"Boarding School" is a buzzword (buzzphrase?) for me and I was so excited that I put aside the fact I'm not really a horror reader but in the end that didn't matter as I just didn't care for this. I was immediately put off by how young the characters read - it definitely made it seem less scary.. or maybe it just wasn't really horror at all. In the end I dnf'd as I didn't care for it and I'm having to be picky about how I spend my time now.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this eARC. I am reading this ridiculously late I know so I apologise for that.

Unfortunately I didn’t like this one. The plot and setting was intriguing but the writing and the execution just didn’t work for me. I kept forgetting that the characters were 17/18 because they acted so much younger than that and the dialogue was stilted. The made up language Ifie as with her friend was just straight up cringe in my opinion and served no purpose for the plot.

I think this read more like a middle grade horror so if you like that type of thing you might like this, although there is some gore. It was released last year on 7th September.

I’m a sucker for the dark academia genre. “The Changing Man” by Tomi Oyemakinde is a tale of mystery and suspense set against the backdrop of a prestigious boarding school. The story follows Ife Adebola, a teenager who, despite her reluctance, finds herself at Nithercott School thanks to the Urban Achievers scholarship program. The school is rife with rumors of the Changing Man, a spectral figure said to alter the very essence of those he touches. When Ife’s classmate begins to exhibit odd behavior, she teams up with two other students to unravel the truth behind the legend.

The plot is gripping, with a blend of horror, young adult thriller, mystery, fantasy, and fiction elements. Ife is a well-crafted character whose skepticism and determination drive the story forward. Her journey from disbelief to a desperate search for answers is compelling and relatable. The supporting characters, including Bijal and Ben, add depth to the narrative, each with their motivations and backstories that intertwine with the central mystery.

One of the strengths of the book is its social commentary. The author touches upon themes of race and class, as Ife navigates the predominantly white, privileged space of Nithercott School.

Overall, “The Changing Man” is a solid young adult thrille. It offers a unique blend of horror and mystery with a side of social critique.

This could have been really good, had it been more fast-paced. Maybe I'm also just not the right audience for it..

Ife’s new school is full of rumours of The Changing Man and the myths that surround the old tale. But they gain traction when a student goes missing, and as she befriends that students younger brother in detention, she starts to question if they’re rumours after all. With students acting strangely and teachers obviously hiding something, Ife becomes determined to figure out the truth.

This book has a really gripping and interesting concept, and with a stand out cover it’s bound to pull readers in. Unfortunately this book didn’t quite hit it for me. I found the pacing really off, with it being very slow in the beginning and then towards the end, something massive would happen and be over within one sentence. There were times the plot was confusing, and I also found Ife to be quite unnecessarily mean and obstructive for plot value and not for deep rooted character reasons. The book does pick up towards the end in terms of writing and plot, but it feels like somewhat of a slog to get there.

The book was really slow for me and I found it hard to get invested into the action or the characters. I really wanted to love this. I will however keep an eye for further books from the author!

Just gotta say i loved this so much i went out and bought the book from Waterstones.

I loved the idea of it being set in a boarding school mainly because they tend to make the best stories as its kids away from home where anything can happen but when you add the horror element and it boosts everything by 100.

Defo recommend this book.

When I saw the cover I thought it was going to be a creepy horror. It's an atmospheric story with some creepy and eery moment.
It's a bit slow at the beginning but it grabbed me after some chapters and kept me hooked.
Tomi Oyemakinde is an excellent storyteller and this is recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I mostly wanted to get my hands on The Changing Man because of the UK cover. I mean, look at that thing! It’s so creepy. I wanted a good creepy read for Halloween, and was super intrigued by this synopsis. Unfortunately I found that the book was too slow. The beginning focused too much on the private school drama and didn’t spend enough time on building the spooky atmosphere. This book would have benefitted from a change in pace to keep the reader interested after the strong start with a teenage boy disappearing.

The premise hooked me but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. There were so many twists and the plot kept me on my toes, I just wish the atmosphere had been more dark and spooky. Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for a chance to read and review this book.

