Sweep of Stars (Astra Black #1) by Maurice Broaddus
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published March 2022 by Tor Books
I got lots of love in my heart for some authors. Although we only hung out in the flesh once, Maurice Broaddus and I grew an hour's drive away from each other. We grew up on the same TV horror host and the thing is he is an amazing and one of kind author I have read and reviewed over and over. When the deal was made for this trilogy, it was sold as an Afrofuturist take on The Expanse. These kinds of marketing comparisons are often reductive but, in this case, I think that is a fair take. I mean I was totally sold on that. It is not hard SF in the way The Expanse has wormholes, but Sweep also has time travel, and other light fantastical elements.
When writing about his short story collection I said this. “The Voices of Martyrs will largely be overlooked because short story collections rarely sell as much as novels. This finely-tuned collection is a must-read for anyone interested in high-quality dark literature. The most powerful collection I have read since Brian Evenson's A Collapse of Horses. Both are important reads however Voice of Martyrs goes beyond just being good, it is a book of deep meaning.”
I bring this up because if you want to know how good of a writer Broaddus is that is the best example. That being said this is the most fun I have had reading a MB book. That is saying something as he has a series that is “The Wire” -ish retelling of King Arthur and award-winning Steampunk novellas. My feeling is once the trilogy comes together the strength of the greater narrative will only increase. This book will lose some lazy readers, but hey I have been told by lots of people they couldn’t get into Dune. Those people are wrong but it is understandable I suppose as Dune is dense as gluten-free bread. As a fan of intense world-building, it works for me but sometimes it is unexplainable alchemy. There were times I was a little lost on who was where, and who was who but that doesn’t always turn me off. I am along for the ride until I figure it out.
Thankfully this book came with a handy list of families and a timeline in the opening and a glossary in the closing pages. I tried not to refer to these but I read the timeline at the open and checked in on it a couple of times. This novel is set against the backdrop of The Muungano Empire, an African Diaspora set after post ecological collapse of the earth spread through the solar system mostly on the Moon, Mars, and Titan. LISC represents O.E. (Old Earth) interests. There is a bit of a cold war stalemate until in 2120 the Orun Gate wormhole is discovered.
This opening to another star system is firmly in control of The Muungano Empire and that is the jumping-off for the novel that takes place in 2121. Before I go deep into the story where minor spoilers might exist let's say that this is a 5-star book to me and a recommendation. MB does a great job of World-building what feels to this outsider like a credible solar system spanning neo-African culture. Their dominance is a result of a time travel accident that gave the crew a chance with modern tech extra time to re-build in the past but they spent most of that time hiding on the moon creating “The Dreaming City” and positioning themselves to become a dominant power. Considering the colonial history Africa dealt with this new culture is trying something different
Sweep of Stars mixes deep cultural mythology and African vibes with characters who keep it real. Characters who give their family members shit and curse like normal people. That really helped me relate to the characters. I made the mistake of reading some of the reviews and I couldn’t help but notice how many of the reviewers failed to comment on many of the social-political commentaries that is dripping off the pages of this book. There is some lip-service #ownvoices in some of the reviews folks need to slow down and look a little closer at what Sweep of Stars is laying down.
Sweep of Stars is Space Opera with an African feeling, it is an epic tale with lots of characters, narrative shifts, and twists and at the heart is a story that is entertaining for the events we witness as much as the radical ideas that get a subtle introduction. I found the novel well written, some readers had a hard time that certain chapters slipped into second person. I will be interviewing MB for the podcast soon so we will the exact reason. I suspected this was a way for the narrative to express the idea that you are a part of the future. Maybe I am overthinking it.
So yeah big thumbs up. That may sound highbrow and snooty but there are space marines, battles, aliens, pirates, rasta Jedis, and murder mystery as well. Let's get into details.
Of course, I dug that MB gave a shout-out to his hometown of Indianapolis which is apparently the capital of Old Earth. In this future. Shout out to my future Hoosiers.
