Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Pan Macmillan/Tor for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: death, grief, references to eating disorders, pregnancy, drug use, chronic pain


In a version of the world where magic goes hand in hand with the business, the Wren family are on top. The head, Thayer Wren, the father of modern magical technology and CEO of Wrenfare, is dead. Now his three children- all with unique powers of their own- stand to inherit his fortune and control of Wrenfare. Meredith Wren, the eldest, is a ruthless genius who invented an app that has apparently cured mental illness- but in fact, the entire scheme is a massive fraud and her journalist ex-boyfriend is about to reveal all. Arthur Wren, the only son, is the second youngest congressman in history but his wife is leaving him, he’s about to lose his seat and his relationship with a racing driver and a socialite might lead to fatherhood. Eilidh Wren, the youngest and Thayer’s favourite, was the world’s most famous ballerina until a terrible injury put an end to her career- now she works in marketing for her father’s company, trying to avoid triggering the magic inside of her. With Thayer’s legacy up for grabs, and it not being clear which of the Wrens- who all need it for different reasons- will win the throne, the siblings have to gather and wait for their father’s will to make it clear.

I have genuinely never read a book with characters so messed up as the Wren family. Each of the children are brilliant characters- intelligent, gifted, magical and immensely privileged but they’re all deeply unhappy, unsatisfied and wanting more. The irony of Meredith creating an app to cure mental illness but being so miserable was so well written. I adored the mixture of tension and humour in this book, especially because it comes at moments that in other works would seem unsuitable. I took to Eilidh straight away because her experiences of chronic pain and of once being great and now feeling ‘less’ were so relatable to me but my favourite sibling story by the end was that of Arthur. He is an absolute disaster man throughout the entire book and I loved how his relationships with his wife Gillian (who is the coolest woman ever), Yves and Phillipa all varied and changed throughout the story. Meredith’s ongoing internal conflict with the things she’s done and her past relationships (particularly with her ex- boyfriend and estranged childhood best friend) was so fascinating, she’s genuinely tragic and so uncompromising even when it ruins her life. We never actually meet Thayer properly, he’s gone by the time the book starts, but his memory consistently haunts every single moment of ‘Gifted and Talented’ especially as his children are forced to reconcile their different versions of their father with reality. I was a huge fan of the TV show Succession and this felt like a perfect mixture of that within a world of magic and a slow burn, gradually revealing narrative. I’ve only ever enjoyed one Olivie Blake book before- One For My Enemy- but I loved this so much.

Having read the Atlas Six I know the writers style and was really looking forward to this book. The premise was intriguing with and inheritance on the balance amongst siblings who have some unusual talents.
Unfortunately the pacing of this book was off for me, the story took too long to develop and by halfway through the book I was quite bored. It is unfortunate as I had hoped for better.

Really struggled with the start of this book as I found the pacing to be a bit slow, once into it I loved the characters and the setting
I loved the fact that it crossed genres

Gifted and Talented is a sharp, emotionally layered character study about three siblings who each carry the quiet burden of being raised to succeed—brilliant, accomplished, and deeply shaped by their privilege and parental expectations. What struck me most is how different they are from one another, and yet how clearly they mirror the same internalized pressure to perform.

Olivie Blake continues to prove she's a master of character work. Each sibling is flawed, sometimes frustrating, but always deeply human. You don’t always agree with them, but you understand them—and that’s what makes them so compelling. The dynamics between them are brittle, intimate, and full of the unsaid.

Her writing is, as always, stunning. Poetic without being pretentious, cutting when it needs to be. Every sentence feels considered. The prose alone would have been enough to carry this, but paired with such well-observed emotional depth, it becomes something quietly powerful.

This isn’t an easy read. It doesn’t offer tidy answers or sweeping resolutions. But if you’re drawn to stories that peel back the layers of identity, family, and expectation—it rewards every bit of your attention.

