Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

20 reviews

sonias's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Violence

Minor: Drug use, Racism, and Rape

jackiie's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Abandonment, and Alcohol

asinglebird's review

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

Jake Livingston is one of a very small number of black students at St Clair Prep. He's not a swot, but neither does he fight against the rules like his brother, instead he tries to fly under the radar, however, he has an unusual problem. Jake sees ghosts, ghouls, & ectoplasm everywhere he goes & now he's being haunted by the ghost of a white school shooter, Sawyer Doon. Most ghosts are little more than replays of their death over & over, but Sawyer is different. He isn't tethered to one place, & he can communicate with Jake, & also commit murder. Jake doesn't know why Sawyer has chosen to haunt him but as things become more & more dangerous, he realises that if he doesn't banish Sawyer to the afterlife, he might be joining him sooner than he'd like.

Many of the characters in this aren't very nice, even Jake's older brother Benji bullies Jake & mistreats his on/off girlfriend. The best things are the friendship that grows between Jake & Fiona, another student at SCP, & his tentative friendship/possible relationship with new boy, Allister. The issue I had was that there was no explanation of when/how Jake is able to see ghosts etc & how long this has been happening, you're just thrown into the story. I also didn't find it credible that Jake would allow Sawyer to take over his body, yeah it's because he wants to try & find Sawyer's weaknesses to use against him, but he commits a crime using Jake's body. What about DNA evidence that could put him in the vicinity? Or if someone had seen him near there? Overall, it deals with some difficult subjects & I didn't really enjoy reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Drug use

goldendreams's review

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Slavery, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

schausjk's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Mass/school shootings, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Classism

Minor: Body horror and Drug use

the_wistful_word_witch's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

I loved this book, and it was a great spooky season read. This was an amazing, haunting, sad story that comes with a lot of trigger warnings. It's dark, complex, and reflective of a lot of the trauma that I think a lot of Black queer folk can relate to, apart from the ghost story. Luckily, there's just enough of a budding romance and new friendships to temper all the harsher emotions, so that the reader doesn't feel swamped by them.

Poor Jake is a bit beaten down by life in so many ways and just wants to be different from who he is: one of two Black boys in his school, gay, and never quite fitting in. Plus, the ability to see ghosts, spectres stuck in the moments leading up to their deaths, doesn't help, especially when a very violent ghost decides that Jake is the thing he wants most.

As a parent, I found this book so hard to read because it shows just how hard being a teenager can be, especially when things like racial and sexual identity, mental health, abuse, and bullying are thrown into the mix. I wanted to reach out to both Jake and Sawyer and give the hurting little boys inside them big hugs.

I really liked the way that Ryan Douglass resolves the story, though. It's a bright spark of renewed hope and life after all that darkness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual assault

Minor: Drug use

parasolcrafter's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

this book was fine but the two major events happened so fast i think i got whiplash 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Drug use

kayden__reads's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Car accident