Olivie Blake’s Gifted & Talented is a sharp, intoxicating blend of familial dysfunction, academic ambition, and the existential dread of unrealized potential—all wrapped in her signature lyrical prose. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when “gifted child burnout” meets Succession-style power struggles (with a dash of magic), this novel answers that question in the most self-destructive and cerebral way possible.

The Wren siblings—Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh—are deeply flawed, painfully pretentious, and often insufferable in the best possible way. Their father’s death forces them into a high-stakes reckoning with their ambitions, failures, and each other, but their deeply ingrained arrogance and self-sabotage make them difficult protagonists to root for. This isn't a flaw of the book—Blake writes them with surgical precision—but it does mean that your enjoyment may hinge on your tolerance for watching brilliant yet emotionally stunted people unravel in real time.

The novel explores fascinating themes: the weight of expectation, the corrosive nature of parental neglect, and the existential crisis of once being exceptional and now simply… existing. However, the narrative occasionally leans too heavily into its own self-awareness. The introspection can become repetitive, and at times, the story feels more like an extended character study than a fully realized plot. The magical elements, while intriguing, feel more ornamental than essential—less a driving force and more a stylistic flourish that never fully integrates into the novel’s central conflicts.

A significant drawback of the reading experience (at least for the digital ARC) was the formatting issues. The faulty layout made navigation frustrating, disrupting the novel’s flow and making it harder to stay engaged. For early readers, this was a noticeable barrier.

That said, Blake’s prose remains addictive—cutting, poetic, and brimming with philosophical musings. The secondary characters, particularly Yves and Gillian, inject much-needed balance and humanity into the narrative. If you enjoy character-driven stories filled with unlikable yet compelling protagonists and biting satire, Gifted & Talented will deliver. Just be prepared for a story that often revels in its own cleverness, for better or worse.

Another fantastic book from olivie Blake! I have been a fan for many many years and I can tell you I will always pick up a book by this author because I know they will be amazing! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for approving me to read one of my most anticipated reads early.

I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book, but let’s start with the obvious.. Olivie Blake is brilliant and I will happily read anything this author writes.

Gifted & Talented is unique, and at first I couldn’t quite mesh with this style of writing as it’s so different to anything else I’ve read. The story is told by a very unreliable narrator and it feels quite broken or disconnected, and at first I wasn’t vibing with it.

After about 20% I saw the brilliance, the characters and the view point are very unlikeable if we’re being honest, but I found the characters and especially Meredith to be oddly endearing and by the end I was quite emotionally attached to the story and it’s characters, I’m not even sure how I managed to become invested considering again that they are so unlikeable at their core. The message of the story feels obvious but once you reach the end it really sinks in, people are just people and we create our own expectations or interpretations of who we’re supposed to be, well that was my take from it anyway.

Thoroughly enjoyed this and I’m rating it 4.5 stars.

I was so excited to be given this arc and so I am disappointed that I can’t actually read it due to errors in the text (mostly symbols and shapes instead of actual sentences/words) I have contacted Netgalley support about the problem so I hope we can receive an updated file, especially as I see from other reviews that this is a problem other Netgalley users are having.

All of this being said, I wanted to let others know that the publishers have made a small sneak peak of the Kindle edition available on Amazon! This can be found on Olivie Blake’s author page, and includes the first 70ish pages. So I have managed to read a small portion of Gifted & Talented, which has made me really keen to read the entire book. Even from the first chapter, you get such an impressive sense of tone. I love the writing style, as I always do with Olivie Blake. It’s undeniably clever and funny and helps build the character’s personalities so well.

I’m giving this Netgalley review 4 stars purely for the potential I can see. I feel unable to post a review publicly on my Goodreads because I haven't been able to read/finish the book. I will happily update this review (and post on my Goodreads!) if I am given the opportunity to read an updated copy of this book.

Is there anything more entertaining than being thrust into the heart of family drama and witnessing the emotional unraveling of the filthy rich? Probably! Don’t get me wrong—I don’t enjoy watching people suffer (even fictional, wealthy people), but there’s something about it that makes them feel just a bit more relatable. I’ll likely never accumulate the kind of wealth that would make invincibility in the reach of my hand, so seeing the elite wrestle with their very real, very human emotions is definitely fascinating (and quite funny).
If you love satire, character-driven stories, unreliable narrators, and a touch of style-over-substance storytelling, Gifted & Talented is for you. It explores themes of intellectual ambition, messy relationships, identity, and existentialism, all through the lens of the pretentious—yet deeply insecure—Wren siblings: Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh. They are forced to relive their past and face the consequences, not only their actions, but also their father’s attitude to parenthood. As their complexities unravel, one thing becomes clear: money may make life easier, but when it comes to your emotional stability (which is most likely determined by the type of love you get from your parents) - no amount of wealth, power or magical manipulation can fix it. However, the true stars of the show (in my opinion) are the side characters. They may be meant to linger in the background, but in reality, they shape our perception of the main cast more than anything else. My favorites? Yves and Gillian—and honestly, I wish them nothing but happiness.
Despite enjoying this book, I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit lengthy. At times, reading felt like overthinking—and maybe that was the point, but I really prefer to avoid that as much as possible (overthinking, that is). As for the magic? I wasn’t entirely convinced it had a purpose in the story, but in the end, it felt like a nice, final touch or more likely, the Olivie Blake’s signature.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book!

