Overall one of Blake’s better books. It made you sympathize for the billionaires despite there not being such a thing as an ethical billionaire.

I’m one of those viewers who both recognized and appreciated the brilliant writing and acting found in “Succession” but who also struggled to enjoy the actual process of watching it. As a media consumer (books, movies, or shows), I’ve found that I struggle the most with stories where I can’t find a likable character to cling to. They don’t need to be perfect or strictly heroic, but just…likable. Jesse Pinkman from “Breaking Bad” is the perfect example of the sort of character I need to find to truly enjoy a story. So, when I saw that Olivie Blake was coming out with a new book and that it definitely was giving off strong “Succession” vibes, I was interested, but also a bit wary. That show was a slog at times of just hating everyone and everything they did. Would this book follow in its footsteps? Well, yes and no.

On the good side, I think some of Blake’s flowery, evocative style of writing worked really well with this sort of story. At best, everyone in this book is incredibly flawed, and Blake uses them and the situations they keep finding (creating!) themselves in to offer many beautifully crafted insights into the world as a whole. Commentary on power, ambition, and, of course, the complicated nature of siblings, with all of the competition and resentment that can be tied up in such a unique relationship. Here is someone who is the only other person/people in the world who truly understands your history, who’s seen it all, the good, the bad, the ugly. You love them; you can’t hide from them. I’ve struggled with Blake’s writing style at times in the past, but I think it paired really well with this sort of story.

That said, I am starting to put together the dots on the sorts of characters Blake has been writing lately. Namely, the kind that are found in things like “Succession.” In that way, she was perfectly positioned to write this sort book. But on the other hand, I’ve had a harder and harder time connecting with her books because I feel as if she always writes characters who I end up really disliking. They’re not just morally grey, they’re often rude, selfish, stubborn to the point of idiocy, etc. And while here these characters fit in well with the sort of story she was trying to write, I can’t say I enjoyed them any more for it. I kept banging my head against a wall, as I jumped from character to character who couldn’t help shooting themselves in the foot with terrible approaches to life and how they treat others.

I’ll also say that I question the necessity of the fantasy elements in this book. There are definite comparisons to “The Umbrella Society” (some were a bit too close, honestly, and made it feel less creative on its own), but, for the most part, the magic was so far in the background to the interpersonal dynamics that I’m not sure if it was serving much of a purpose. Other than staying true to the sort of books that Blake has written in the past and that her fans expect from her. But here at least, I think the book might have been better served to have remained a straight contemporary fiction novel. As it stands, I don’t think the sparce fantasy elements truly contribute much to the book itself. Those who are going in as hardcore fantasy readers will be left with a book that feels thin in this area.

Overall, this was an ok read. I will say, as a reader who has struggled with Blake’s style of writing in the past (sometimes it can veer into the land of pretentiousness), I think that the themes and subject matter of this book were well suited to her talents and the book shone brightest in its use of language to describe some of these darker currents. However, all of the characters were so unlikable that I can’t say I actually enjoyed my reading experience. Looking back, I think that’s been the difference for me with her books that I’ve enjoyed vs. those I didn’t. And it was unfortunate that this largely fell in the latter category. However, fans of Blake’s style should definitely check this out, especially if you’re the sort of reader who enjoys truly morally compromised characters!

Rating 7: Some poignant commentary on themes of sibling rivalry and ambition was held back a bit for me by a cast of truly unlikable characters.

Link will go live on April 12 on The Library Ladies

3.5⭐️3🌶️

Contemporary Fantasy
Magical Realism
Stand-alone
Multi POV
Sibling Story
🏳️‍🌈 Main Characters
Polyamory
Magic
Family Disfunction


Olivie Blake is known for her long, introspective paragraphs that dive deep into unlikable characters and complex plots.

The cover of this book immediately caught my attention. It gives off a disjointed vibe before you even open the book, and that feeling carries through in the writing. The prose mirrors the cover and the characters, with a fragmented quality that works surprisingly well. Blake shifts between writing styles and storytelling techniques, creating a dynamic reading experience that keeps the plot steady even while it challenges the reader’s expectations.

A sly nod to The Prince of Egypt had me laughing out loud—it’s a delightful touch of nostalgia.

However, I did feel that the focus of the story shifted midway through the book. What started as a compelling tale about siblings eventually became more about the challenges of mothering a toddler. By this point, my interest had waned, and I found myself struggling to stay engaged. The plot wasn’t advancing as I had hoped, and I found it harder to pick up the book and finish it.

Despite the book’s compressed timeline, with so much happening in a short period, not much actually seemed to take place. There were moments of tension, but they often felt overshadowed by the complexity of the narrative itself, which at times made it harder to connect with the story.

