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A review by melaniereadsbooks
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-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
3.25
Thank you to Netgalley, Bookish First, and Penguin Teen for an arc of this book.
Jake Livingston can see Dead World, and it's having quite the effect on his life. But when the ghost of Sawyer Doon, a deceased school-shooter, escapes his loop and starts going after others, he finds a particular interest in Jake and his medium abilities. Jake will have to stop Sawyer before he kills more people.
There are a lot of really great things about this book. I love the exploration of his sexuality that Jake goes through, and the character growth that happens. I love the idea of dead world and medium who has to stop the ghost that escaped his loop.
Some things that tripped me up about this book were the pacing and the writing style. Even though I thought the plot and characters were really interesting, I felt the pacing was too slow for what was actually happening, and I just didn't love the writing style. There were times when it was too much in a characters head and other times when it spent too long on descriptions.
This was a good spooky thriller with a lot of meaning behind it though, and I absolutely love the cover!
Pub date: July 13, 2021
Jake Livingston can see Dead World, and it's having quite the effect on his life. But when the ghost of Sawyer Doon, a deceased school-shooter, escapes his loop and starts going after others, he finds a particular interest in Jake and his medium abilities. Jake will have to stop Sawyer before he kills more people.
There are a lot of really great things about this book. I love the exploration of his sexuality that Jake goes through, and the character growth that happens. I love the idea of dead world and medium who has to stop the ghost that escaped his loop.
Some things that tripped me up about this book were the pacing and the writing style. Even though I thought the plot and characters were really interesting, I felt the pacing was too slow for what was actually happening, and I just didn't love the writing style. There were times when it was too much in a characters head and other times when it spent too long on descriptions.
This was a good spooky thriller with a lot of meaning behind it though, and I absolutely love the cover!
Pub date: July 13, 2021
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Abandonment