Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this eARC.

Overall this book is enjoyable however I do believe that the classification of fantasy is misleading. There are certainly magical elements, however primarily this is a novel explores the complex and toxic family relationships of the Wren’s. If you enjoy family dramas featuring character so unlikeable you can’t help but be invested in their endeavours then this is the book for you. The magical element is very minor and is not the driving force of the novel, so do not go into this book with the desire for a fantasy.
Personally, although the premise is interesting and the writing is accomplished brilliantly, there felt as though there was something missing for me that prevented me from being completely invested in the story and characters.

Olivie Blake owns my heart body and soul. Like all of her books, I know this isn't going to be for everyone but my god i loved it. I was so hooked from start to end. These characters are so messy and so flawed like so many of her characters are and I loved this journey of emotional turmoil so much

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. This was a great read. Loved the writing style. And the characters

Tech mogul Thayer Wren is dead, and his three telepathically gifted kids are all convinced they deserve his fortune. There's Meredith, the "perfect" eldest who supposedly cured mental illness but is actually a total fraud trying to keep her ex from exposing her. Arthur, the second-youngest congressman ever, whose wife might leave him and whose campaign is tanking. And Eilidh, former world-famous ballerina turned marketing exec after a career-ending injury, desperately hoping daddy's money will finally prove she was his favorite.

Olivie Blake writes with this witty, naked honesty that puts all our shameful thoughts right out there. I felt entertained AND seen, which is honestly all I want from a book. Perfect for anyone who loves family dysfunction with a side of telepathic powers and existential dread!

The story centres on three gifted siblings—Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh—who are forced to confront their powers, past traumas, and each other after the death of their father, Thayer Wren, a legendary technomancer and founder of Wrenfare Magitech. Each sibling is uniquely brilliant and deeply flawed: Meredith is a neuromancer mogul with a questionable mental health app, Arthur is a congressman with unstable electrokinetic powers, and Eilidh harbours a parasitic entity with apocalyptic potential  I didnt really like any of the characters, none made me want to 'side or sympathise' with them and I think thats why I struggled a little with this.

Blake doesn’t offer a traditional fantasy arc. Instead, she delivers a tangled, emotionally charged narrative that explores inherited trauma, late capitalism, and the cost of being exceptional. It’s messy, biting, and often brilliant—but also hard to stay focused on. While the prose is sharp and the themes are compelling, I found myself drifting.

This book was definitely a struggle for me. I absolutely loved the premise and was so excited to read, however I found the writing style difficult to get into and did unfortunately decide dnf, I hope to go back to this at a later date and give it another try, however for now it is not the book for me.

Since attending a talk with the author, I always keep an eye out for her work. In person she managed to fully focus on the interview in a witty, charming and eloquent manner, whilst simultaneously wrestling a slightly bored and tired toddler on her lap. I lapped up The Atlas Six so I knew that I was in for a treat with Gifted and Talented. I'm please to say I was right.

If anything I underestimated just how much I would love this book. The characters are pretty awful, self-centred and needy in lots of different ways. But they are also undeniably talented and charming. Blake manages to write the most likeable yet awful characters.

This is a book you could race through but instead I read it on my daily commute, 35 minutes a day with nothing else to focus on. This was the perfect book to escape into after a long day at work. Whilst parts of the book are shocking, there is a really dark humour about many of the events. The complexity of the characters (even the minor characters who appear to be surface level only) is surprising. This is a tale of awful people doing awful things, but somehow you still root for them! Loved every moment of this book!

Fully embracing that the spell Olivie Blake had over me has broken as it has progressively been fading with each book release! This one I think is my last attempt :(

I LOVE her writing style but also I really REALLY hate her writing style, it makes me feel smart one second then hella stupid and honestly I just read for escapism and I don't find I get this from her work anymore which is sad as I had such enjoyment previously. (I may be bitter from the end of TAS series lmao)

Sorry for requesting this and not being able to finish it, it was before when I was young and full of Olivie Blake hope.

Olivie Blake has a writing style that is unmatched. There is no one I could compare her books to. Every page is an experience and this book is no different. This book is about three siblings in the wake of their father’s death but it’s so so much more than that. Olivie really gets you rooting for the most insufferable of people and I love it.

Another one from one of my favorite fil-am authors!

This book is everything you need. The magic system is unique, as you probably know considering Olivie Blake writes magic system uniquely complicated. We can't also turn a blind eye on how she writes the siblings in this one, they are so indifferent towards one another yet still look out for each other. They're cold and cunning and brilliant and genius.

Overall, if you want a very sassy narrative that you can't trust, well for sure you can devour this in one sitting.

dnf-ed at 15%

I really tried my best to like it, but I just couldn't.

The beginning was incredibly slow and at the point that I decided that I will not continue, we still haven't gotten past the exposition. The plot is still being set up and I felt like there was a lot of info dumping that wasn't necessary and we could have learned these things later on as the plot progressed rather than throwing everything in the beginning. It made the book feel even slower.

After the 15% mark, I'm still not fully what the plot is supposed to be either. Like yes, I read the synopsis, I can tell because of it where we are getting, but I should have at least in idea now from the book too and I do not.

