A review by gxldenrune
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

3.0

“If nothing else, I can go back to the Here and live in peace knowing something glorious awaits me on this side of fate. That alone gives me purpose. That alone gives me fight.”

it was a pretty nice book, featuring more themes than I thought it would.
I warmed up to jake, you can feel all the sadness and angst he experiences in his daily life and how he's the one who was to overcome that.

I liked a lot how the book makes very valid and important point about the difference between being a black gay and a white one, it's definitely not the same experience, and I feel it was very well portrayed in this book–not many stories are able to do that, mostly bc a lot of them only feature white people 💀.

it's not only just a ghost story, most of the "scarier" part were those that only show you the state of such country. the gun control issue and the racism, plus the homophobia in it. those were the things that gave me goosebumps.

I liked it, and I don't have anything bad to say about the book. maybe the main theme didn't got me truly, like the horror part is one of the main reasons of why I picked up this book, and somehow it felt like it lacked development or idk it just didn't stood up to me.