Oh this one was EVERYTHING to me. chaotic dysfunctional siblings with complicated rivalry, relationships and dynamics, each with their own worries and fucked up crisis but at the same time with the most fucked up behaviors as well... complicated romantic relationships too with the best yearning i've ever seen so far from olivie (and that's saying something bc i have not recovered from Alone with You in the Ether)..... this book has everything i love.

olivie blake. my queen. the greatest of all time. i am truly blessed to live in the same era as her.

Thank-you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in return for an honest review.

Olivie Blake writes such complex and intelligent characters. I will confess that I struggled a little with the first portion of this book, but persevered on the basis of how much I love One for my enemy and The Atlas Six. Thank goodness I did.

One of my favourite things is her whip smart back and forth banter between characters. I saw another review that compared this to Aaron Sorkin, and I can definitely see the protagonists on the set of the West Wing, trading verbal blows with sarcasm and a glint in their eye.

One thing that always strikes me about Blake's writing is how truly and wholly and agonisingly she understands human relationships. There's just something about how she writes people being desperately but painfully in love that rips my heart out, and she did it again here with aplomb.

I'm not sure the blurb does much to set you up for the reality of this book, but it is well worth a read!

He tenido un problema muy grande mientras leía Gifted & Talented de Olivie Blake porque los personajes son odiosos. Están representados de tal manera que la primera reacción, muy visceral, es odiarles con todas tus ganas y encima desde ahí, ya solo puedes ir subiendo porque sus acciones tampoco es que desdigan la primera impresión.


La novela trata sobre tres hermanos, hijos de un poderoso magnate tecnomante, que a su muerte deberán resolver las rencillas y los años de problemas que se han ido enquistando en sus relaciones. Creo que Blake quería hacer uso del tropo de “pobre niño rico” pero en realidad le ha salido el de “estúpido niño rico insoportable apártate de mi vista”.

Meredith, Arthur y Eilidh, son harina de un costal bastante especial. Meredith, considerada un genio desde su más tierna infancia, decidida a crear una tecnología que haga feliz a la gente se vendió al mejor postor, que resultó ser un enemigo acérrimo de su padre. Y la jugada no le salió muy bien. Arthur, uno de los congresistas más jóvenes de la historia de EE.UU. dedica el tiempo que le queda entre orgía y orgía a fracasar con cada una de sus legislaciones. Y Eilidh, antaño una gran bailarina, sufrió el descenso a los infiernos de una lesión que truncó su carrera. No nos engañemos, Gifted & Talented es un culebrón de mucho cuidado con ciertos toques de magia para que sea encasillable como dentro del fantástico y también para que la autora pueda manejar las situaciones inverosímiles que se le vengan a la cabeza, como desencadenar miniplagas de Egipto en algunos momentos determinados o que la gente muera sin problemas para recuperarse después.

Hay que reconocer que la autora puede crear personajes fascinantes, aunque la trama luego vaya dejando cosas que desear. Mostrando las miserias de Los ricos también lloran, alcanza a un público cansado de ver cómo todos triunfan y prosperan a su alrededor, achacándolo a la cultura del esfuerzo cuando es evidente que no todos parten del mismo punto. En este sentido, la crítica de Blake es acerada, precisa e incluso divertida por momentos.

La elección del narrador es bastante retorcida y es uno de los alicientes de la lectura, ya que es omnisciente, pero a partir de cierto punto rompe contantemente la cuarta pared de una forma socarrona. Este es uno de los alicientes de la lectura, la verdad.

Supongo que pronto la veremos traducida a nuestro idioma.

I really love Blake's writing style, so its not surprising I loved it in this book too. But I did not like the plot as much as I wanted to like it. I tought this book will be a really exciting and intereting book, but for me it was not really. I do not really love character driven books so it was kinda disappointing to me. But overall I loved the characters, I loved that the pov changed to e/1 at some point. I did not plan to reread it, but i did not regret reading it.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC!

Olivie Blake doesn't write bad books. Every creation of hers is elegantly written, well-plotted, and a pleasure to read. So is Gifted and Talented. Is it perfect? No, but it still kept me captivated and is 100% worth 5 stars.

My favorite part of the book is the pacing. The story takes place over the course of 5 days. There are no explosions, no magical dragons, no trials or fights. The action is generated by the characters, their interactions, thoughts, and dreams. And it is enough to keep the plot going and keep me invested in every chapter. Intricately woven POVs switch smoothly between the siblings, written from the perspective of a not-so-reliable narrator. You get absorbed by the main characters’ drama, and before you realize it, the book concludes with an ambivalent ending.

Out of the three siblings, my favorite is Meredith, the definition of a firstborn child, spending her entire life devoted to copying her father in hopes of his approval. But as always, no matter how closely she follows in his footsteps, it is never enough. We get a ‘why choose’ moment, and it is the very first time I do not know which choice I would prefer my protagonist to make. In the end, her decisions have lifelong consequences for everyone. Arthur is realistic, as well, an emotional, gentle, sweet boy, dreaming to hear ‘I love you’ from his dad. And balancing it with his more decadent side, and a history of polyamory. Philippa was annoying, spoiled, and entitled. Ives is charming and kind-hearted, and Gillian has a hidden trauma to deal with. Eilidh fights her own demons, broken dreams, always the daddy’s girl, having to face the reality that her father was not a perfect man.

My only criticism is that the ending relies so heavily on Lou. It seems like the easiest way to tie up all the loose ends in a moral way, without actually taking into account that the book is about three spoiled rich brats, who have no life skills, and always fall back on their wealthy past and the stability it gives. A more believable ending could showcase an unethical solution to the company’s problem and a very realistic way affluent people deal with issues.