Thank you Tor Publishing for the gift of an eARC of Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake. All opinions are my own.

Olivie Blake’s Gifted & Talented is nothing short of a masterpiece. With her signature clever prose and intricate storytelling, Blake delivers a powerful narrative that dives deep into family dynamics, societal commentary, and the complexities of ambition — all wrapped in a layer of magical realism that feels both whimsical and hauntingly relevant.

What struck me most was how much this story reminded me of Yellowstone — the layered family drama, power struggles, and unspoken tensions were so vividly portrayed that I found myself completely immersed. The characters are flawed yet deeply compelling, each navigating their own desires, insecurities, and conflicts in a way that feels achingly real.

Blake doesn’t shy away from tackling weighty themes like capitalism, societal pressures, and the corrupting influence of power — yet she weaves these elements seamlessly into a story that’s also deeply personal and emotional. Adding to the intrigue is the narrative voice — part observer, part participant — which brings a unique energy to the story. What starts as a distant “voice of God” slowly reveals unexpected depth, making you question how much control we really have over our own stories.

Gifted & Talented is gripping, intelligent, and deeply satisfying. Whether you're drawn to intense family drama, sharp social critique, or Olivie Blake’s signature magic-infused storytelling, this book delivers it all — and more!

Olive Blake always masterfully manages to write the most heart wrenching, philosophical stories ever.

If you love family feuds mixed with psychic abilities and corporate warfare, ‘Gifted and Talented’ is your new obsession.

Thayer Wren’s kids are each more dysfunctional than the last (crazy way to word it), but are forced to reckon with their long-buried rivalries as they battle for control of the family empire. Think Succession with telepathy and electrokinetic powers, minus the gold-plated yachts but plus a whole LOT of emotional baggage.

So much sibling drama, life-altering injuries, and wildly ambitious people who all think they are better better than the other (sounds like me and my siblings lowkey). Buckle up. It’s a rollercoaster of egos, powers, and trying (and failing) to live up to impossible expectations. I had a joy reading this book.
I will say the beginning at first was confusing- as most of the start to Olive Blakes books takes me time to get used to, but it was absolutely worth it.

Disclaimer: this is not a romance nor a romantasy book. This is a story about family and power.

Olivie Blake will always be one of my favorite authors. Her writing style is so beautiful and unique. This one wasn’t my favorite of hers but I still enjoyed the ride. The characters were so flawed and it was such a journey following how each of the siblings grieved the death of their father, especially when it came to possibly inheriting his billion dollar company. Money has power and Olivie showed just how it can bring out the worst in people.

The story is a complex web of ambition, family dynamics, and the relentless pursuit of happiness.

Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh are not your typical likable characters, but their flawed personas are so well-written that you can’t help but become invested in their struggles. Think Cersei Lannister. You hate her or hate to love her, but that’s because she’s well done.

Blake’s ability to weave together elements of fantasy and corporate intrigue with a sprinkle and a pinch of humor. The narrative can be chaotic, but it’s a ride you’ll happily take at an amusement park. If you’re looking for a book that will challenge your perceptions and keep you entertained, it’s a great choice.

Olivie Blake’s signature prose shines in this unique, sometimes slow, novel of family drama and industrialized magic. Blake’s writing on a sentence level is spectacularly crafted, but can make for a somewhat tedious reading experience in the first half of this book. The plot unfolds quickly at first and then slows until picking up again for the last quarter, when characters come together.

This is a family drama fantasy that kept me itruged the whole time. Thayer Wren has died and now the Wren sibling all come home to find out how the estate and their billionaire fathers company will be divided.
The first, and eldest, is Meredith. A CEO in her own right and the founder of Chirp. This company is one that is there to help people with mental illness and make them “happy”.
The middle child, Arthur, is the youngest Congressman to have ever been elected.
The youngest…and the apple of their fathers eye is Elidih. She was a ballerina.
Not only does each have a possibility of inheriting and taking control of Wrenfare but each seems to have their own powers as well. I will leave those up to you to figure out and discover as you read though…
I found the first 10-14% a little bit harder for me to get into oringally but once I was past that I was flying. I really liked how the narrative picked up especially when we got more of the “god” type of storytelling. I was trying to figure out who it could be before it was really just told to us. I will say that in retrospect I wasn’t really caring about the characters as much until a little bit later on in the story and I felt like they started growing on me more and more and I feel like that was intentional. I feel like once I found out who narrated “god” that it just all makes sense and when it comes to their biases and their thoughts and feelings about each individual that this was very well crafted.
Knowing what I know now I really wanna go back through with fresh eyes and maybe even the audiobook and just pick up more that I may have possibly missed.
Thank you to Tor Publishing Group for providing me with a review copy in exchanged for a unbiased and honest review.

Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh are magical and rich estranged siblings forced to reunite after the death of their father. While lawyers debate which of their father's wills is accurate, the Wren siblings must live together and face parts of their lives they've been attempting to avoid.

I really love Olivie's writing. She's one of my favorite authors. I don't see that every changing. She writes incredibly deep characters who, at a surface level, you have very little in common with, but as she peels their layers through her beautiful prose you see they aren't so different from you.

Her writing makes me laugh, cry, and wonder. I really love the way her brain works. She's truly an individual with an incredibly unique writing style. I'm in awe of her work.

All of that is true, and it's also true that I struggled with this book.

This is a very character driven book. I'm not sure why that surprises me, but at the start I was a bored. It wasn't til halfway through the book that I really settled it and began to enjoy it more. It felt like there was a lot being said (or thought) with very little happening. After pondering this, I suppose not a ton actually happens in The Atlas Six but ... it feels like so much?

The magic of the world wasn't explained in much detail (or if it wasn't I didn't understand it). I don't think you need to understand the origins of magic in the world... but this also took me a while to accept. I'm not even sure we fully needed the magic?

There are some really beautiful quotes that really moved me. I highlighted a lot in the latter half of the book. My attachment to many of the characters grew. But also, I was confused by the last chapter? Or perhaps not confused but it felt like an odd sentiment to end on?

I think the message of this book is ... no one is perfect, sometimes you long for someone else's life and it's not till you have it that you realize your own life is actually better. (Am I close?)

I can't wait to see what Olivie writes next, but I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. (The cover is perfect though.)

unfortunately this was a dnf for me. alone with you in the ether is one of my favorite books of all time but lately olivie blake has just not done it for me. this one ended up disappointing me right off the bat.

When the wealthy CEO of Wrenfare Magitech suddenly passes, he leaves his three magically gifted children in flux. Any one of them could be selected as the inheritor of the company, and each of them want it for completely different reasons.

No one writes super complicated, deeply flawed, but weirdly endearing characters quite like Olivie Blake. The narration was done in such an interesting way, and I found it intriguing.

As with all of Blake's books, this was beautifully written. I always find myself having to slow down and really absorb her words. She writes in a way that is addictive and draws you straight in to the action.

The magic aspects of this book were present without being overshadowning of the human complexities that are really the star of the show. I'm still have a lot of questions about the magic system to be honest, but I'm not that mad about it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Books for the ARC!

Gifted & Talented" by Olivie Blake is a sharp and insightful novel that delves into the complexities of privilege, ambition, and the cutthroat world of elite education. This engaging and thought-provoking read follows a group of students at a prestigious boarding school as they navigate the challenges of adolescence, academic pressure, and their own dark secrets.

Dysfunctional sibling dynamics? Corporate chaos? Childhood trauma and the crushing weight of expectations? This book has all this and more in an utterly messy, character-driven story that had me deeply invested.

Three siblings gathering for the funeral of their father, Thayer Wren, the genius CEO of Wrenfare Magitech. Meredith, the eldest, is the overachieving, perfectionist daughter who always strives to prove herself. Arthur, the middle child, is the youngest congressman in history and a people pleaser. And then there’s Eilidh, the youngest, a former star ballerina turned marketing executive who is often overlooked and underestimated. With their father gone, the question remains, who will inherit his empire, and at what cost?

This book was absolute chaos. Messy, intricate, and deeply character-driven, I felt like I was simply along for the ride. These siblings are not what you’d call “likable” characters, but by the time I reached the 60% mark, I found myself sympathizing with their struggles in a way I never expected. Their dynamic with each other was easily my favourite aspect of the book, the banter, the raw emotions, the buried resentment, and unexpected humour were all there.

Now, where does Gifted & Talented rank in my Olivie Blake collection? Honestly, I have no idea. One for My Enemy is still top tier for me, but this book was so different in tone and style. It took me a while to get into, but once I did, I found myself oddly attached to these deeply flawed characters.

The story is told through five different POVs, three of which belong to the siblings. The other two? I won’t spoil it; you’ll just have to read and find out. Some perspectives were easier to follow than others, Eilidh’s, in particular, had me struggling at times (maybe that’s just my inner Meredith coming out because I could not stand her in the first half of the book lol). But in the end, they all grew on me.

But most of all I enjoyed the deeper meaning that the story was trying to bring across. The expectations and childhood trauma that shape the way we are today as adults. The weight and struggle of having to live up to other people’s expectations and wanting to prove oneself. The fear of failure. The crushing desire to be successful, to make something of oneself. The relentless desire to seek out validation could very well be our demise.

