Thanks to @pantheonbooks for my copy of Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I went back and forth between reading and listening to this buzzy book. This dystopian novel is set in an America where prisoners may choose to compete in gladiator-like fights to the death for entertainment. If they win enough, their freedom is secured.

This book mostly follows the relationships between Links in Loretta Thurwar’s Chain-Gang. She is their most senior member, very close to earning her freedom. Also in her gang is Hurricane Staxxx, her friend and lover. The Links are constantly filmed for reality TV, and nothing is forbidden - some have been murdered by their teammates overnight. When the arena rules are changed and the rug is pulled from underneath them, Thurwar and Staxxx have to navigate a brutal, unfair system to try and save themselves. Happening simultaneously are cruel experiments on prisoners, perpetual new enemies and threats, protests against the system, and more.

Things I liked about this book: the world building, the action, the social commentary, and especially the relationships between the main characters. The big qualm I had with this book was the number of characters that took me out of the main storyline. There were a lot of side characters with long backstories, and though the extra information provided more context and enhanced the world building, they sometimes felt distracting and not completely necessary to me, and made the audiobook a bit hard to follow. I do often love a hefty character list but I think because this story was so plot-driven and full of action, I wanted to spend more time with the main characters and less with backstories of the side characters.

Overall I really liked this one. I would love love loveee to see it as a TV show or a movie - it was so immersive on the page and I think it would be cool to see it brought to life on a screen.