Succession with magic is probably the best description I’ve heard of this book. Squabbling families, morally bankrupt billionaires (aren’t they all?), a fortune at stake… After the sudden loss of their beloved—idolised—tolerated father, the Wren siblings come together for a will reading that will determine who is to inherit his magitech empire. The majority of the book is spent in the days leading up to said will reading, in which the siblings learn more about their father, themselves, and the magic they possess. Though definitely a slow burner, the book had its share of twists and turns—including a pretty iconic narrator reveal—to see the plot along. Similar to what I’ve read from her before, Blake’s writing focuses less on the plot and more on the characters with her unique narration and verbose paragraphs delving into our cast’s psyche. This creates impressively complex characterisations, but made it easy to lose the finer points about her worldbuilding and magic system. In a book clocking in at over 500 pages, I wish we could have had just a little bit more time dedicated to the compelling wider world Blake begins to spin here.

Gifted & Talented is a masterful study of messy relationships, complex characters and societal pressures. I loved the premise of the book, sibling rivalry in the context of grief. Every character was unlikeable but I was also engrossed in their narratives.
Olivie Blake uses such lyrical prose to engage you as a reader, every book of theirs has beautiful and hauntingly human quotes. We spend a lot of time in the characters headspace and I liked this element. The plot is not the focus here but the humans are.
There’s a hint of magic as well that I think really added a distinct sense of how we can influence our lives and others.
This book is definitely one to read when you want to get into some messy lives and undesirable heads. I keep seeing comparisons to Succession, looks like I have a new show to binge.
Overall an interesting and powerful read.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

References to Succession, the Umbrella Academy, or even Knives Out don’t do this book justice. A completely unhinged character study on three different flavours of daddy issues but it was so incredibly entertaining that even if it was a bit too long I didn’t mind finding out more

Oh where to begin… I had high expectations for this book. Dark academia, family intrigues, an interesting blurb, morally grey characters, and I absolutely loved The Atlas Six (I’ve only read the first book so far). Sadly, this book turned out not to be what I hoped it would be.

What I did like about this book:
+ The writing style. It’s chaotic, filled with humour, and often reads like someone who’s rambling and can’t stop. It also adds a lot of emotion to the story.
+ The main characters are sooooo messed up and make completely illogical choices, making this story very entertaining.
+ They, luckily, experience some character development throughout the book, they seem to learn something from past events, although not as much as I would have liked.
+ The unreliable, omniscient narrator provides us with some kind of unexpected twist in how the story is being told.
+ The magic seems very interesting.

What I didn’t like so much about this book:
- Its length: about halfway through I began to lose my interest in the story. The level of entertaining characters who are so self centered and keep making bad decisions, can provide, will only get you so far. It kept dragging on, without much happening, and I had the feeling that if I would have skipped a few chapters here and there, I wouldn’t have missed anything important.
- I love morally grey characters, but these just don’t make sense, they are not believable people for even one second.
- The magic: it’s there, but we get no explanations and barely any in-depth analysis of what it can do and what the costs are… It almost, not completely, but almost, felt like it barely added anything to the story.
- I didn’t like the shift of focus that happened about halfway through.
- It’s almost 100% character driven instead of plot driven. I’m someone who craves a decent plot in a book, and thus found this one lacking. If you’re more of a character-driven-story kind of person, you can ignore this bullet point.

Still, it’s not like I strongly disliked this book. I just couldn’t care enough about it I guess. Hopefully, I’ll have a better time reading The Atlas Paradox.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. 3.5/5 stars.

I've been waiting to read something by Olivie Blake that gives me the same feeling as when I read the Atlas Six and she sure delivered.

Sadly this felt a little too much like a Parisa/Libby/Tristan AU for me to really enjoy it too much.

I really enjoyed how Arthur feels *everything* so fully, Meredith and Jamie’s situation was great to read, and Eidith really grounded the narrative (wild thing to say when she literally causes apocalypses but I stand by it). I enjoyed the story as a whole, the relationships are messy, the characters are complex, but it just really took a really really long time to get going.

I will say take my review with a pinch of salt, I probably shouldn’t have read a book about family issues and losing family members at this time, so I can’t promise my reading hasn’t been impacted.

Firstly, thank you to Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book.

This was going to be my first Olivie Blake book and I was really excited since there are other books by her that caught my attention before. Sadly, the file uploaded for the book was corrupted and was very difficult to read, having to guess many of the words.

I even contacted Netgalley to sort this out. That was about one month before publication day, and I kept redownloading the file every few days to check on the formatting. Unfortunately, the second file uploaded was again corrupted. Words on top of each other, paragraphs repeated several times on different pages… Would have loved to read this book but it was an impossible mission.

I would like to make a proper review on different platforms after the release date when I can read the book.

Thank you again for the opportunity anyway.

I enjoyed this, it isn’t my favourite Olivie Blake but it’s still beautifully written.

