for the first 30% I thought it'll be my next 5⭐️, but it isn't (it's still good tho)
it's actually really really funny, which is my favorite thing in Gifted & Talented, cus I love this exact type of humour

when it comes to characters, in true Olivie Blake fashion, they were really complicated and flawed and so human and not really human at the same time

my favorite character must be Meredith, I love her, she can do no wro- jk she's actually a MASSIVE fraud profiting off capitalism and driving that force forward, but god forbid women have hobbies😔

the plot was interesting... but the reason I took -1 star is that it lost me in the middle a little, it's very specific book, definitely character driven and I love all character interactions, especially between Wren siblings, but in the middle I was questioning what was actually happening here, but still I recommend this book a lot!

bonus shoutout to Midsummer night dreams Fairytale collection vol. II (yes, I'm obsessed with that selfpub collection that has 60 reviews on Goodreads including mine🫡), especially The Twelve Huntsmen or A Queen's guide to retribution that walked, so Wren siblings dynamic (sister dramatic, sister hysterical, brother clumsy etc) could run😌

Thank you Netgalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

This is my first Olivie Blake book but I’m pretty sure it won’t be my last. I thought the magic system was particularly unique, and not something that I personally have ever read before. There is a large cast of mostly very unlikable characters, which I found tricky to warm up to, but eventually found quite entertaining. Everyone in this book is unashamedly out for themselves, and I would even describe at least two of the siblings as antiheroes rather than protagonists.

There is a definite feeling of dark academia to this book. If you enjoy smart, ambitious, somewhat pretentious flawed main characters, the likes of which you’d find in The Secret History or If We Were Villains, this book is for you.

The omniscient narrator adds real humour to the story, never hesitating to criticise the core trio. While the action takes a while to get going, the first third does add important context for the rest of the story.

Overall I found this quite an enjoyable read.
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan UK Audio for an advance audiobook.

Unfortunately this book is a DNF. Life is too short to read books like this. I got through 50% of it and I just cannot continue. I feel like nothing has happened, nothing will happen (and if it does, I could care less), and listening to these people has just drained me.

The audio narrator is one I don’t mind at all but when they could not bring this book to life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy.

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.