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Chain-Gang All-Stars

'America's new Hunger Games' SUNDAY TIMES

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Chain-Gang All-Stars

By: Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Narrated by: Shayna Small, Michael Crouch, Lee Osorio, Aaron Goodson
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Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars - the popular and highly controversial programme inside America's prison system. In packed arenas, watched by millions of live-stream viewers, prisoners compete as gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

Fan favourites Loretta Thurwar and Hamara 'Hurricane Staxxx' Stacker are teammates and lovers. Thurwar is nearing the end of her time on the circuit, free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares for her final encounters, as protestors gather at the gates, and as the programme's corporate owners stack the odds against her - will the price be simply too high?

 Dystopian Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Political Satire Science Fiction
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Critics' reviews

Criminally entertaining.
Adjei-Brenyah's acerbic vision lands like a lightning bolt of truth.
Grimly funny, epically violent and - at times - surprisingly tender. Quite the ride.
Magnificent. A radical interrogation of incarceration, racism, entertainment, the whole fabric of American injustice, as well as a pure fire page turner. (Max Porter, author of SHY)
A sort of The Hunger Games meets Gladiator meets WWE meets the modern private prison system.
Like Orwell's 1984 and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Adjei-Brenyah's book presents a dystopian vision so upsetting and illuminating that it should permanently shift our understanding of who we are and what we're capable of doing... Shockingly intimate and moving.
Compelling... The range of different narrators provides a smart 360-degree perspective of the too-familiar society that demands murder for entertainment.
A brutal, heart-wrenching story that feels so close to reality.
A hugely imaginative read - the world-building is masterful... Unmissable.
One of the most exciting young writers in America. (George Saunders, author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO)
All stars
Most relevant
the voice acting was 5 stars, I can imagine the book having the same feel if I had read it, but I will buy a physical copy. times were hard to listen because it didn't feel like fiction at all. I hated the ended but also knew it could never be a happy one no matter how much I wanted that. seeing it from many different perspectives added to the complexity of emotions of everyone involved. I didnt expect this commentary on the US carceral system going in and it was so beautifully and cleverly done. -1 star only because I wanted a happy ending .

amazing voice acting for a beautifully painful story

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