Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC. All opinions are my own. Now, onto the review.

I wanted to love this book. The Changing Man had an interesting premise and I absolutely love gothic mysteries and settings. I’ve read Jane Eyre so many times I essentially have it memorized. If it’s gothic, it’s for me. And this is a general trigger warning for the book for body horror and gore.

Ife is an artist going to a prestigious school on a scholarship. The Urban Achievers Scholarship. The school is heavily white, and there’s this one teacher who just seems to enjoy ripping into her during the class one day. She’s one of the few Black kids at the school.

She’s there on an art scholarship but we don’t see her making a lot of art. She does occasionally but, before the end, even in the end, it didn’t seem like it mattered.

She and the other characters were okay as far as being distinct but oh my GAWD this girl is a crybaby. And I get it, stress, she’s moved away from her old school and is away from her friends but she’s just ready to cry at the drop of a hat. She cries often. And I was rooting, begging for her to just hold it in and start her change process.

There’s another girl who went to a school that was sister schools with Ife’s old school Whew. And y’all, this girl is so annoying. She clings to Ife like a tick after finding out, trying to force her to be her friend. I mean she is always showing up, trying to ingratiate herself to Ife. It was annoying. And then she had the gall to get mad that Ife didn’t treat her like a “real” friend.

Girl, you crawled up her butt and made yourself at home, yeah, y’all ain’t friends yet. Yes, they do become friends but still. Yeesh. She tried inviting herself places and that’s just annoying. This girl was annoying. And then picked the worst time to start an argument that made no sense later on.

Now, there’s a boy and his older brother Leon (of course I remember him but not the character’s name) is missing. And he’s been trying to find him. He lashes out at people over it, he’s the class clown. Ticks teachers off big time. He was okay. Like I said, the characters were just okay.

But there were events where things were said and they were supposed to be emotional but they didn’t feel earned.

Mild spoiler below.

Like he tells Ife she’s everything his brother wanted him to be. Smart, good in class, has friends. And I was like, sir, she cries in class, has no friends, and this is the fourth or fifth conversation you two have had and the first three were you being incredibly rude because you thought she spilled dirt on your brother to the school gossip blog.

There was no emotional set up and this wasn’t earned.

End of spoiler.

The author wants to write these scenes where the characters have these emotional moments but they don’t feel right, they fall flat because they aren’t earned. The characters haven’t gone through enough, gotten close enough, for what they’re saying to ring true. So it was a bit heavy handed. Like, you can’t shoehorn in a relationship just so you can write something sappy.

Honestly, this book would have been 2 stars if it wasn’t for the actual villains in this book. I was very intrigued by them. And I want to know more. Also, the author had a way with metaphors. Sometimes, the writing could be very beautiful. But that didn’t extend to the entirety of the prose.

Some of it was very weak only to be followed by something beautiful. It was giving me whiplash to be honest. I think the author should focus more on that beautiful writing and find a way to really apply those skills to everything because when those moments happened, I loved it.

Something else, I think this author should try writing a male character next time. He wrote Ife in just such an annoying, kind of weak way. Her most defining characteristic was her crying. That’s what stands out the most to me. That and the fact that she really pushed that growth until the last possible moment. Which was annoying. I was rolling my eyes at the way she tried to justify her cowardly behavior after some of the braver things she did.

I don’t want to ramble so I’ll wrap up here.

This gets 3 stars from me, and that’s mostly for the evil, the villains, how that was done, and the occasional beautiful prose. This is a very close 2 star. I think if you want to read a book with interesting villains, this is worth the read.

I wanted to love this book. It has all the makings of a memorable almost gothic tale. There's the school which is almost a character in and of itself. There are creepy people with strange behaviors. There are just enough twists and turns to keep readers reading. The "creepy" factor was a win for me. The characters seemed familiar. I think this author will learn and grow and the next book will knock it out of the park. Thanks, NetGalley!

I was excited to receive an ARC for this book but I found that it did not meet my expectations. It read as more of a high school drama than a thriller/mystery /horror. I wanted more from it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This book starts with a solid premise - a girl out of her element at an elite prep school where something strange is happening. This is a set up we see surprisingly often in teen fiction but Oyemakinde uses it well. It's not just that Ife is one of only a few Black girls at the school. She's part of the "Urban Achievers" program, a system that allows the school to appear inclusive and generous while remaining overall classist and at times racist. The characters are decent if a little one-note. The setting is strong. The plot itself, though, wavers. The early chapters have strong spooky vibes and are reminiscent of "Get Out". Once the characters begin to uncover what is actually happening at the school, though, it begins to lose me. I won't get into the details here because I'm strictly anti-spoilers but the reveal barrels right past the boundaries of my willing suspension of disbelief. It's a plot that may work for some but which I ultimately found disappointing.