At first I was unsure about this book, it was a little slow however 1/4 of the way through it really stepped up the pace and it was amazing. It was really unique in regards to the story line, and I like the mix of characters aswell as the ever changing and twisting plot. Couldn’t stop reading once I hit the 50% point!

While I loved the tense and spooky atmosphere of the first half of the book, the second half let me down a fair bit. However, I think my students will really enjoy this so I will be getting a copy on for them to read.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. This review will contain mild spoilers.

The premise of this book is intriguing, and from the first chapter I was looking forward to a spooky mystery, but it didn't really deliver. The main characters act like children, who are 'not like the others' at the boarding school (frankly, I didn't even know 18 year olds went to boarding school), and it felt like they didn't really like each other? Bee was trying hard to become friends with Ife, and overall came off a bit suspicious, but nah they’re just 'friends', with a very weak friendship imo. Ben felt like it was more about the mystery than a friendship, and yet he says they're trying to be friends? Even Zanna didn't feel like a 'best friend'. It was all very weak. The characters themselves weren't that inviting, nor did we learn that much about them (apparently Ife is a brilliant artist but only draws about twice), every teacher was a prick or a bit weird, her parents felt very distant and not especially loving, and the vibes were overall of much younger characters. The dialogue again felt younger or cringey, and please for the love of god never say 'rearranged my insides' in the context of driving a car ever again, especially when it's a student and teacher in said car. A lot of phrases were used repeatedly, paragraphs would just... end, and the pacing was off. It was very slow and we didn't really get anywhere, just introducing new characters who wouldn't tell us anything, and it all felt a bit frustrating and made the book feel very long. The kindle version of the ARC was also not formatted very well and quite clunky to read, but after cross referencing with the netgalley app, some readability issues still persisted. I genuinely think this could do with a good edit - a lot of unnecessary paragraphs (there was a fair bit about a presentation Ife had to give at the beginning, which then just faded off into ellipses and felt very pointless - I feel her panic attacks could have been demonstrated more effectively without dragging us through this particular plot point), repetition, and general fumbling around that didn't add anything and I can only assume was to fill a word count?

Now, the changing man starts off very mysteriously with spooky vibes, then disappears? Ife thinks he's real and following her, but doesn't seem that concerned given that she found out about him due to Leon's disappearance. The Aldi Scooby Doo gang try to do some investigating, with no one willing to share info, and a fair bit of breaking and entering. Students are changing personalities overnight but no one else seems to care. Then, we get to a very cringey reveal of weird Doctor who Ganger's that can be defeated like a Slitheen (I swear to God, they’re defeated with pickles) and everything sort of fell apart into a cringey mess and Ife just walks in and saves a bunch of people, and we're left with a very lacklustre ending - no idea what will happen to the people that were copied, why protecting the school was such a big deal (there doesn’t seem to be any backlash to burning it down but Mr Ingham was adamant it was important to save and justified buying/copying/'devouring' kids?), or why the hell I just wasted my time reading this book. It was just a bit silly, and I was so glad to be done with it.

TLDR: 18yo written like children with weak characterisation and relationships ask some questions, break in to places, defeat the clones with pickles and fire, and then it ends without answering any questions.

Similar to Ace of Spades, I was ready for a spooky read! I found that the first half set the atmosphere really well and I was absolutely hooked but for me it went downhill in the second half when the clues just didn't add up in the way I was expecting. It wasn't quite as scary as the impression I got from the cover!

Firstly I am no longer a young adult so I’m not really the target audience but I do like YA books and this novel The Changing Man is not bad, it’s set within a posh boarding school, Nithercott where no one seems to care that Nithercott has been losing some of their students and when some come back they are seemingly different, So when new girl Ife arrives, feeling homesick and estranged from her friends, she’s soon joins up with Ben (whose brother is missing) and Bijal who seems to know everything about the history of the school. Can they solve the mystery of the changing man?
The story has a familiar feel to it and the teachers are stereotypically awful and it’s not as scary as you might expect but it is a reasonable debut novel.

