I keep debating between a 4.75 and a 5 star rating for Gifted & Talented, but l've decided to keep it at a 5. Maybe I'll change my mind after a while, who knows. Gifted & Talented revolves around the Wren siblings after their father, Thayer Wren, has died. Meredith, the eldest Wren, is the CEO of an app that guarantees happiness, but it was founded on fraud. Meredith's first love, Jamie, threatens to publish an article that would destroy the reputation of Meredith's company. Arthur, the middle Wren, is a congressman who is likely to lose his reelection. He is married, but also in a polyamorous relationship outside of his marriage. Ellidh, the youngest Wren, was a prodigious ballerina before a major car accident that took away her dancing abilities. On top of all their flaws, the Wrens have magical powers.
My time reading this was kind of rough, l'd say. I picked this up in December, read about three chapters, and then put it down. I just now picked it up during spring break, and it was a great decision on my part, honestly. This novel was wasn't perfect. There wasn't a concrete plot; the plot seemed to center around the relationships between the Wren siblings. The writing was phenomenal, of course, but man did the vocabulary drive me crazy sometimes. Some of the word choice was unnecessary, but I was able to overlook it for how amazing the book is.
The Wrens were not written to be likable. They all have prominent flaws. I think my favorite sibling has to be Meredith. I'd say I can see myself the most in her, specifically in her academics. Meredith has this drive to not fail. She is very arrogant, but she is aware of it. I, of course, like Eilidh and Arthur, too. Arthur loves his wife Gillian, but he also loves his other partners, too. Is he meant to choose between them? Eilich has a monster in her chest that may be the cause of the apocalypses she's able to create. She thinks that Thayer might've left Wrenfare to her, but who's to know.
The way the book ended was also really strong in my opinion. Many questions were left unanswered, but I think it was on purpose. Does Arthur win his reelection? Does Meredith go to prison for fraud? It's all up to the reader's interpretation.
Oh man do I wish I loved and was loved by someone the way Jamie and Meredith love each other. Their chapter made me cry.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an (extensive) honest review.

I can never figure out how I feel after an Olivie Blake book, but in a good way? While this book didn't have much of a plot, in terms of linear this then this then this, it followed three siblings, absent of a father's love, as they deal with his death and think about their own lives as they are in the in-between of death and the reading of his will, which will determine who inherits the billion-dollar company he started. Each character is dealing with their own problems, and we see that executed throughout the book in a fun narration, which was maybe my favorite part of the book. There are also some casual magic/tech elements, and of course Blake's unique writing style makes this an entertaining and insightful read.

Thank you to Net Galley, Olivie Blake, and Tor Books for the ARC!

I have loved all of Olivie Blake's books so far, and this one is no exception. It took a little while to get into especially with the different POVs. I had to orient myself, but I liked the the way things were unraveled and flowed together. After the beginning, everything was rapid fire. The Wren children are viciously ambitious and thrust into family dynamics and power struggles.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot, but I also am a huge fan of Olivie Blake's work. The magic was interesting but fell a little flatter than the Atlas novels but no spoilers for the plot twist!

This pains me to write as Olivie Blake is one of my favorite authors, but this book is my least favorite of hers. Firstly, it was entirely too long. I found myself constantly checking the page number and wishing it were over sooner. I realize the characters are meant to be insufferable, however having these characters be the exact same with no growth until the last 10% of the book felt so unsatisfying. Alone with you in the Ether had the most insufferable main characters, yet I was still able to root for them because they were written so well. There wasn’t a single character I was rooting for and that was the downfall of this book. I also did not understand the magical realism of this book. It felt rushed and not fleshed out. Blake’s Masters of Death does a way better job of magical realism in the real world. Ultimately, I wouldn’t recommend this book and think Blake has SO many other amazing works. This book fell so flat for me and took me weeks to finish when most books take me 2-4 days. Because I do love Olivie Blake, I don’t want to post a negative review on my social media platforms and will only leave my Goodreads review attached.

I feel like I'm kind of at a loss for how to rate this book, and I keep waffling between 3 and 4 stars, but because there are no half stars I think I've settled on 3, although it's technically more like 3.5. This isn't necessarily a bad book, and there are certainly elements of it that I really liked, but I just feel like there was too much going on. I think I read somewhere that this was like a family drama with magic, and honestly, yeah, that's pretty much exactly what it was, but I think I was expecting it to be a little more. It takes place over the course of like...a week? Maybe not even that long, and basically just follows the reading of the will of a rich dude and the drama between his three adult kids. But they each have magic. No explanation is really given for the magic, there's a super weird "twist" in there with "God", and the plot is basically nonexistent. I'm sure some people will really enjoy this book, because the writing at times is pretty spectacular, but for me this one was more miss than hit. There were too many sub plots going on here, and the drama was just...it was too much for me. That's not to say there were not good things about this book. Like I said, there were some really beautiful passages, I'm just not sure that overall it made up for everything else. Perhaps this is a book that I would appreciate more on a re-read, and seeing as I'll probably end up with a copy thanks to a book box I might get around to doing that at some point, but at this point in time I'm not really sure that I'll be hand selling this at work. I'll still be curious to see what Blake comes up with next though.

