THE REVENGE PLAYBOOK

Boarding school roommates work together to bring down a popular boy.

Uyai and Fiyin are seniors who share a dorm room at Blue Waters, an elite boarding school in Lagos. Fiyin, the shy, quiet daughter of a pastor, has been bullied for years. Uyai is popular and confident—as the female discipline prefect, she rules the school and crushes anyone who gets in her way. When Kola, Uyai’s nemesis and ex-boyfriend, humiliates her in front of the entire school, she decides to seek revenge rather than report him to the principal. Unable to carry out her plan alone and having learned a secret Fiyin has been hiding, Uyai blackmails Fiyin into helping her make Kola suffer. While the nonlinear format worked well in Onoseta’s acclaimed 2022 debut, How You Grow Wings, here it feels disjointed, with plot twists that don’t emerge organically from the storytelling. Both teens’ complicated familial relationships are intriguing, and the book would have benefited from more exploration of the complex societal issues the author raises. While Fiyin is a compelling character, and the resolution of her arc, if a bit rushed, demonstrates character growth, Uyai is less three-dimensional. The Nigerian school setting stands out as adding something new to the perennially popular genre of boarding school novels. Blue Waters’ culture of brutal bullying, strict hierarchies, and unsupportive teachers shapes the students, and these elements are effectively woven into the narrative.

An uneven story that unfolds within an engaging, well-drawn setting.