lover Hurricane Staxxx is right there by her side too.

But as tensions rise between the links and the pressures of outside protesters, can she keep her cool until she’s freed?

The hype around this book was absolutely deserved. This book is astounding and over a year on from reading I am still thinking about this book and the impact it had on me.

Focusing on the injustices and often inhumane practises of incarceration, Adjei-Brenyah has woven an incredible narrative around those that have to live on the inside of it and their desperate plea for freedom and humanity. It’s a brilliant critique of not only incarceration but society’s need for live entertainment and the expense of others.

As always we have characters with Loretta and those against her too, but all of them will leave lasting impressions. We mostly follow the Chain-Gang All-Stars but the snippets into other teams and contestants battles add another layer of brilliance.

This book is clever, it’s dark and it broke my heart. I absolutely recommend this book put please check trigger warnings. Be prepared for hard hitting action and violence.

If reading more is something that you’re looking at doing this year then should check my reading challenge out here! Read nine books from nine prompts over the first six months of the year and be entered into a draw to win a bundle of bookish goodies.

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And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 17/03/2025