Ife, a talented artist, is part of the Urban Achievers program at Nithercott School, a prestigious, and expensive, private school that comes with its own urban legend: the Changing Man. Ife doesn’t want to be at Nithercott, seeing as she doesn’t really fit in with many of her wealthy classmates; she is even made to wear a different uniform due to her scholarship and status as an Urban Achiever. Thankfully she has Malika, the only other Black student in her class, by her side to navigate Nithercott School, but when Malika starts acting strange Ife wonders if maybe the rumors she has heard about the Changing Man are true. Ife soon finds an ally in Ben, a student who strongly believes that the Changing Man exists. Ben even believes that the Changing Man is responsible for the disappearance of his brother Leon. Soon Ife and Ben, along with their friend Bijal, find themselves working together to uncover the truth about the Changing Man and solve the mystery of Leon’s disappearance before the Changing Man finds his next victim.

The Changing Man was a novel I struggled with a little. I didn’t feel as though I could connect with the characters; so many of them were childish and petty, and frankly annoying at times. They didn’t act how I would expect privileged kids to, which made it hard to really care about anything that was happening to them. The narrative overall fell a little flat and didn’t deliver the way I had hoped it would based on the synopsis and prologue. It took too long to get into the meat of the story, which led to me losing interest in the narrative before the Changing Man really began to play a part in the story. I feel as though there is a great story here, it just was executed poorly.

Ife Adebola would like to be anywhere but at the prestigious Nithercott School but she is trying her best to try and fit in. Until some of her classmates begin to disappear. The Changing Man is a mystery involving kidnapping and supernatural forces. While the social commentary flowed with the overall plot, the school life, kidnapping and reasoning for them did not gel well. The folklore behind the supernatural forces was weak and not well incorporated. This seemed to be a patchwork of plots and te characters did not have enough depth to push the story forward.

Academic setting with creepy, eerie suspenseful scenes through the entire book. I love that the main character was a girl from a supportive family, but just did not have the means to pay for such a prestigious school. She is beating the odds of people in her community. Think that she’s poor orphan but that’s not the case. I love that changing man is hunting kids and transforming them into someone else with a different personality almost like a possession. The audiobook was really good for me because it was an art. It did have some unedited number counting. That was just weird but I absolutely loved it.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read! Admittedly, I was hoping for a lesser focus on high school drama and more emphasis on the eerie monster aspect.

However, the inclusion of a mystery, spearheaded by Ife and her friends, effectively balanced out the narrative midway through. The trio's camaraderie was evident, and the scenes featuring all three of them together were particularly engaging.

While I developed an affinity for Bijal and Ife, I felt that Ben's character could have been more fully developed.

Additionally, the initial scenes depicting the monster left a strong impression on me, with the atmospheric descriptions of the orange mist and the peculiar flora it left behind creating a vivid and compelling setting.

While the prologue captivated me and had me excited to see the direction this novel would take, by the thirty percent mark I felt like I still knew next to nothing about Ife and especially Ben. The story focused more on high school drama than the mystery and moved at a slower pace than I'd hoped. I enjoyed the writing and the premise grabbed me, but I think this book just wasn't for me.

Thanks for approving me to read The Changing Man!

I've read more ridiculous things, but the combination of absurdity and shocking dullness was new to me. I'm really only posting this review because I'm damn proud of myself for getting all the way to the end.

This one was hard to get through for me. It was quite slow paced and I struggled a bit. Although it was a bit slow, the author’s writing style was good. As the story progressed it did pick up and I found the spooky/thriller plot to be interesting. It did give creepy vibes which that was a plus! I think this one would be perfect for the targeted YA/teen audience with the high school drama going on. I would gift this one to my teen niece and I think she would love it!

For the first part of this book I had a hard time connecting with the story. About half way through the plot does pick up and takes a shift. I was kept engaged and plot committed to find out what was going on and what the reveal would be. There was a lot of high school drama that I felt like took a way a bit from the story. The plot twist and ending were so good I wish that same energy could have carried out from the beginning of the story. Overall, it was an okay read and I would read another book by this author. As this being the first book, I can only see the writing getting better from here.

I was excited to read The Changing Man, just from the name and cover alone. The writing style, however, was not for me. The beginning read very choppy and was so slowly paced — even with big events happening — that I struggled to stay interested. Hopefully other readers will enjoy it more than I did.

