Gifted and Talented by Olivie Blake

Book Description

Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne. Or at least, so they like to think. On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins—but which Wren will come out on top?

Review

In Gifted and Talented, Olivie Blake does something I’ve rarely seen in a novel: she makes the book feel like a television show. Not in the “adapted for screen” sense, but in the rhythm, the dialogue, and especially the narrator. Think HBO’s show Succession, but with magic.

The narrator breaks the fourth wall so often it’s like she’s sitting in the room with you, smirking over your shoulder. She contradicts herself, drops hints, and revels in misdirection. I never trusted her, and I loved every second.

What happens when a child prodigy grows up and fails to meet society’s expectations?

Born with talent and privilege, Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh each seem poised to dominate the world. But instead of succeeding, they fail.

Publically. Spectacularly. Deliciously.

It leaves them gloriously messy. Flawed, unlikeable, and yet magnetic. Their drama (political, corporate, and personal) spills across the page like any binge-worthy series. I kept thinking, just one more chapter, the same way I bargain with myself late at night to watch “just one more episode.”

Not All Novels Follow Traditional Rules

Blake’s story doesn’t cleanly explain the magic. The book’s pacing meanders. Most damning, the plot focuses more on the characters than on tying up loose ends. However, as an avid binge-television fan, I found it fascinating.

Gifted and Talented is a novel that bends time and toys with unreliable perspectives, like Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale.

It isn’t a cozy fantasy, a fast-paced thriller, or even a traditional family saga. It’s something stranger and bolder. A meta-fictional experiment wrapped in family drama. It won’t be for everyone, but I admire its audacity.

Eunice Wong’s performance brought a clarity and steadiness that anchored the book’s chaos. Her pacing suited the slow-burn family drama. The way she leaned into the sly, fourth-wall-breaking-asides made them even more conspiratorial. It felt like she was whispering secrets directly to me. It heightened the novel’s sense of unreliability, letting me in on a joke while also gently misleading me.

If you’re intrigued by unreliable narrators, metafictional play, and the delicious chaos of complicated families, give Gifted and Talented a try.

Content Warning

Addiction, Alcohol, Body Shaming, Cursing, Death of a Parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Parental abuse, Political corruption, Sexism, Toxic relationships, Violence

The header photo is a composite image. Base image by Nikhita Singhal on Unsplash