And another amazing book from Olivie Blake. IMO she can do no wrong!

I love Olivie's writing, it's wonderfully pretentious. She really knows how to write unlikable characters which are incredibly loveable.

It's stated as succession with magic. (But I've never seen succession, it's on my to-do list).

Thayer wren is dead and we are reading about his three children are dealing with the aftermath. They are all awful, for different reasons.( And I mainly blame Thayer for EVERYTHING!)

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

“nothing is ever the same (affectionate) nothing is ever the same (threat)”

every time i start an Olivie book i tell myself im prepared to see all of the scary dark parts of me explored in beautiful words, and i never really am. there’s just something so deep, so raw about the way this author writes and reflects the human experiences. how she manages the capture the complexities of personhood, the ideas of reaching perfection without knowing what the definition truly is. they’re books that stick with you, books that hurt and change you, books that leave you with a sinking sick feeling in your stomach whilst your eyes fill with tears over the beauty of being seen but also the pain of being seen.

I adored this, it’s definitely became one of my favourites of her works. I think people critique the writing because it can be very patchy, flicking back and forth between narrations and it has an almost .. whimsical writing style? but i simply adore it, and i am so happy to have gotten early access to this.

I have mixed feelings about this book. While there were aspects I enjoyed, it was at times a bit of a slog. The premise intrigued me, but the plot didn’t quite have the strength to keep things moving, with much of the narrative weighed down by lengthy inner monologues from the characters.

The sibling trio is complex, albeit a bit pretentious—which, to be fair, is clear from the book’s description. They certainly live up to the "asshole" label, though it’s clear that beneath the resentment, jealousy, and major Daddy issues, there is genuine love… buried very deep.

One standout for me was Gillian’s character arc. Her storyline, and the way it concluded, was by far my favorite part of the book.

Overall, while it didn’t quite reach the level of my favorite Blake novel, it still deserves a solid 3.5 stars.

I've always had a complicated relationship with Olivie Blake's writing style. I adored it in Alone With You In the Ether, but the other novels didn't quite hit the mark for me.

This started off fantastically. Succession-esque story with the billionaire father dying and messed-up children - with the addition of magical powers? Sign me UP.
Unfortunately it didn't quite work for me and I found it quite repetitive. The novel felt like it was longer than needed and the dialogue didn't flow well for me. I did find myself looking forward to Eilidh's chapters because she was by far my favourite.

Olivie Blake can write complicated, beautiful, unlikeable but loveable characters in all-encompassing, messy relationships like no one else.

Meredith Wren, the eldest and striving for perfection, is CEO of her own magitech company, Birdsong. She is a woman in power, arrogant, ambitious, and one-minded.
Arthur Wren is the second-youngest congressman in history, able to love anyone and desperate to be loved. He is currently married and in a three-way relationship with a heiress and race car driver.
Eilidh Wren is the youngest, favoured by their father and working for his company Wrenfare following an injury which killed her dream, her sense of self - at one point primed to be the world’s most recognizable ballerina.
Following their father’s death, which of the Wrens now deserved the Wrenfare throne?

Blake’s writing is something to be devoured delicately. Addictive, toxic, beautiful. It reveals something about the world, humanity, ourselves.
This also brought in some concepts that were explored in her short story collection Januaries.

<b>Like before Babel had fallen, some prior versions of themselves were laid in the same brick, sharing the same mortar, such that they’d always been able to speak the same language no matter what forms they took.
</b>
This is contemporary except for the fact that there seems to be some sort of weird trends around the siblings. Meredith seems very persuasive. Arthur appears to be in a situationship between himself and every electrical current. Eilidh keeps bringing about mini apocalypses.

So, completely normal for a completely normal family.
They all have a complicated relationship with their father, with each other, with how they try and cope with growing older and being saddled with so many expectations. Of inheriting a legacy, being a prodigy, doing something do worth with their lives.

<b>Ballet was both delicacy and contortion. Like girlhood, ballet was art meant for consumption; it was virtuous because it was beautiful pain.
</b>
Finally, Olivie Blake’s writing style.
It is just so unique. We have an unreliable narrator, an unreliable and unconventional writing style, different formats, and a whole lot of ways of showing love.

No doubt about it.
Olivie Blake is GIFTED AND TALENTED.

Physical arc gifted by Book Break Pan MacMillan.
My neighbours definitely heard me squeal when I opened my post.