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FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. FIGHT FOR LOVE. WELCOME TO THE KILLING GROUND.

‘America’s new Hunger Games’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘So good. This one is from the heart’ STEPHEN KING

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE TIKTOK BOOK AWARDS**

Enter a world where, livestreamed to millions, prisoners fight like gladiators for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

Fan-favourite female stars 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. But as protestors clash with the baying crowds and the programme’s corporate owners stack the odds against her – will the price be simply too high?

‘Brutal, thrilling, devastating and beautiful’ THE TIMES

‘So compelling – right up to the final, fatal blow’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Defiant, awe-inspiring’ JESSAMINE CHAN

‘Vividly imaginative and startling’ ELLE

‘The new maestro of dystopian lit’ WIRED

‘A pure fire page turner’ MAX PORTER

Shortlisted for the TikTok Book Awards, International Book of the Year, 2024

Publisher Review

Criminally entertaining. * Guardian * Adjei-Brenyah's acerbic vision lands like a lightning bolt of truth. * Esquire * Grimly funny, epically violent and - at times - surprisingly tender. Quite the ride. * Marie Claire * 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. * Elle * 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. * Washington Post * Compelling... The range of different narrators provides a smart 360-degree perspective of the too-familiar society that demands murder for entertainment. * SFX * A brutal, heart-wrenching story that feels so close to reality. * Cosmopolitan * A hugely imaginative read - the world-building is masterful... Unmissable. * Independent * One of the most exciting young writers in America. -- George Saunders, author of LINCOLN IN THE BARDO We simply couldn't put it down... enthralling and engaging. -- Leanne Fridd * The Times * You cannot applaud Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's debut novel without getting blood on your hands... * New York Times Book Review * Deservedly acclaimed, Adjei-Brenyah is as commanding a storyteller as he is a world-builder. * Daily Mail * Beautiful and brutal, with a really furious social commentary underpinning it. -- Bea Carvalho * Independent * Defiant, awe-inspiring... Readers will be forever changed by this book. -- Jessamine Chan, author of THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS [An] acclaimed master of our futuristic nightmares... While this is set in the future, it feels uncomfortably close to the present. * Oprah Daily * [A] blazing debut novel... Chain-Gang All-Stars is also a breathless dystopian thriller. * Lit Hub * A searing debut with an unforgettable voice, Chain Gang All-Stars will force you to reevaluate what freedom in America really means. * Lit-Reactor * Imagine The Hunger Games refashioned into a rowdy, profane, and indignant blues shout at full blast. * Kirkus *