Reviews

The Changing Man by Tomi Oyemakinde

lovegriefandgender's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

There's so much virtue in writing Black characters into genres from which they are typically excluded or mistreated -- there is an enormous amount of value in this. Having said that, this book is fun and distracting but not particularly well-written and feels quite derivative. 

maggie_tries_to_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

saraheunice's review against another edition

2.0

This book was fine. Exactly what it says on the tin - a YA novel about a weird boarding school. Probably not going to age well as it tried a bit too hard with the 2019 TikTok/VSCO girl vibe that is already faded from the memory of most young people and never really mattered to us old farts.

misskatreads's review against another edition

3.0

A very interesting plot, but I was not captivated by the story.

Set at the Nithercott boarding school, Ife is an aspiring artist on an Urban Achievers' scholarship, but something is wrong at the school. After one of her few friends goes missing then miraculously reappears but is changed...and not completely for the best. Soon Ife with the help of her friends will uncover a decades long myth/mystery of The Changing Man.

I enjoyed that the author went outside of the norm by having a straight up X-Files case going on. I just found that the story dragged in some parts and almost seemed to skip ahead in others.

mrhryt's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

2.0

janetthetrigger's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

vaughtgn's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

truoutrageousjem's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.0

tea_literature's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

adriannasophiabookss's review against another edition

1.0

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.