Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

124 reviews

pickpoppies's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Jake Livingston is not like the other kids at St. Clair, he’s black and he sees dead people. Seeing ghost has become easier for him but one day a ghost stands out from the rest, it has bad intentions.

It was kind of funny because I picked this book a little on a whim. I wanted to do Blackoween despite half of the month being over, had seen this book mentioned and then I saw it by accident at the library so I grabbed it and liked it!

I haven’t read YA in a long time, might have to change that. It came across a lot more mature than plenty of fantasy I have started and DNF and plenty of cozy mystery.

It’s a pretty dark book and brings up suicide and school shootings. For me the spooky elements were not very spooky but the dark world view was in a way. 

There were areas that could have been better, the magic was a little unclear and even the writing at times were a tad confusing but I just thought, “F it” and went with it.

SPOILER:

How did he get away with murder/arson tho? After that fire wouldn’t the cashier mention the kid that came in? The kid that later cashed his car  possibly not that far from the fire… and there was kerosene all over the place? No? Also wished there had been an resolution between Grady and Jake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Bugs (couldn't find a tag for that)

the_vegan_bookworm's review

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

robi_locksley's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Transphobia

cover2covertx's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

There was a lot of internal dialogue and monologuing- a lot. The first half of the book I was completely invested but the second half was a lot of talking and thinking and not a lot of actual action driving the plot. Also, we need to include trigger warnings on the audiobooks too, because while I was prepared for the difficult content related to the violence of the ghost’s past, childhood SA is a deal breaker for me. Thankfully this was a buddy read so I had a friend fill me in before I got to that part. But I struggled overall with this one.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

eddieboy's review against another edition

I started reading this on a day where I was rather stressed and sleep deprived, I have a history of mental health problems and I'm queer, probably wasn't the best thing to read in a state where I was more at risk of those kinds of thoughts. It's a good book and it discusses things a lot of books leave out. But I have it as a library book and I'm not sure if I'm ready to face it again really. At least not yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content

queen_bri0110's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Murder

Minor: Racism

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

herelieshenry's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

3.75

This is a tough, but well-written, book. I’m a firm believer in the idea that if a child is old enough to experience something, they’re old enough to learn about it in an age-appropriate manner; that extends to the very difficult topics being dealt with here that, unfortunately, children experience every day, from mass violence to familial abuse to bullying and discrimination. On top of that, I think Douglass is genuinely very talented at writing Young Adult Horror, and these combine into a piece of art that I think is both accessible and very well-done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Gore, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

petite_madeline's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

Jake Livingston is different from all his classmates. And not just because he's one of the few Black students at his mostly-white private school. He's also the only one who can see the ghosts that wander through campus reliving their deaths.

I initially picked up this book because I saw people tagging it as dark academia and I was excited to finally see some diverse representation in the dark academia niche! This story takes place at a private school with themes of death/mystery, and there are setting descriptions that definitely fall in line with DA vibes. However I think that this book would also be enjoyable to people who love paranormal and/or queer horror.

This book ended up being way more intense and thematically heavy than I was expecting from YA, but I loved it! These are important conversations that need to be had: Black/queer intersectionality, gun violence in schools, gender norms/toxic masculinity, family acceptance/support, ancestral connections. It's a short book but there's so much packed in these pages!

Aside from the literary themes, Douglass also included beautifully descriptive and cinematic scenes that pull readers into a thoughtfully built paranormal world. Unfortunately, I struggle with slight aphantasia, meaning I have trouble creating mental images, so I ended up a bit lost during these highly visual scenes. I am jealous of anyone with a strong "mind's eye" who can thoroughly enjoy the detailed world that Douglass created.

The trigger warnings listed below may spoil some elements of the story, but please read if you may be sensitive to some of these potential triggers.

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Heavy trigger warnings for: Racism, homophobia, mass shootings, graphic violence, suicide, incest (attempted), sexual assault (attempted), child abuse (physical and emotional), animal abuse (bugs), fire

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Suicide

writingcaia's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

Besides the sometimes hard to follow supernatural scenes in the realm of souls, demons and astral projections, this was a very dark, intense and interesting YA horror tale.
In truth, this could have been told as a normal YA coming out and coming of age contemporary story, with a bit more trauma maybe, but the author chose well to explore the themes of abuse, neglect, bullying, school shootings (gun violence), racism, mental health and coming out as gay with a horror story. 
The book shifts between two POVs, that of Sawyer, the white, blond, gay boy, abused by all, with a severe psychosis bordering on sociopathy and the main character’s POV, Jake, one of the only Black students at a white Christian school where his brother is the known bad boy all girls fall for and he’s the loser spaced out most of the time because he’s a medium, thus is haunted at all times by ghosts and more, which is how he meets Sawyer.
Give it a go, it’s definitely worth it if the themes interest you and you like funky visual, supernatural horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Racial slurs