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A review by livinthebubble
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
2.5
I'm sad I didn't really like this. It wasn't what I expected.
Plot
During the first half of the book, I was kind of bored and/or confused. The only thing that mildly piqued my interest was Sawyer's journal entries. The end of the book was more interesting.
Characters
I found Sawyer interesting, as I said before. I've always been obsessed with crime, be it CSI (the TV shows) or true crime podcasts. So I found his diary entries interesting, and how we can empathize with him and feel bad for him even though he murdered several people.
Jake was less interesting. I didn't like his powers (nor understand them). The astral projection was just confusing and weird to me and when they were fighting I couldn't understand what was happening. Also, he got random new powers when it was convenient. His backstory came out of nowhere and felt also convenient.
Although, I did like how the two characters were similar in their situations.
Not Scary Enough
I didn't feel like this was a horror book. It was more of a thriller. It could've been scarier or creepier.
Medium
I haven't read that many books about a medium/ anyone able to talk to or see ghosts. The only ones I have read are: the Cassidy Blake series, Ninth House and the Graveyard Book. I enjoyed all of these. But in this case, I didn't like the way the ghosts were described and how being a medium worked. Although, the loop was kind of interesting.
Scenes
The pencil scene was nice, I liked that. It added a nice "scary" vibe that I wanted throughout the book.
The ending scene with Allistair was cute, although I feel like the romance itself was unnecessary to the plot.
Overall, sadly not for me.
Plot
During the first half of the book, I was kind of bored and/or confused. The only thing that mildly piqued my interest was Sawyer's journal entries. The end of the book was more interesting.
Characters
I found Sawyer interesting, as I said before. I've always been obsessed with crime, be it CSI (the TV shows) or true crime podcasts. So I found his diary entries interesting, and how we can empathize with him and feel bad for him even though he murdered several people.
Jake was less interesting. I didn't like his powers (nor understand them). The astral projection was just confusing and weird to me and when they were fighting I couldn't understand what was happening. Also, he got random new powers when it was convenient. His backstory came out of nowhere and felt also convenient.
Although, I did like how the two characters were similar in their situations.
Not Scary Enough
I didn't feel like this was a horror book. It was more of a thriller. It could've been scarier or creepier.
Medium
I haven't read that many books about a medium/ anyone able to talk to or see ghosts. The only ones I have read are: the Cassidy Blake series, Ninth House and the Graveyard Book. I enjoyed all of these. But in this case, I didn't like the way the ghosts were described and how being a medium worked. Although, the loop was kind of interesting.
Scenes
The pencil scene was nice, I liked that. It added a nice "scary" vibe that I wanted throughout the book.
The ending scene with Allistair was cute, although I feel like the romance itself was unnecessary to the plot.
Overall, sadly not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, Rape, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Homophobia and Mass/school shootings