Well here are five things that may convince you to check out #TheChangingMan by Tomi Oyemakinde

1. A mystery that unravels over the book.

2. Good character foils. Everyone isn’t a likeable character but I think they mixed out well.

3. Some good genre mixing of speculative fiction. We get mystery, coming of age, horror and sci-fi/fantasy!

4. A good amount of plot twists, it gives you more than just one reveal.

5. Urban legend feels. I live for a good urban legend/folklore tale.

I was so excited to read The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde. The cover and description alone is enough to make me say “yes please”!

A wonderfully written YA debut. Oyemakinde has created a fantastic thriller.
And I’m excited to see what he creates next!
The characters are complex and well-developed.
Ife is a fascinating protagonist, driven by her ambition and determination.
Even Ben and Bijal were interesting and well portrayed.
An entertaining and intriguing mystery that took me on an incredible journey with these three.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

This was a creepy and chilling YA horror book. I enjoyed it. The ending played out in my mind like a movie. It was a little too rambly at times and I really disliked the random religious stuff thrown in but if you like a manageable horror check this one out.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I loved this book, absolutely LOVED it. It had the best fall-time, creepy & unsettling vibes, and I had such a hard time predicting what was going to happen next, let alone the ending. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

Thank you to Macmillan for my gifted copy of this book for review.

I have been on a recent YA kick, and this book was really something.

Ife (pronounced ee-feh) has started at a pretentious boarding school, on a scholarship. She is having trouble fitting in, missing her friends back home, and finding herself unintentionally in trouble. The school has a legend about someone or something in the woods known as The Changing Man. When Ife meets Ben, whose brother went missing shortly before, and Bee, the three form a friendship and are in search of answers. There is something strange happening to the kids at the school, and everyone seems to be covering it up.

The first half of the book is a little bit slow and gives a lot of detail about the school and less important characters, but it picks up into a wild monster (?) alien (?) creature (?) tale. Ife and her new friends need to defeat the leader, so the cycle of missing children doesn't continue.

The legend dubbed the creature "The Changing Man" because people would encounter it in the woods, and then all of a sudden have a complete personality shift. I found it fun to try to figure out what was going on,

There is a lot going on in this book. I don't know if it was one that most adults would enjoy, but it reminded me of a longer and more in depth R.L. Stine book. At first, I wasn't entirely sure where the book was going and if it was going to turn out to be a natural or supernatural explanation, but it quickly took an over-the-top supernatural turn.

Absolutely loved this book. Great characters and many twists and turns. This author does it every time. Looking forward to the next one. Great place and setting too! Everything a reader could ask for!

Short and Sweet Review
Ife is attending Nithercott school, but if she had the choice she wouldn’t be. Her family can barely afford the tuition and Ife doesn’t want anything to do with the other students or the school itself. The school has a legend called the changing man which Ife just considers a story that every school has, but when her friend Malika starts behaving differently she knows something is wrong. Ife teams up with Bijal who seems to know everything about the school, and Ben whose brother has recently gone missing. The more the trio dig the more they realize they’re in over their heads.
This book was not what I was expecting, I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. When I heard the school has a legend called the changing man I thought it would be something supernatural but I was way off on that account. Our main character Ife goes to this fancy school and everyone knows she’s on scholarship so she’s treated differently but she doesn’t care because she doesn’t want to be at the school or even liked by the other kids. Another student, Ben, his older brother goes missing and he believes it was the changing man but Ife doesn’t, not until her friend Malika goes missing and comes back a totally different person. Ife and Ben team up and eventually invite Bijal the know it all to help them. I will say Ife was a hard character to like, I think she didn’t want to get attached but the way she would push people away and the way she talked to Bijal who is one of the sweetest people was off-putting. One of the characters told Ife that she was selfish and only cared about herself and not anyone else involved and I agree, she needed to hear about how awfully she was treating people. I did like Bijal she knew a lot about the school she was like Velma from Scooby-Doo very logical and full of great ideas. I’m not sure what to make of Ben, I think he was light hearted and that was his way of dealing with his brother going missing. I did like how these three would sneak around campus at night and follow clues which would lead them closer to finding out what’s happening to the students. I will say the end result was a bit out of nowhere and not what I thought would happen. If I could describe what really happened I would say its a bit like the X Files.
Overall, this was an okay book. The plot sounded interesting but in the end I felt a bit let down because I was wanting something different. Ife was a character I found hard to connect with and I thought Ben and Bijal were better even thought they were secondary characters. Again, I was excited to read this especially after reading the synopsis but this just didn’t deliver.