The Taking of Jake Livingston

I liked it, but not loved it like I thought I would. Yet, all the ingredients are there: I love Jake, the ghostly descriptions are top notch and it's a two voices story, which I like in a novel. This second voice is Sawyer, which I found interesting.

Infortunately, the story felt rushed. Right at the beginning, we are already put in front of a murder. And in Jake's world with his ghosts and ghouls. But at the same time, we don't know much about his gift and this other world. I would have liked more exposition and more details, more information on that. At the same time, some ghostly encounters were repetitive and didn't really add up to the story.

As for the « real life », I quite liked the other characters, Jake's family and friends. But again, too rushed. I would have taken more developpment from them. Same thing with the love interest.

The big fight was nice (althought I didn't like some events leading to it), and the ending was nice too, but again I'd have taken more.

In short, this is a less than 250 pages and it could have been easily be 100 pages more.

Still, I've liked it. I've liked that Jake is a queer Black kid. A bit too lonely and depressing at times (I found this story very dark sometimes), but that's on me. I like the writing and I think that for a first novel, it's quite good. This is an author I'll check in the future.

P.S. The cover is gorgeous!