4.5 stars Thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

“All of this sitting around and talking, it was such a waste of time, unless you considered time to be an accumulation of moments you’d rather die than go without.”

Wow. Well. *Clears throat* This was my first voyage into the traditionally published work of Olivie Blake and wow is my brain soup right now!! But like, the most delicious soup!

First, I was excited. Then, I was intimidated. And then…. I was utterly consumed. The book can be overwhelming at first. It wasn’t the tone I expected, or honestly even the genre. But I think it did what it meant to do brilliantly!

You have 3 siblings, all with different experiences and relationships with their father, who is now dead, brought together by a very dysfunctional often toxic family reunion.

This book is SMART and FUNNY and COMPLEX! If you don’t do well with complicated characters, those that are not handfed to you as perfect likeable beings? You might struggle with this one. Every character here is vulnerable, and annoying, and hilarious, and difficult, and deeply human! GAH I CAN’T BELIEVE I WILL NEVER READ THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME AGAIN!

I know people will hate on my girl Meredith but that is My Girl!!! Yes, she is flawed. Yes, she is selfish… and harsh and sometimes mean and often, as the narrator reminds us, a HUGE ASSHOLE. But she’s MY asshole, and I adore her.

Olivie Blake becomes an auto-buy author with just this one book. I want a physical copy more than I need my next breath. Publisher hmu <3

This was really long. In the acknowledgments Olivie Blake mentioned that Seanan McGuire once pointed out that audiences more readily accept a family or friend group ensemble with more men in it than women so she intentionally did not do that here, and I appreciate that.

I love Olivie Blake, and this was no exception. She takes all of the raw energy that she brings to all of her books and hones it into a beautifully human story about family and expectations while creating a world so vibrant and original. A must read.

HUGE thank you to Tor Publishing Group, Olivie Blake and to NetGalley for this Advanced Reader Copy. All the below thoughts are completely my own.

Ok, I was not expecting this to be this LONG. Not in a dragging way, but in a wow, we are really marinating in this family’s dysfunction kind of way. But then, I finished it and immediately missed these a-holes (narrator’s words, not mine… but also kind of mine).

The focus was on three intelligent, supernaturally gifted siblings fighting over their dead father’s empire while battling their own crises. Meredith, the perfectionist eldest who may or may not have “cured” mental illness (big quotes on that one). Arthur, the political golden boy whose life is crumbling faster than his re-election campaign. And Eilidh, the former ballerina who’s desperate to prove she was her father’s favorite. None of them should be likable, and yet, Olivie Blake made me care. How annoying. Also, the side characters were the cherry on top, legitimately making me feel like I was in the room with all of them demolishing my popcorn.

The sarcastic humor. Immaculate. I laughed out loud multiple times, mainly at the hilarious nicknames the siblings gave to each other. And then there’s the narrator’s thoughts which were so eerily similar to my own that I had a slight existential crisis of my own. If I were narrating this book, I would have said and done the exact same things. Which means either Olivie Blake is psychic, or I am a deeply flawed character in my own novel. Unclear which is worse. (I blame my inability to control my intrusive thoughts. )

At the end of the day, this incredible book is about three deeply messed-up people who just want to be loved, to be seen, and to be a “Wren” which, after finishing, I kind of want too. (No shame)
Essentially, I WANT MORE.

Olivie Blake has done it again! Blake has a way with words that is truly poetic (dare I say, a modern day Shakespeare?). Her writing makes me fall in love with words every time and Gifted and Talented was no exception. Blake writes visceral, raw characters that you want to love, but still kind of hate. You can tell she truly loves every character she writes, with not one member of this cast standing out as the "main character". This book made me laugh out loud, and was, in some ways, utterly relatable (no I am not a billionaire with daddy issues). I would recommend this book with my whole chest and I will be spending the rest of my evening trying not to psychoanalyze myself based off of the character I related to the most.

DNF @ 34%, about 6.5 hours into the audiobook!

I don’t necessarily think this is a “bad” book I think it’s just not for me.

I was 6+ hours into this 19 hour audiobook and still knew nothing more than was already said in the synopsis so my attention was fading. This is a VERY character driven book, which I don’t mind, but none of these characters are likable so that’s…unfortunate.

I went ahead and read a handful+ of reviews and there are some that love it! But enough mentioned that the characters never grow, the magic is never explained (which I was already questioning), and it turns heavy into parenthood in the second half which for me currently is a no go.

If I decide to later revisit this book I will come back and update this review.

3.5 stars

I love Olivie Blake's work, I really do, but my god this was an absolute chore for me to get through. I think my brain is soup.

2.5/5 stars

I'm starting to think that Atlas Six (book one, not books two and three) was the exception for me in regards to Olivie Blake's books. I went into this wanting to like it way more than I did. Right off the bat, the informal writing style was not working for me. I love an unreliable narrator, so that wasn't the issue for me -- instead, I struggled with the attempts at humor and inserting "haha" (among other things) within the monologue.