I can't say I feel any attachment to the characters either. They are supposed to be flawed but there's a different between flawed and absolutely horrible. And they fit in the second category in my opinion. I'm a huge fan of character driven books and I simply need to have a connection with the characters to actually like a story. And here, this is not the case.

I could see why other people could enjoy this book, but as of now, I don't think this one is for me and if you think we have similar taste in books, this might not be for you either.

I unfortunately did struggled with this book especially at the start of this book.
I found that it took a good while to actually get into the book and found that the pacing of the book was pretty slow.
Once I got a good chunk into the book it did pick up and I enjoyed the story after that.
The book synopsis was so intriguing and I loved it.
I’ve read several books from this author before and really enjoyed them but unfortunately this one whilst ok wasn’t a favourite.

Olivie Blake's writing remains a masterclass in emotional complexity, and Gifted & Talented is no exception. This is less about plot and more about pressure — the kind that starts in childhood and calcifies into adulthood. The prose walks a tightrope between brilliant and indulgent, but it works because the characters are just as unhinged. If you’ve ever wrestled with the weight of expectations or the loneliness of trying to prove your worth, parts of this will hit too close.

The magic is subtle and symbolic rather than front and center, which may surprise some readers, but the real alchemy here is in how Blake dissects ambition, legacy, and the slow rot of privilege. The characters are intentionally difficult. They make terrible choices. They spiral. But they also feel deeply real in the way only Blake's characters can. There were moments I laughed, moments I cringed, and more than one that made me pause to reread a line just to sit with it. This isn’t escapism. It’s confrontation, wrapped in glitter and grief. And I liked it that way.

I wanted to love Gifted & Talented. Really, I did. The concept? Brilliant. Three wildly gifted siblings navigating the messy aftermath of their tech-mogul father’s death? With magic?! Sign me up. But as I turned the pages (and turned, and turned), I kept waiting for the spark that never quite came.

Let’s start with what worked: the premise is rich with potential. The setup practically begs for drama, betrayal, and juicy power plays. It feels like a blend of Succession with a magical twist—except that twist is so faint, you might miss it altogether. I went in expecting telepathy, kinetic showdowns, something deliciously fantastical. But the magic? It barely shows up. It felt like a background detail rather than the beating heart of the story.

And then there’s the pacing. This book is long, and it feels like it. The beginning dragged, and unfortunately, that sense of slowness lingered throughout the whole story. I kept hoping things would pick up, that the stakes would feel sharper or the plot would surprise me. Instead, I found myself trudging through endless internal monologues and boardroom banter, wishing we’d just get to the good stuff.

Now let’s talk characters—because this was another major stumbling block for me. Meredith, Arthur, Eilidh… they’re all flawed in intentionally messy ways, but I never connected with any of them. I can appreciate morally grey, even outright unlikeable, characters when they’re compelling. But in this case, I didn’t relate to them, and I didn’t root for them either. They felt more like archetypes than people, and that emotional distance made the story even harder to engage with.

By the time I reached the end, I just felt… tired. There’s something there, something clever and pointed beneath all the corporate satire and family drama, but it never quite rises above the noise. And without the emotional hook or the magical flair I’d hoped for, it all fell a bit flat.

Final thoughts

If you’re here for sibling drama and dark academia-esque commentary on ambition and failure, you might find something to latch onto. But if you’re looking for magic, momentum, or characters you can love (or love to hate), Gifted & Talented might leave you feeling a little cold. For me, it was a miss.

My first Olivie Blake and honestly? An excellent entry point. Spectacular writing, flawed and brilliant characters, and some truly brilliant moments. My only complaint is that it was billed as Succession meets magic and while it had BIG Succession energy, it was light on magic. Toward the end, it started to drift into a very inward facing, occasionally repetitive, essay on motherhood which didn’t appeal to me, but I understand why given the context the author was writing in. I couldn’t quite rate it five-stars as I wanted more magic (and better explanations for what was going on with the siblings), but it was a mostly satisfying read. Would recommend!

Gifted and Talented is for the millennials that feel the pressure to succeed and people please whilst having crippling anxiety and pretty sub par social skills 😂

Using her usual writing style and satire, Blake creates a family dynamic that focuses on sibling rivalry in a social and tech driven corporate world.

However, I didn’t finish this. This just wasn’t for me. And I love Olivie Blake but I found this one overwritten to the point of exhaustion. After two months I was only 42% finished and so very little had actually happened to progress the story.

Olivie Blake certainly has a unique writing style that intrigues and grips you and admittedly wont be for everyone but there is certainly somtething about the way she captures the ugly in people and yet makes you still find the good in them or want to root for them.

Impossibly wealthy and enittled the three children of Thayer Wren come together when they hear of their fathers death, they're all impacted for different reasons and also are dealing with their own personal life drama and magical glitches. The magic systems /world in this is felt familiar to that of The Atlas Six series in that magic creates and runs business it is for the powerful. it isn't magic for heroes or witches and wizards!

I enjoy Olivie Blake's books but this one wasn't a favourite for me, I felt like there wasn't enough action and the characters were too self entitled., too self involved..they are meant to be, but it just meant there wasn't anyone I particularly liked or cared enough about to care what happened enough.
The story is clever and it is easy enough to follow along and enjoy and will no doubt stick in your head for these characters.

I received this book as an ARC and provide an honest review.

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