Nonetheless, Olivie Blake’s writing is a fascinating study into people’s personalities, their internal thoughts, needs, recounting stories of pain and desire most honestly and beautifully. Like her every book, a deep character survey, becoming another one of my favorites.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'Gifted & Talented' by Olivie Blake.

Olivie Blake is back again!
'Gifted & Talented' is raw and messy - in a human way - and I was enticed by the words I read. It is truly difficult to review such a complex book, I urge you to try and read this for yourself. Complex but beautiful is the only way I can say it. Thank you Olivie for writing such real experiences that people can read with intensity.

This was messy, chaotic, and packed with some of the most frustrating characters I’ve ever read, but somehow that made it even better. Olivie Blake’s writing is sharp and dramatic, and even when the plot lost me a little, the emotional payoff was worth it. Definitely not for everyone, but it worked for me.

I will literally read anything Olivie Blake writes and I'm thrilled to say this is another superbly dark and twisty tale from her.

Thank you Pan Macmillan for the e-arc of Gifted and Talented by Olivie Blake!

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Where do I begin? Consider me “Sister Shook”. To sum up this book (which is super difficult as there is so much going on):

- Extremely wealthy family in “Magitech”
- Eldest daughter who is the CEO of a company funded by a rival
- Middle son who is a congressman
- Youngest daughter who is a former ballerina
- The father passes and his billions in wealth is up for grabs…
- Set over the space of one week
- They also are able to do magic

This book was nothing like I’ve read before- the writing was highly descriptive, reflective and lyrical in some places. I believe Olivie Blake is known for this style and since this was the first book of hers I’ve read, I now need to read through all of her catalog as this writing style worked for me!

This book had tension, drama and so much wit alongside gorgeous illustrations at the end of some chapters which I rarely see!

This was a hit for me - so many of Olivie Blake's books aren't, but this was good. Her writing style is good, but often the characters don't resonate with me.

Gifted & Talented is Olivie Blake’s latest novel. I have a love/hate relationship with her novels. I loved the first Atlas novel but the sequels felt really disappointing whereas I read One for my Enemy and loved it. My enjoyment of her books seems to be a hit and miss.
The novel opens with eldest Wren sibling, Meredith. From the start she seems very uptight, and generally has a very stressed disposition. She is obviously very intelligent and she is about to go on stage to present her life’s work. Meredith works in biomancy. It seems that her tech can make people happy. She doesn’t seem the best person but it is enjoyable to read. Blake is great at making unlikable characters slightly likable to read about.
Middle sibling Arthur seems to have his own issues going on. Art is in politics and there is discussion of him running for whichever important American political sector he works in. Arthur definitely tries to keep up appearances but when the reader meets him, he is with his boyfriend and girlfriend. Eilidh is the youngest and most sensitive sibling. As an ex ballet dancer who was ripped from her passion after a life changing car accident, she is just trying to survive and fit herself into a world she doesn’t really understand.
As we meet the three siblings, we see as they learn about the death of their father, a complex man with complex relationships with each of his children.
Now, we also learn something strange about each sibling. They appear to have ‘powers’ of a sort. Eilidh stabilises a plane that is about to crash, Arthur has strange electrical powers and Meredith is more complex but seems like she can command things to her will. It is very hush hush at the beginning of the book with only hints at what the potential of each one is.
As the three are forced back into each other’s company to handle their father’s estate and funeral, other events and problems become intertwined. Meredith is at risk of an expose article being released by her ex-boyfriend Jamie. Arthur is going through some strange things, one of which is balancing his polyamorous relationship with his picture-perfect wife who he definitely is not in a relationship with. Eilidh seems to be the only sibling experiencing some semblance of grief, as she had a good relationship with her father, especially after her accident which left her completely isolated.
Reading Gifted & Talented, it felt like I was sitting in the same room when the three Wren siblings had a dispute. It was mainly a family drama following the death of their father with some magic woven between it all. I did enjoy this book. It felt very real, the arguments and concerns the siblings had. All I wish was that it had a more developed plot. It felt like reading one very long scene and then it was the end. In my opinion, it needed something more, maybe a bigger conflict to bring the three together.
I look forward to seeing what Blake releases next. Thank you for the eARC!

3.75/5 Stars

The Wren siblings all have a myriad of issues to solve and on top of that their father unexpectedly dies and thus forces them to all reunite under the roof of what is technically their family home. This is definitely an interesting premise and if we add the fact that this is no average family the plot thickens. In fact Thayer Wren has built what is considered to be an empire with his company Wrenfare Magitech, of whom he was the CEO. So, as you can imagine, his death comes with a lot of baggage and also some shocking secrets and truths which will be revealed throughout the story and most importantly in his last will.

The story itself might seem to be pretty straightforward, but in reality there are actually a lot of revelations and moments where the characters have to come face to face with the truth, wether it’s been revealed to them or it’s been there all along and they were just too afraid to admit it to themselves. These moments of realizations were honestly my favorites, because they depicted the characters as vulnerable and deeply human and so they offered a lot to the story.

The dynamics among the characters work well, not only the siblings, that are crafted realistically, but also the side characters that all have their own moments to shine and tell their side of the story and also play an active role in it.

One aspect I would have developed more is the magic and the powers the siblings have. There definitely was potential and in my opinion it could have had a bigger part in the story.

Overall Olivie Blake confirms to be a skillful writer who always comes up with original stories and that’s honestly the reason why I’m always intrigued by her novels and curious to check them out. This one did not disappoint for sure!

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.