This book has a grand vision and strong sense of purpose.  I would recommend this to anyone who has a thorough grounding in Black history; but I would hope that other readers won’t let that limit them.  I admit that I don’t tend to read much outside my favorite genre with characters I can identify with.  I have read stories with Black protagonists but, upon reflection, they tend to operate within a white culture and rarely give us much more than a peek into another culture. This story is all about that ‘other’ culture and it may prove frustrating and confusing to some readers. Muungano was built on Black history and culture and there are many, many cultural references to black people who had an impact; most of which left me in my ignorance.  Some were instantly recognizable but others not so much to this white girl.  I will claim one point; I know who Tananarive Due is, I met her once.  There is no white culture in this story and that is what makes it so very fascinating. I will own that frustration and confusion I mentioned earlier; but the underlying plot was definitely in my wheelhouse. I made frequent use of the helpful glossary in the back for non-English words.  To have the experience and story the author intended, he simply could not have replaced them with common English words.

In this history, the black peoples decided once and forever to leave Old Earth (O.E.) and its history of tyranny, enslavement and cancelling; taking to the stars to create a new place for themselves.  They establish a sort of confederacy that stretches from Mars to the moon of Titan. There is some back-history chronicling how it came to be.  The story starts in 2121 as the dream-that-was of Muungano has become successful.  But, as is always the case with humanity, there remains some opposed to their success; notably O.E.

The story revolves around the points-of-view of several players; most of them are the younger generation coming up and being forced to take leadership roles when the older generation cannot.  These people are in position to see the challenges and aggression disguised as coincidences or accidents.  The first was the apparent murder of their titular leader, leading to contention amongst the aspirants.  Second, I think, was the growing awareness that Muungano’s most significant asset, a wormhole dubbed the Orun Gate, was not a natural phenomenon; and the faint suggestions that O.E. might be conspiring to take control of it.  Third was a Muungano expedition through the Orun Gate to explore. And fourth, was the Captain of a starship, Stacia Chikeke, who uncovered a plot that involved her own, seriously ill, son.

Through each of these events, we see through the eyes of the players.  The dead leader, Xola, left behind children who all hoped to be his successor in order to bring their particular vision to all of Muungano.  But some are still concerned that his death was designed to bring chaos to their leadership.

The expedition through the Orun Gate is led by a woman, and crewed by women.  The crew or squad (which seems more appropriate given their level of combat expertise) find themselves in the impossible position of making a ‘first contact’ that they were never prepped for.  But it’s worse than just making an epic interstellar blunder; they find themselves in the crosshairs of a genocide.  Deciding who to support wasn’t a tough choice; and discovering they were setup by the hostile force could have been demoralizing to lesser people.  Figuring out just exactly who the hostile force is may be the key to getting back home: are they aliens or are they from O.E. and why was Muungano lured there.

Stacia Chikeke is captain of a starship accompanied by both her estranged husband and their son.  Their son has an undefinable medical condition that confounds the best minds.  Stacia is torn between her duty as Captain and her duty as a mother; always trying to do best by both.  But when she discovers that her son’s condition may have been a gambit to control her command decisions; her anger is more than epic, it’s murderous.

All of these separate people are trying to do their best for the good of all Muungano but none of them can be sure of the outcome.  It is clear, though, that the author definitely has an overall game-plan.  This story, complex as it is, is simply the ‘origin’ story for a longer story arc.  One that I am certainly looking forward to; especially since I already have the second book on my shelf.

The story doesn’t have a unique plot but it does have unique world-building.  I will confess that I had to read it twice within a month.  I was unprepared for the unfamiliar cultural references and that interrupted the flow of the story for me.  I was also disconcerted by one of the voices that strived to be genderless.  I could have written a review after the first read but I was sure that I was missing too much and I was right.  A second read, and more familiarity with the characters, gave me a richer experience.  This was the first I’ve read from this author and I’m interested in seeing if all his works are written in the same style.  I was both impressed by and made wistful by his vision of a united people in an almost-utopia.  If I lived in this world, as a muzungu (a white person) I’d be envious.  And I can certainly attest to the more-than-probable scenario of jealous wazungu (lots of white people) deciding they had to be the ones in charge; making that the excuse to attack/subjugate/control – pick your verb.  So, I desperately hope that authors will write more stories to show us a better way to live; after all, words can move anything.  ~~ Catherine Book

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