Gifted & Talented may be my favorite Olivie Blake book yet. I love her wacky characters, and in this book in particular I really liked the relationships between the three siblings and their love interests and friends. While there was a ton going on from page one, the book felt like multiple character studies as well as having a really engaging and action-packed plot.

I finished 'Gifted and Talented' and I think it might be my favorite Olivie Blake book. And I ADORED the Atlas Six books. It's about three siblings who come together after their father dies, to see who will inherit his multi-billion dollar company. It's everything we've come to expect from an Olivie Blake book- it's (purposefully and wonderfully) pretentious, complicated, and messy. All of the characters are terrible... but that's Blake's genius- she makes us root for them anyway.

It took me three tries to get into Gifted & Talented, and I should have dnfed it instead of pushing myself through on that third try. I was really intrigued by the premise and the comparison to Succession, but with magic, but found that the actual book was incredibly disappointing.

It felt sooooo long for a book that takes place over the span of about 3-4 days, and a lot of that was just unnecessary long sentences and flowery language. It was a drag for me to keep going because it felt like nothing really ever happened, which meant I never cared about the characters

The magic was barely present. Blake set up really interesting unique abilities for each sibling, but then those abilities were hardly ever used and barely contributed to the plot. The magic got talked about and was lurking in the background, but I wanted way more. We just kept getting reminded that it existed but Blake never actually did anything with it

I understand that Gifted & Talented is supposed to be a character driven story, but the characters were for the most part unbearable. They're in their 30s, but all acted like teenagers and were so annoyingly angsty with each other. Especially with the length and the lack of plot, it just got repetitive.

The plot was also entirely predictable and barely even existed, with the only minor plot twist incredibly easy to guess early on. Overall, I just didn't care about the book and had to force myself to slog through and finish.

I feel like I have a complicated relationship with Olivie Blake's writing. It takes me so long to get into the first couple chapters but once I hit my stride I'm zooming through and not able to put the book down. But I often find myself asking if I really liked what I read. She does excellent character work, and her plotting is really original.

All of that to say, this book was hard to put down, I found myself entranced with the story and where it was going. The characters, I hated most of them, but I wanted to know everything about them. Which, I think is the sign of good writing.

This author is a complicated one for me as a reader. Her writing is strong, the story plots are interesting, she crafts fascinating characters. Just some of the themes within the book don’t sit right with me.

olivie blake is definitely gifted & talented and it shows with this release!!!! from the dramatics to the characters to the writing, everything had me hooked. despite the long page count for this, i still wish there was MORE.

Tragically dramatic and full of surprises, this journey of the Wren children was a dark and twisty road to take. Loved diving into this one.

I love them all. They're so broken and soft with spikey edges. I loved the subtle magic and the familial longing.

This book is very hard for me to categorize. I love Olivie Blake's One For My Enemy. I enjoyed Atlas Six (though not as much). This one was completely different than both of those which made it hard for me to wrap my head around for awhile. The pacing seemed...slow at times but never boring due to the voice and narration and just strange goings on in the character's lives. Despite my hesitation, I never stopped reading, totally pulled into the three siblings orbit. I wanted to know what happened to them and what was going to happen to them, even if the near-frenetic prose was off putting at first. Eventually, I fell into it and by the climax, I was crying. If you ask me if I liked it, my answer would be much like the characters. It's complicated. There were parts that were laugh out loud funny, comical scenes that somehow worked against the all too real hellscape that is our current country/workforce. (The bits and observations about Meredith and her rise in tech were so dead on. And Arthur's politics made me want to cry with how accurate and silly it felt all at the same time.) There were other parts that were slower or less compelling that I read more quickly. The magic oftentimes was not explained or did not make sense but somehow fit in the story and world that Blake created. And like I said, I cried at the end completely unexpectedly. I think if you're a fan of Blake, this is worth picking up (though its not like One for My Enemy or Atlas Six). I think if you feel tired by the hyper capitalistic world we live in, this is worth picking up. I think if you want to read about odd magic that might be related to the 12 plagues of Egypt or might be causing someone to die and revive at very inopportune times, this is worth picking up. If you identify or enjoy reading about complex sibling and family relationships, especially the offspring of the wealthy, this is definitely worth picking up. It made a very deep impression on me, even though I didn't always enjoy what I was reading. Which says a lot.

I stopped reading after chapter 2 (3%). The voice wasn’t working for me; it is definitely a departure from her prior styles. I like that Blake has been given a lot of leeway to push the bounds of her craft. Hopefully, I will enjoy the next book more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the ARC.

2.5 stars

While this book sounded interesting, I really struggled with it. And I never connected with her writing style. I also struggled to connect with the characters. The premise sounded interesting, but the execution fell flat. There was a lot of repetition, and characters weren't as developed as I had expected. There are some subplots that seemed unnecessary, and there was way too much complaining. I actually was a bit more impressed with some of the secondary characters than I was with some of the primary ones. Dialogue felt unnatural. I have never read any books by Blake before, and I'm not sure I will check out future books.