My main issue was the characters were so unlikeable, I know that’s kind of the point but without at least one to connect with it did make it a bit of a slog to get through.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for allowing me to read and review this eARC

As always Olivie Blake does not disappoint!
This was a salacious cross of Succession and The Umbrella Academy; darkly humorous and entertaining.

The pacing especially with handling three different character perspectives was really good. I also really liked the sprinkle of omnipresent narrator added throughout, I think it matched well with how each sibling had their own their way of dealing with the grief and circumstances they were given.

I think anyone looking for a family drama filled with wit and dark humour, sprinkled with some magic and technology, will enjoy this greatly!

While I did enjoy the writing, which is always so poetic, I couldn't see myself getting attached to the characters. I know they are written in a way that ensures a person doesn't like them, but there was something about them that wasn't capturing my attention. For the first 50% these characters annoyed me, especially because of how they acted despite the news that their father had died.

But that's also the beauty of the writing and why I kept on going, because I knew that Olivie Blake writes characters that will eventually have an impactful storyline. Their character arcs are not always improving, but there's sometimes an element of humanity coming into play at the end. And I am so happy I pushed through.

Things really started to get wild in the last 50%, and I was super invested in it all. I didn't care who got their father's business, I was more invested in the side stories, the little journeys the characters went on and how their relationships changed along the way.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC for my honest review.

This is very much a contemporary book with some magical realism sprinkled in, but still an entertaining read!

If you want a book with great family drama, character depth and a critical lens on social issues and the tech industry. Then this is a great book. However, if you want lots of magic, then this is less so the book for you.

But this book really sucks you in, with characters that were both loveable and hateable. Their lives are messy, but you can’t look away!

🩰🗳️💻

Premise:

Thayer Wren, CEO of tech empire Wrenfare, dies suddenly. The week following his death his three adult children come together at their family home, to reflect and most importantly, understand who will be taking over his empire.

But at the same time, they are all dealing with their own issues, which stem from their overarching desire to impress their father.

Meredith Wren is facing fraud allegations for her own tech company.

Arthur Wren is facing losing an election, whilst navigating his polyamorous affair.

And Eilidh Wren, the only one who seemed to love her father, just brought forth the apocalypse.

💻🗳️🩰

This is a truly character driven book, and all their stories are incredibly compelling.

My favourite dynamic was Arthur and his wife. Despite Gillian’s fear of physical intimacy, I absolutely adored their emotional intimacy! The way their communication developed and their cavalier attitude by the end towards public perception was just fantastic. Plus I loved Yves and the energy he brought to all his interactions!

Meredith on the other hand is incredibly unlikeable, but probably grows the most as a character. I think certainly seeing her through Jamie and Lou’s eyes certainly helps humanise her (oh to be adored how Jamie adored her!). And I love her bantering dynamic with Arthur. And by the end, her heart to heart with Eilidh, definitely warmed me to her. I did also love her attitude in the face of misogyny in her industry (and even getting angry about ancient curses specifying eldest sons!)

Eilidh is the most interesting in the sense of her apocalypse dilemma but at times perhaps didn’t have the most exciting story compared to the others, potentially because she was the only character actually grieving. But I enjoyed her personal reflection and strength she gained.

And the magic… I’m torn whether I liked it in this book. (I say, as an avid fantasy reader) Part of me feels the book could have held its own very easily without it. But certainly I understand how in part it was needed as a reflection of the characters and for Eilidh to take control of herself.

Either way, it was still a good book!

I would say, whilst I read this, I suspect it could be quite an entertaining choice for an audiobook listen, just due to the tongue in cheek nature and direct nature of the narration.

I cannot decide if I liked or hated this book. The characters are both deeply unlikeable but also you can’t help but root for them. This sorry had the most unreliable narrator I’ve ever encountered- but it was honest about that- and it was funny. I found the writing needlessly verbose in places and the ending felt really drawn out, I really don’t know what to make of this one

Olivie Blake has a really identifiable writing style that is very common in all her books- this really isn't for everyone and if i didn't consume her books via audiobooks then i don't think they would be for me- that being said, i do listen to them via audio and i honestly love everything she writes. For me she does complex characters really well and her books hinge almost fully on the character dynamics and journeys they take.

This particular story centres around grief and spoilt intellectuals and class divide. It gave me a lot of Fall of Usher vibes and the subtle magical system was really fun. I love stories that follow different character storylines that end up all coming together.
The narrator we find out later on in the story is hilarious and likeable- amongst some really unlikeable characters- however because we know they are part of the story fairly early on it gives the narrator unreliable qualities!

I really enjoyed this book- it took me a little to get into it but when i did i found it incredibly binge-able and couldn't put it down

𝘋𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

This was such an interesting, thought provoking read and one that I had to pace to truly immerse myself into the psyches of these flawed, yet intriguing characters that @olivieblake has created. I am floored by how she has written such awful and complex characters, but she had me rooting for them by the end of it all? 🤯

Like before Babel had fallen, some prior versions of themselves were laid in the same brick, sharing the same mortar, such that they’d always been able to speak the same language no matter what forms they took.

Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh are each gifted in their own ways and have grown up privileged, under the care of their dad, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitexh. Except he has now passed on and leaves an incredible legacy as the “father of modern technology”. The three siblings are now forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential. On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins. Yet as they gather to read his final words, which of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children could inherit the Wrenfare throne?

THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY. Especially if you enjoy the following:

The story blends dark academia, speculative fiction and sci-fi, with lots of intelligent banter. It is also extremely character-driven, and is the perfect read for those who like to spend time in the characters’ mind, understanding the way they think through their inner monologues and scrutinizing how they’ve come to be who they are through their relationships with others. It is also a brilliant critique of the current state of the world - the power dynamics of a woman (even as a leader) in a male dominated industry, the desperation to feel recognized by your parent, the question of if we can ever find true happiness, the dysfunctional dynamics between siblings, and how helpless one can feel when the everything around you feels uncontrollable.

This characters was messy and I loved it. There are some romantic relationships as a subplot - and yes, I was toxic enough to be rooting for them 🤡

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan Publishers for this arc!

I’m no stranger to Olivie Blake’s writing so I went in with high expectations for this book and it met them. This story is about three siblings bounded by blood but completely fractured like so many families can be. The story is told through shifting perspectives of Meredith, Arthur and Eilidth and is completely character driven where we experience how people can grow up in the same house, have the same parents but experience entirely different versions of the people who raised them. The story is messy but painfully human with some sci-fi put in the mix and leaves you pondering. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can’t wait to see what Olivie comes out with next.

Olivie Blake is one of my favourite authors, so my expectations for this book were pretty high. I was not disappointed. If you loved her other books, you will also enjoy this one.

Gifted and Talented follows the Wren siblings, and the point of view moves between them. Blake once again created complex, messy, unlikeable and perfect characters that will now live rent-free in my head for the foreseeable future. This novel features dysfunctional adults, complex sibling dynamics, toxic ambition, the weight of parental expectations, the need for parental approval, and the drive to become better than one’s spiteful father. This all comes to the boiling point when Thayer Wren dies, and the Wren siblings are forced to face each other and their messy relationships.

It took me a few chapters to get fully immersed in this story, but after that, it was extremely hard to put down. I think adding Lou’s point of view was a brilliant move, as she is an outsider, but she’s close enough to the Wren family to know their secrets. I loved her style of narration.

Also, I listened to the audiobook of this novel and found it perfectly done. The narrator conveyed the sense of a luxurious and upper-class setting, as well as the loud, messy emotions the characters experience.

To sum up, I just loved this book.

Thayer Wren, brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech, is dead. As the ‘father of modern technology,’ he leaves an incredible legacy. But which of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children could inherit the Wrenfare throne?

I loved this book and didn’t want to put it down in s I started, there is something about Olivie Blake’s writing style that draws you in from the beginning and keeps you hooked.

The tag line for this book is “Where there’s a will there’s a war” and I think Blake does an excellent job of portraying the intricacies of human relationships and sibling rivalry.

I would highly recommend.

Olivie Blake is a once in a generation talent. No one, and I mean, NO ONE can write like this woman can !!

Her writing style is so effortlessly unique— it’s electric and whimsical, intelligently weaved together with such purpose and intent. With anyone else I would find the style a bit superfluous but there’s this quality to it that is so distinctly her that I always fall in love with her work. I loved the complex family dynamics in the book alongside the edgy sci-fi setting. Blake is really good at mixing genres (like Masters of Death) and executing the genre-mischief combination effortlessly rather than it feeling clunky and vague.

I’ll just read whatever she writes at this point :)

This was my first Olivie Blake book and while I do think it was a little bit of a miss for me, I definitely think she has so much talent!! I think this just wasn't for me but the writing was really unique and the characters and their bond so complex, I applaud Olivie so much for that!

Read this if you like:
-Contemporary Fantasy
-Character-driven
-Unique family bonds
=Complex characters

Thank you Tor for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Gifted & Talented follows the lives of three siblings after their father dies.

Meredith Wren - unlikeable, terrible and willing to anything to get what she wants.
Arthur Wren - socialite first, congressman second. Wanting to be loved and love in return.
Elidh Wren - father's favourite, working for Wrenfare after a terrible injury that killed her ballet career.

Who gets their fathers throne? WELL - let me tell you, none of them will be happy regardless.

Olivie Blake writes unlikeable characters so well that you just love to hate them. Meredith is exactly that power hungry person that steps on everyone to get her own way, Arthur is just wanting to be loved at any cost and Elidh just wants her health and career back.

I adore this family dynamic, as someone with this exact dynamic, I can see how this works and how their relationships intertwine with one another. None of us have magic but the relationships seem all too familiar.

I LOVE the narrator, only clicking about halfway through who it is, gorgeously done. Well done Olivie Blake for yet another wonderfully pretentious and unreliable narrator.

Absolutely have told everyone I know to read this as soon as they can get their hands on it.

Thank you to Olivie Blake, Pan Macmillan and Netgalley for this ARC!