I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Author Anthony Adeloye looks at an alternate history for slavery in the 18th century in the book “Trevanock.”
The Synopsis
In 1782, the slave ships still sail, as they have for a hundred and sixty years. But the empire that owns them is African, and the cargo is white.
The Adunbi Imperium is the dominant power of the age, and its prosperity is built on the enslavement of Europeans. Its ships come for the fishing villages of Cornwall, and they take everyone.
Elias Hollowell, a fisherman of Trevannock, is seized at his own harbour, stripped of his name, and entered on the manifest of a slave ship called the Iyalode. Chained in the dark, he is carried across the Black Water toward a continent that will not even notice he has arrived.
But the lower deck keeps a discipline the empire cannot break. The enslaved hold the names of their dead, passing them hand to hand: every parish name, every village, every life the manifest tried to erase, so that no one crosses unremembered. Among them, Elias finds a bond second only to blood: crossing-kin.
Told as the recovered testimony of those who survived, Trevannock is the first book of Crossing-Kin: a sweeping, unflinching work of alternate history that turns the transatlantic slave trade inside out, and asks what we choose to carry, and what we refuse to forget.
History remembers what could have been.
THE REVIEW
This was a powerful, compelling alternate-history novel. The author brilliantly flips the narrative of the slave trade during the 18th century on its head and showcases the horrors that slavery brought into the world by showing what would’ve happened if Europeans had been the ones enslaved instead. The level of detail in the author’s unique writing style lets the reader feel fully immersed in the time. It also lets you visualize the main narrative’s unique concept and become emotionally invested in this cast of characters.
The world-building and the character development were really the foundation of this novel. The way the author explores not only the physical and emotional toll that enslavement took on these characters, but also highlights aspects of slavery, such as having their birth names stripped and given new names and the small acts of revolt that allow these characters to hold onto aspects of their own cultures, reflects the real-world struggles that slavery put upon specific communities. This narrative features many unique characters, including the protagonist Elias and his ally Cillian; their distinct backgrounds and cultures help cement their bond and shared trauma.
THE VERDICT
Visceral, important, and engaging, “TREVANNOCK” BY ANTHONY ADELOYE is a must-read alternative history novel. The twists and turns that the story takes, and the emotional depth of the character development, all form a solid foundation for a vital, important theme that runs through this novel: to highlight the real-world history of slavery and the devastating impact it has had on specific communities, and to allow readers to see not only what those struggles were, but to acknowledge the history that so many are trying to erase in this day and age. If you haven’t yet, please be sure to grab your copy today!
Rating: 10/10
About the Author
Anthony Adeloye is a Nigerian-British author based in the UK whose work explores history, empathy, identity, and human experience through speculative fiction.
His debut novel, Trevannock, is Book One of the CROSSING-KIN series, a five-book alternate-history saga set in 1782 in a world where the African Adunbi Imperium rules the Atlantic and the enslaved crossing it are European.
Through perspective reversal and immersive storytelling, the series asks a deeper question: what would it take for people to truly understand the lived reality of oppression?
By profession, Anthony is an IT executive specialising in software engineering and quality assurance, and the founder of CalyTeQ.
Trevannock is the story he had to write.
History remembers what could have been.
The CROSSING-KIN series continues with Black Water, Ferran’s Reach, Awakening, and Reckoning.
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