It’s not an easy read, nor is it meant to be, but it’s one that will resonate deeply with those who have ever felt the pressure to be gifted & talented themselves.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was witty and dark and oh so perfect.

Olivie Blake is a master of these types of troubled characters that are victims of dare I say, their own circumstances. This is a story of a family of three siblings, raised in a wealthy household that are held to standards of greatness and excellence. When their father, and ceo of the biggest magictech company in the world suddently dies, they are forced to face how little they still knew about him, while wondering what would happen next.

Seriously could not put this down, it’s bingeable and so entertaining, I loved all these characters and their frustrating actions made me love them even more. I can’t begin to explain how much I loved it!

I recommend this book for honestly everyone I cannot wait to read it all again and continue to learn about these characters.

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake is a chaotic sibling story, in the style of Succession. I’ve liked the Atlas series by this author but this one was not for me. It had an odd type of writing and narration style, which seemed specific to this book as I don’t remember it in the authors prior books.

The main siblings are Arthur, Meredith and Eilidh with a cast of supporting players all around. A narrator using first person is revealed about 60% in which is just confusing. Are they god or this other character?

Honestly there was just a lot of the detail and superfluous words I just skipped by as they made no big change to the story. The characters were pretentious and unlikeable, but not in a way you’re supposed to be on their side. Lots of detail but the people feel flat; the most interesting in the story are Gillian and Yves.

Sadly this was a miss for me but thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I adore Olivie Blake so I was excited for this one, but unfortunately it didn't work for me. She typically writes insufferable characters that I love but these characters were a bit too insufferable for me. I do think others will enjoy this though!

BOOK OF THE YEAR!!! I cannot even begin to explain how much I LOVED this book. Being an Olivie Blake stan, ranking her books is so difficult but I feel pretty confident after this initial read that Gifted and Talented is now my favorite Olivie book (even beating out Alone With You in the Ether??). The writing in this book was as usual, so intelligent, sophisticated, in your face, beautiful language and phrases flowing together, all reflecting what it means to be a human. These characters and Olivie's writing in G&T really made me think about what it means to be happy and our eternal quest to find happiness throughout our life.

Gifted and Talented follows three siblings who have just discovered that their father, a very famous, prestigious business owner and tech billionaire has suddenly passed away. And so the story begins - who did he leave the shares of his company and his wealth to?? Each sibling represents very different emotions and personalities.

Meredith is the eldest child/daughter. She is ruthless, ambitious, cut throat, and will do anything to land on top. She designed an app that claims to responsible for curing more people of their depression and mental illnesses than antidepressants, as her app fixes things in your brain to make you happy. Meredith has struggled her whole life with the death of her mother at a young age, her struggle to make her father accept her and want to support her creative ideas, and her desire to be happy. She will do ANYTHING to make her business succeed.

Arthur is the classic middle child. Forgotten by his father, often pushed to the side when you consider the Wren children, a budding politician who seems to have reached the end of his political career at the end of his first term. He so desperately wants to help people and use his money and power to make positive changes but has quickly learned how useless it can feel being a politician. He is struggling with his marriage and where his love and affections lie.

And then there is Elidith, the youngest daughter. After suffering a traumatic, career ending injury at a young age, after being one of the most promising professional ballerinas, Elidith has floated through life, lost. She has lost her passion for her sport and the creativity and purpose dance gave her. She is the most connected with her father, but feels estranged and isolated from her siblings and the relationships she so desperately craves.

Gifted and Talented is a commentary and dialogue on so many things. The current state of the world, how it can feel like screaming into the void, with little power or ability to change anything even when the world feels like it is crumbling around you. The power dynamics of being a badass ambitious women in a male dominated industry. The constant struggle to find happiness and keep it and the lengths we as humans will go to in order to achieve some level of happiness. The desire to survive life and its horrors but not just that, to find moments of happiness that sustain us and people we love to encourage us forward. The Wren siblings are as always, morally grey, deeply flawed characters. But they also are three people, three children, who have lost themselves in their careers and plans and find a way to slowly knit back together.

I honestly think this is Olivie's best work, the most timely writing, and something that so many people are going to be able to relate to. I cannot wait to discuss these characters and the themes in this book when it releases April 1st and to shout my love for this book from the roof!! Thank you THANK YOU Tor Books for making me the happiest girl in the world and sending me this free book!!

I mean, the art work on the cover alone is beautiful but the story inside is too ! I can't wait for others to read this too.

This book was kind of fun to jump into. I didn't know what was happening, it felt super chaotic, but I loved it all the same? Olivie Blake isn't my usual cup of tea, but I absolutely loved this book, it was interesting, fun, and felt different from other things Olivie has recently published!