Full disclosure: I legitimately thought I was going to hate this book.

Why? It was a combination of the fact that I figured this was going to be about a bunch of pretentious assholes AND I know that <i>The Atlas Six</i> has some really mixed reviews.

BUT, I’m happy and completely surprised to report that I really enjoyed reading Gifted and Talented. It’s exactly what I needed in a post-Succession finale world.

SYNOPSIS: Succession but give them superpowers

I’ll start with a couple reasons to praise this book.

Olivie Blake hits the Succession/Royal Tenenbaums vibes just right without feeling like she’s completing copying either of them. The characters feel original without feeling like carbon copies or even mashups of the other characters. AND the plot manages to feel like its own things despite being very similar to <i>Succession</i>.

The characters don’t really need their superpowers to be interesting. There were times where I thought about how the powers just aren’t needed for the story to be engaging or for the characters to have a nice arc. And in some ways, I can see that being a reason to dislike the book, but I think it shows the strength of Blake’s writing in this book and that she has both a solid plot structure and character arcs.

And to add to those points before I move into the criticism, I think this book is fun. There were times that I laughed. The character arcs are emotionally satisfying. And I found myself looking forward to seeing where the plot was going.

It’s just enjoyable.

Where it lacks is that yes, it’s HELLA PRETENTIOUS. I’m a hipster so I have a high tolerance for this type of nonsense, but I can see it grating on other readers.

It’s also very word salad-y throughout the book. I feel like that often added to the pretentious charm, but I know some folks are going to be annoyed as hell when Blake doesn’t just say what she means to say.

This is my first Olivie Blake book, so I can’t really speak on how it compares to her other novels, but overall I’m very pleasantly surprised by this one.

Huge thanks to both NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the advanced copy!

It never ceases to amaze me how much I love the way Olivie portrays characters, their conflicts (internal and external) and relationships with each other, and how she writes in general. Really, she never fails to deliver a brilliant story!!

Loved this book and I can't wait to have a physical copy in my hands.

4.5☆

As a lover of Succession, magic, and Olivie Blake, I do feel like the target audience for Gifted & Talented. This was an incredibly interesting, unique read. Olivie Blake has such a talent for writing complicated, layered relationships among her characters, this book is no exception. I was fascinated by the intricacies within their familial relationships and their relationship with the world around them. I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

This is my first Olivie Blake book and I doubt it will be my last. This book is very funny as it shows three siblings, the titular gifted and talented, as they grapple with all the ways they disappointed their now-dead father as they await the distribution of his assets. One is a fraud, one is a dud, and one just wants to be loved (or do all three contain each of these multitudes?). Each sibling is an asshole, as the narrator has no trouble telling you, but there is something slightly redeemable in each of them as they work their way towards peace with a dead man and, hopefully, control over their innate magic that may bring on an apocalypse or change the brain chemistry of those around them.

AHHHH! I am the biggest Olivie Blake fan, but I say this completely without bias: I *LOVED* this book. This novel is genuinely so different from anything Olivie has written before, in my opinion, and yet it all is so completely HER in its prose and ambitious plot. Think "Succession" with some magical realism and that lyrical classiness that is Olivie Blake's style.... and that* is what GIFTED & TALENTED is. I loved all the varying POVs and the unique rawness found in each of the sibling's individual arcs (Meredith being my favorite). Highly, highly recommend for lovers of this genre, as well as to anyone looking for something new & exciting to read this year. OLIVIE BLAKE NEVER MISSES!!! Thank you again for this opportunity!

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake was such an interesting and thoughtful read. I never know what to expect when I start a Olivie Blake book and I honestly think that it’s the best way to go into her stories. I loved the characters, they’re very much unapologetically themselves and the relationship between each other is always such fun to read. What I always enjoy about Olivie Blake’s writing is that she trusts the reader to go along with the journey and eventually things will start to click. Overall, a very enjoyable read!

In all honesty, I was really hoping for so much more from this book. The minute I heard it compared to Succession, but with powers I was hooked! There definitely are elements of Succession in this story. Three siblings who have recently lost their overbearing, overly driven, distant father are forced to come together for the reading of the will and the announcement of who will succeed him on the throne of his magitech empire. These three siblings all have magical powers that are rarely used, and the origins are never explained. Every character is morally grey and even though I sometimes like this in books, I could not force myself to like a single character in this book. I wanted to DNF at 50%, but pushed through hoping for a turnaround in the last half that never came.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Tor Books for the eArc of Gifted & Talented in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was interesting! I loved the characters and the kind of tongue and cheek language between them and the narrator.

It's Succession x Fleischman fanfic + magic, but I'm not mad about it. Blake is a talented writer but nothing she writes really sticks for me - it always feel a little too gimmicky/forced.