3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | 🌶️ 0 Spice
This book is something else, truly unlike anything I have read before, which made it quite difficult to rate.
It was my first time reading Olivie Blake, and her command of language and character construction is absolutely stunning. Despite the short timeline of the story, she manages to dig deep, giving us a complex, intimate look at the Wren family through a detached, godlike narrator who ultimately reveals their own unreliability. The entire narrative is layered with lies, legacy, and corruption, unfolding like a slow-motion car crash you cannot look away from.
I genuinely believe this is the kind of book that could end up on academic reading lists. It is rich with commentary on capitalism, generational wealth, and the rot at the core of privilege. My mind went straight into analytical mode, drawing real-world parallels, unpacking themes, and trying to keep up with the densely packed prose. The vocabulary alone is expansive, sometimes to the point of intellectual overload.
That said, I struggled to enjoy it on an emotional or immersive level fully. While the story is categorised as fantasy, it felt more like a contemporary character study with the lightest touch of magical realism. That mismatch shaped my expectations and left me feeling disconnected from the story.
Gifted and Talented is brilliant in its construction and brave in its commentary, but ultimately it felt more like something to be studied than savoured.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Olivie Blake is an auto-buy author for me, with some of her books being some of the best I've ever read (namely One for my Enemy and Masters of Death). To say I was looking forward to reading this is an understatement.
I loved the premise and, as with all of Olivie's stories, they are always unlike anything else I've ever read. The characters, too, are so well-written and fully-formed that you are likely to feel that you know many of them as intimate friends and you'll be in love with at least one of them (Arthur, for me).
I loved following the three siblings as they navigate life after their father's death and try to cope with their unique 'unnatural' traits (dying temporarily, summoning plagues, you know, the usual). It made me smile, it made me cry, it made me continue to see Olivie Blake as an utterly unique author of fantastic characters and stories. A great read. Thank you Netgalley and Tor for the advance read and thank you, Author Incredible, Olivie Blake, for another brilliant read.

This book was unfortunately not my cup of tea. I liked the concept, the way the book tried to tackle complex sibling dynamics, and the magic system, but I just couldn't get past the pacing. The story began about 50% of the way in, and even then I really struggled to finish this. I wanted to like this book more than I did, I usually love purple prose and I liked Blake's previous work, but unfortunately this was not something I enjoyed.

The family dynamic is a standout—satirical, dysfunctional, a little demented, broken, and impossible to look away from; I truly enjoyed the POVs of each of the siblings in their own different ways.

This is the first Olivie Blake book I've read. It is written in a very unique way and I think that's why it took me so long to read it. It also tookm me a very long time to get into the story.
The fantasy element is kind of there but also not at the same time. The story is fine with or without it.
A forward moving plot is practically non-existent (barely anything happens most of the book), however the story is basically character-driven.

"Where there’s a will, there’s a war." Well, we don't learn about Thayers will until the 80% mark of the book and I don't see any war after that. After reading the synopsis I thought the story would be more centered around that. Unfortunately that's not the case.
There also is a weird switch from 3rd person to 1st person narrative back to 3rd person and 1st person again. As a forgein reader this was the most difficult part (along with the syntax being so complex) because it was unannounced.
Gifted & Talented was not a good fit for me but I can see why others might enjoy this.

This was my first Olivie Blake book and it was not at all what I expected.

I made it about 15% of the way through and skimmed through the rest. I just couldn't do it anymore. The writing style wasn't for me, I felt like we kept going round in circles and were being told about things that were totally irrelevant instead of getting to what was actually happening and moving the story forward. It was the book version of this meeting should've been an email.

The only reason this is getting 2 stars instead of 1 is because of Meredith Wren, who manages to be funny while also being a no nonsense bitch.

I enjoyed this very much, even with the sentences that span a whole page. This was my first read by Olivie Blake and Inmay just be convinced to try out her other works,

Is it really an Olivie Blake book if I'm not confused the whole time I'm reading it? Vibes are immaculate, plot was interesting... writing a wee bit too purple.

As a whole I love Olivie Blake’s writing. She has such a distinct style and humour, I will always pick up something she has written.

However, I both really enjoyed and disliked this book. From chapter to chapter I could go from enthralled to bored and I found it hard to initially get into.

The plot unfortunately moved at such a glacial pace, what felt like a month was actually only a couple of days.

