Now is the time when the lists of 2025's best books are being revealed. It is a tough time of year for me because my Hold list fills up faster than I can read. This one was available immediately.
What a fierce book! Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is filed in the science fiction category in the dystopian bin. I've seen it compared to The Handmaid's Tale. It has the same feel of oppression, hopelessness, and defiance. The scenario proposed isn't far off from where our society is now. Prisoners have the "option" to become modern-day gladiators in commodified, televised battles. The life depicted is brutal, but amidst the harshness, there is a seedling of rebellion. It comes from within the circuit, and from those outside who protest. There are many story threads involving many layers of voices and how their viewing and participation in entertaining violence are impacted by it.
This is a brutal, devastating story, more so because, even though it is fiction, it is built on factual research.
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Ash and Quill is the third in The Great Library series by Rachel Caine. It is solid science fiction and also dystopian, or better described as an alternate history. Caine's plot continues to unfold, and the core group of characters matures and changes. I am taking a hiatus to read some of the year's highly rated books, but I want to come back and read the final two.
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