I enjoyed how atmospheric and tense this book was. It was an enjoyable YA Dark Academia mystery with some of the wildest twists I have read for a while. I also loved Ife as a character as well, with her passion, determination and drive. She is deeply vulnerable with loneliness as a key theme of the book.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I've absolutely fallen in love with this book. It was new, it was different and it was exciting. Amazing quick read. 4.5 stars. Highly recommended

Firstly, I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this upcoming book.

I’m disappointed with this book. I could not get along with it at all. I read the prologue and felt a little cringed out; it’s too pre-teen for me. I hate text-speech; I’m not a fan of it shown in written context and the dialogue for the characters was too childish for my liking. It was very much a high-school read with school crushes and antics and the language used from the narrator but also the characters. My preference is clearly for faster paced mystery novels and I went into it with high expectations. I may come back to this at a later date but for now I’ve left it at that.

In the few chapters I read, the characters weren’t as developed as I would have liked. They lacked personality and were childish - the beginning is set in a secondary school for the “elite” and tagged as a Young Adult book however I feel as though it relates more to a middle-grade rating.

With that being said, the storyline is a good premise. I like the idea of a teen-detective discovering the disappearance of a fellow student; it’s giving me A Good Girls Guide to Murder vibes and I love it. I thought this would be a creepy thriller/mystery book and I was so excited to read it, but after 4 chapters it just wasn’t gripping me and I’m sad to say I did DNF it.

Another positive note: I LOVE the cover! This is right up my alley and looks like something I’d enjoy reading, hence the high expectations. The orange and black compliments one another so well and it’s giving me Halloween vibes!

final rating: 3.5

this book gave me an x-files x stranger things vibe.

it kept me reading and i didn't feel bored. i don't think it was mega spooky, but it did feel like a mystery was unravelling. and i enjoyed the character dynamics. i also really enjoyed the author's writing style.

i loved the rep and how a lot of the main characters were black + brown. i've also never seen yoruba in a young adult book before, so that was really cool to see!

i wish the pacing was a little faster - it was good to begin with, but felt like it took a while to pick up again. but even when it was a little slow, it was interesting enough to keep my attention. i honestly feel like this could possibly become a series where the mc continues solving other mysteries! but as far as i'm aware, at the moment, it is a stand alone.

all in all, it was a good read + i'm excited to see more from the author in the future.

Teen thrillers and dramas set in posh boarding schools are being published at an alarming rate and I review them at an alarming rate, however, there are probably few as whacky as Tomi Oyemakinde’s debut The Changing Man. Billed as a ‘speculative thriller’ the final third is totally bizarre and not what I was expecting in the slightest, moving from school drama with racial overtones into full Stranger Things mode. The action starts with teenager Ife joining Nithercott School through its prestigious Urban Achievers Program, which aimed to support poorer but very clever pupils. Ife already feels very different as there is only one other Black girl in her school year and does not feel she is made to feel very welcome. I found some parts of this story hard to believe, not that the privileged might have racist attitudes, but the fact that the kids on the Urban Achievers Program had to wear different school uniforms to single them out as ‘different’. The eye is in the detail and I just do not see this happening in any school and I found this more unbelievable than the wild direction the story takes. I also found all the teachers to be unnecessarily unpleasant, almost like caricatures of stuck-up spinsters, and I struggled with this as they dished out detention after detention or shouted at kids for little reason.

The mystery itself was fast paced and engaging and Ife was a fun character to spend time with. One could feel her anxiety levels increasing as her phone was confiscated and struggles to settle in class with no friends and being unaware how the school ticked. There was one particularly unsettling scene where a teacher pulls her up for having her skirt too short, not realising (or maybe not caring) that the skirt has been rolled up because it was second hand. Soon Ife makes friends with Ben and Bee and she is sucked into the mystery to find Ben’s elder brother who disappeared in the prologue and it takes them to the most unsuspecting places and into the path of a local legend ‘The Changing Man’. The kids were the best part of this story, the Changing Man lacked any fear factor and did not appear in the novel until well into the action. One might wonder why the police did not show more interest in disappearing children, but it does all tie in nicely at the end, leaving things open for a sequel. A nice blend of racial commentary, thriller, boarding school drama and some outlandish plot developments. AGE RANGE 12+