Publisher's Weekly Review
When Leon, a scholarship student at the prestigious Nithercott School, receives a text from his crush, he heads into the woods to find her. There, Leon instead encounters and enters a mysterious orange mist and is never seen again. A month later, Nigerian American Ife, a new student attending Nithercott, learns of his disappearance through rumors from peers. Some suggest that it's the handiwork of the violent Changing Man, the school's harrowing urban legend who "preys on the lonely at heart." Because of racist interactions with school administration and her anxiety attacks, Ife struggles adjusting to life at Nithercott, though she manages to befriend students Malika and Bijal. After Malika briefly goes missing and reappears with a seemingly different personality, Ife partners with Bijal and Leon's younger brother Ben to investigate the strange happenings at the academy. In this mind-bending supernatural debut, Oyemakinde uses a dark academic setting to examine themes of loss, loneliness, friendship, and change. Ife's developing bonds with Bijal and Ben help transform her from a withdrawn introvert into a fierce final girl as she navigates the narrative's hair-raising horrors. Supporting characters are intersectionally diverse. Ages 14--up. (Sept.)
Kirkus Review
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend. Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he's a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn't believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott's competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real--and that she's next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon's younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia. A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Urban legend meets dark academia at Nithercott Academy, the exclusive, expensive boarding school where Ife Adebola is a reluctant new recipient of one of a few "Urban Achiever" scholarships. Under intense pressure from her parents to perform well academically and frustrated at the loss of the familiarity of her old school, Ife really tries to keep her distance from her classmates, including energetic Bijal, bursting with determination to bring the truth behind the school's Changing Man myth to light in the aftermath of the disappearance of Nithercott student Leon. When yet another scholarship student and Ife's only chosen friend, Malika, vanishes and returns acting extremely unusually, Ife finds herself drawn into a plot with Bijal and Leon's brother, Ben, to discover and unmask the organized, institutional powers behind the Changing Man and the missing students. An interesting premise and some imaginative and horrific scenes are somewhat dampened by uneven pacing and difficult-to-accept scenarios (e.g., it's unlikely a teacher would be able to confiscate a parent-paid phone for an entire month). Ife's developing abilities to manage her anxiety are a highlight.
