The Taking of Jake Livingston

Messy, boring, and weirdly paced. It wasn't scary. Jake was a boring character and can be summed up with the words of his brother: “Sometimes I do the most, but you don't do enough.” It's tiring reading about a character who has so obviously given up before he's even started making an effort.

The rules of this universe were never clearly defined. His powers are never explained (he seems to suddenly come up with new ones on the fly). What ghosts and ghouls can and cannot do is never established. This leaves readers not understanding the true stakes of his journey.

The writing is weirdly vague in it's descriptions too. It doesn't paint a vivid picture of the settings, or even the emotions of the characters. It feels like watching a movie where everything is just a little too dark and you can't actually see any of the scenes. The action sequences were just plain bad.

The one thing I enjoyed is Jake's relationship with Allister. I thought it was very cute and I'm happy they got a good ending.

That being said, some books can survive on pure vibes alone but this one can't. I had really high hopes but sadly, I was disappointed.