“Several figures wearing light scattering masks designed to defeat facial-recognition algorithm stormed about. Some toted phase EMP carronades. The international district of Indianapolis was once the side of town that suffered from benign neglect of city officials. Property values plummeted, money enough to rebrand the area and immigrants moved in. And flourished. Through LISC, the city found money enough to rebrand the area the International District. This grew into the international marketplace, which soon housed several embassies once the nation’s capital shifted to the booming metropolis.”
There is a scene with the panting of the learning tree that seemed like an even more direct shout-out to real folks in the author’s life. Muungano culture is an interesting one, a somewhat Anarchist culture. The character of Xola who is murdered as head of a family is a goofball who loves telling stories and embarrassing his family. Sound like someone who has his picture on the dust jacket?
Muungano culture doesn’t fit neatly into western political boxes, collectivist and anarchist in many ways, but is structured on traditions deeply rooted in family legacy.
“All of Muungano’s Territory lit up as a hologram projection, from the Dreaming City to Mars to the mining outpost. No borders, per se, not the way O.E. might define them. Only communities of alliance. This was what they had all fought so hard to forge. They needed a new vocabulary to describe the experiment they embarked on. Empire wasn’t it. A budding cooperative cradled in a sweep of stars.”
This is one of the first elements I have seen ignored in almost all the reviews I have read. This may seem like simple world-building and MB does it subtle and right. These moments are not over-explained, they are naturally told in the midst of the story. You will of course notice the title of the book so it is not a stretch to think this passage is part of the mission statement of this story.
Leguin and Spinrad are some of the most well-known genre anarchists and I am not saying this book goes that far but it is clear MB is suggesting a divorce from western culture and standard capitalist monoculture. At the same time, this future while vastly different and divergent from our timeline is connected by characters like the Hellfighters soldiers who make a point not to forget the struggles the African diaspora had in our times.
This was highlighted in a fun exchange when a soldier who was called the keeper of the belt explained that he was wearing the belt of the Notorious B.I.G.
“It’s true. When you set your eyes on it again, you need to realize that you’re looking at a piece of hip-hop history. A holy relic.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
Their generation, not-quite-affectionately called neoniks, loved the late-twentieth-century era as part of what they called The Remember Revolution. They committed themselves to never forget the tragedies of O.E., from Black Wall Street to MOVE to First World. Admirable in philosophy, though in practice, they basically just adopted the era’s slang.”
I like how this scene begins amusing but ends with a powerful statement letting the reader know that the issues of racism and colonialism are not forgotten in this radically changed future. While the main focus of the story is the intrigue, the action, and the characters it was the ideas I found radically moving. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the story but asides like this spoke to me.
“We’ became slaves to wheat,” Stacia said.
“Yes. Wheat, the technology and systematic impact of agriculture, tricked us into serving it and spreading it around the world. Similarly, you don’t own the wormhole and you certainly don’t control it.”
I can’t really say at this point that this is a deeply intentionally radical book. It is however a science fiction novel of radical ideas. Some of the mainstream science fiction fandoms may have a problem with this but fuck a whole bunch of that. The novel speaks to this…
“…We stand in opposition to their entire way of life. We created ways of being and moving. Of valuing and celebrating one another. Allowing our systems – political and economic – to grow out of our humanity. Seeking only the best for one another and our community. That’s why we’re a threat. And will always be seen as one.”
Or…
“As you can imagine, all of this only fueled O.E.’s paranoia of us, stoking their fears that we plotted against them. They came to believe that it was only a matter of time before we unleashed the destructive force of our military might. Because history has told us that is what they would have done.”
Damn, I love Sweep of Stars. As a piece of space opera, it is fun, every bit as filled with intrigue and action as The Expanse. As a piece of World-building, it is every bit as thought out as Dune. As a work of thoughtful speculation, it is as mindful and literary as Hyperion As a work of radical science fiction, it is every bit as radical as The Dispossessed. Hyperbole, maybe but Sweep of Stars earned it with me.
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