I think it’s fair to say that it was Succession, with a magical element. However, the characters are well formed and interesting in their own right.

Again, there were many things I did enjoy! Just the pacing let it down.

I have read a couple of Olivie Blake’s works in the past and have found that she is a hit or miss author for me. I loved the idea of diving into intricate sibling relationships but this book took a different turn in the second have which made me lose interest. Her characters are so well fleshed out, leaving me wanting more, but I just found my interest dropping with the lack of plot.

Olivie Blake is a great writer and storyteller but this book didn’t suit my individual tastes.

I love and hate this book, and honestly, that feels very on brand for my relationship with Olivie Blake’s writing. Sometimes it hits; sometimes it misses. Gifted and Talented leans into her usual witty, stylized prose, but this time, it didn’t quite land for me. The tone felt like it was trying to be sharp and clever, but in this context, it came off more like it was trying too hard.

The book is marketed as a Succession-style sibling drama, and I was ready for power plays, backstabbing, and ego wars. What I got instead felt more like “Rich People Attempt Parenting: Intro to Emotional Damage.” It’s less about cutthroat legacy games and more about how messed up people raise (or avoid raising) children while projecting all their baggage onto them.

It had moments of insight and emotional bite, but overall, the focus felt muddled. I was expecting ambition and scheming, I got awkward family therapy sessions and existential angst in a trust fund wrapper.

If you love Olivie Blake’s voice and don’t mind when the plot takes a backseat to vibes and musings, you might enjoy this one. For me, it didn’t quite live up to its pitch.

(2.5 stars rounded down)

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I don't have enough words to describe the way this book made me feel. She is one of my favorites authors and everytime I think sha can't blow my mind again, she comes and do it again. The way you can totally feel the complexity of her characters and how she interwined their stories it's insane.
It's just another master piece by this author.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7191520718

I've read almost all Olivie Blake's now and this one is very similar to the others. It's all centred around the relationship between three rich, beautiful damaged siblings following the death of their wealthy tech magnate dad, as they wait to hear what they've inherited from him. So basically a family drama with Olivie's usual touch of the supernatural thrown in. I don't think it will convert anyone who isn't already a fan of hers, but I'm sure those who are will enjoy it a lot.

Thanks to her, the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I need to admit that Olivie Blake's writing style really isn't for me. It's grating and pretentious and it makes me deeply dislike all of the characters and not connect with them at all. The premise for this sounded so fun - siblings squabbling amongst themselves to seize their late father's fortune, but in reality the execution and writing style just really let me down. The pacing is also woefully slow, with very little movement in the plot (there's that many flashbacks I thought we were actually going backwards at one point). And to call this a fantasy is to do a disservice to all actual fantasy books, as the siblings have a hint of magic that is hardly developed and rarely mentioned.

I could go on, but my main takeaway is that the writing style is very much not to my taste, and the plot had a lot of potential but fell very flat, with many unanswered questions. Not for me.

4.5 upped to 5
I don't know if there's a specific genre for this novel: it's could technofantasy, urban fantasy, family saga with a paranormal side.
The title of of Brasilian telenoval came to my mind "Even the Rich cry", this could Even the Talented Rich Offspring Cry.
The Wren sibling could be inspired by a novel about sisters and brothers that are fighting for money but that also must heal themselves and their relationship.
Ms Blake did an excellent job in delivering a cast delighfully dislikeable characters and a plot that kept me turning pages. I had fun but also appreciated the description of a world that is so similar to high tech (no magic though).
This is a huge book but there's not something which is too much and I enjoyed it
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I loved Masters of Death so was very excited for this one, but unfortunately it didn't hit the mark for me.

The first 50% was great, I loved getting to know these eccentric and quite horrible characters and was really intrigued as to where this could go, especially with the magic element.

However, I feel it lacked plot to a point where after being introduced to these characters I was waiting for something major to happen and it didn't really. There was just a lot of sitting around talking. So my interest waned for the last 50%.

Absolutely loved the narrator as definitely getting Masters of Death vibes then.

I'm sure many will love this as the premise is a good one, I just couldn't quite get into it as much as I had hoped.