![]() ![]() And don’t be surprised that the supreme fighter is a Black woman. ![]() Their affection is “a battle hug between two true warriors,” Adjei-Brenyah writes, “the kind the world hadn’t seen for centuries.” They’re athletes, they’re killers, they’re sex symbols: They’re the ultimate celebrities in a society that legitimizes the erotic thrill of violence with a veneer of fair competition. At the center of the story are the BattleGround stars Loretta Thurwar and her vivacious lover, Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker. But the real power of Adjei-Brenyah’s novel stems from its focus on a few prisoners caught up in this ghoulish entertainment. And a series of hit-and-run footnotes makes the contemporary allusions wincingly clear. ![]() The slick violence of “Chain-Gang All-Stars,” with its array of technological terrors, would be enough to sustain a clever work of science fiction. With a grimly funny take on reality TV, the prisoners who sign up for BattleGround are not just observed on the field they’re monitored 24/7 by a swarm of tiny drones that broadcast their every moment in 3D video for a highly rated sister show called “LinkLyfe.” ![]() The panopticon prison designed by Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century has reached its ultimate expression in the world imagined by Adjei-Brenyah. ![]()
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