A broad chorus of voices launches readers into the heart of an interplanetary struggle in Sweep of Stars, the first in the Astra Black trilogy from Maurice Broaddus (Buffalo Soldier).
The Muungano empire stretches from Earth to Titan. More than 70 years after its secession from Original Earth, a series of strikes targets the Muungano leadership, a threat likely tied to "O.E." A band of elite soldiers makes first contact with an alien race on the edges of the explored regions of space, and stumbles directly into an intergalactic conflict. Neither of these clashes makes it any easier to decide how to handle an artificial wormhole in their territory, a conundrum that a starship captain wrestles with while also ferreting out enemies on her own vessel.
Broaddus steeps this Pan-African society in the legacies of precolonial Africa and the civil rights movement--with the specters of colonialism, slavery and the racist institutions created by them still looming over imperial relations. He catapults readers into the story using an array of characters, switching among first-, second- and third-person narration (sometimes singular and sometimes plural) as he shifts viewpoints. The opening chapter kicks off in a second-person voice, creating an immediate intimacy with the first narrator. With plenty of fascinating characters faced with steering their empire through threats internal and external, Sweep of Stars will leave readers eager for the next entry in this series. --Kristen Allen-Vogel, information services librarian at Dayton Metro Library