I also thought I was a huge fan of unlikeable characters but each of the main three protagonists had a different part of them that just irked me the entire time. There were a few small moments of humanity/"redeemability" for all of them, but for the most part, I just hated all three -- especially at the end, when I think the reader is supposed to like them a bit more. Maybe that's the point, in which props to Olivie Blake on that note.

Also, if you're going into this book looking for fantasy, this really isn't much of a fantasy novel. It's much more focused on contemporary sibling relations and there is very little "magic." I didn't enjoy how that was done, from the infodump of how magic worked at the very beginning and then very little actual magic content throughout the book. The two main "reveals" or resolutions of the magic issues at the end of the novel didn't work for me, either.

"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six comes the story of three siblings who, upon the death of their father, are forced to reckon with their long-festering rivalries, dangerous abilities, and the crushing weight of all their unrealized adolescent potential.

Where there’s a will, there’s a war.

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.

Or at least, so they like to think.

Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You're welcome! If only her father's fortune wasn't her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.

Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he's losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father's approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.

Eilidh, once the world's most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father's company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth - by confirming she'd been his favorite all along.

On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins - but which Wren will come out on top?"

Magical Succession.

“Everything changes. Everything changes. Nothing is ever the same (affectionate). Nothing is ever the same (threat).”


Review: I devoured this book and it devoured me right back. There are points where you love every single character. Where you love every single character. Where you admire, but don’t really respect every character. I saw pieces of myself in every single character. The good, the bod, the disappointing. When I met Olivie last year she told she believed a written in book is a well loved book, and if you couldn’t tell, I loved this book. I was constantly switching between the ebook ARC and physical ARC so I didn’t have to put it down. I was adding my ebook annotations to my physical copy in the school pick up line today. This book, for being about magical people, was so honestly about being human that it took my breath away at times. This book is Olivie and her character writing at their best.

This is a lot of book, and I can’t decide how I feel about most of it. The plot never really got going, but also maybe that was the point? The magic system seemed completely unnecessary, but Lou was also incredibly compelling? These characters were insufferable, sometimes, but at least I know that was definitely part of the point. I liked it?

This definitely is the most I've enjoyed an Olivie Blake book since The Atlas Six!! I loved how complex of a story this is.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for this e-arc!!

If Olivie Blake writes it, I’m not only reading it, I’m eating it UP!!!

When Thayer Wren, CEO and father of three, dies unexpectedly, his family and lawyers gather to determine his will and last sentiments. Gifted & Talented follows Thayer’s children Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh as they navigate (with a touch of magic AND madness) what it means to be orphaned in adulthood as rich (and crazy) siblings.

WOW I literally cannot believe I’ll never read this book for the first time ever again. Blake has honed her craft in creating such intricate and gripping characters while keeping her readers sat for plots otherwise unimagined. I loved AND hated all of these characters (except Arthur, my sweet idiot) at one point or another. And I love how big brained Olivie Blake is - this book was insane!!

Blake is so SMART and also SO DAMN FUNNY! I laughed out loud and I also cried (I always cry). Every twist and turn here had me on the edge of my seat. No other author makes me think so much while also always providing a good (fun, torturous, what’s going on?) time.

Also can we talk about unreliable narrator SUPREMACY - done so well here I will never not think of this book when this trope is brought up.

Gifted & Talented is chaos. It made me ponder human connection, what it means to be labeled one thing or another and to grow up (and out) of it. It made me laugh and cry and it has cold shoulder moments and also HUGELY tender scenes. I just loved every bit of this.

5 stars, definitely recommend this one!!!! Pick up 4/1 if you want a crazy ride with crazy characters!

Olivie Blake is a great writer! I have one of her other books and have not read it yet, I am excited to do so now.

I saw someone describe this as succession meets umbrella academy and that is what sold me!!!

I love a multiple POV and definitely between siblings. She created great characters mimicking real siblings that the reader can identify with. I found myself really intrigued by each sibling in different ways, as the eldest child and trying to be very put together I identified with Meredith, however Eilidh was the most fun to read for me!

Including magic and power in some way was a brilliant layer to this story and to the character development. Blake has a great way of including magical realism while not losing the reality of childhood trauma, character flaws, and hardship.

I really enjoyed this book!

Olivie Blake’s mind is truly a dark and beautiful place. She first caught my attention with Alone With You in the Ether and she’s held it ever since. Gifted & Talented was a fantastically original read! A little bit Succession, a little bit fantasy, and a lot of damaged characters trying to heal over the course of a tumultuous week. I really enjoyed everything about this story! The narrative is a bit all over the place as we follow different threads with multiple POVs and timelines but it comes together in a satisfying way. My favorite character was Lou, easily the only sane person in the whole book.

I would say if you loved Masters of Death, you’ll like this one. Audio was fantastic! Highly recommend to any lover of magical realism, complicated family dynamics, and characters to hate that you can’t help but root for.