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emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have complicated feelings about Olivie Blake's books. Her writing is very ramble-y in a way that I'm not sure I like. It definitely takes some getting used to! Anyway, there wasn't much of a plot in this book. It was mostly about the character's daddy issues and precarious mental states. Additionally, I thought the magic aspect was poorly explained and felt random. I continued reading mainly because I wanted to know what was in the will (which was very dragged out), but I actually enjoyed all the drama, so I guess it wasn't bad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Abandonment
Minor: Eating disorder, Sexism, Car accident, Pregnancy, Classism
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Classism
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was not a book for me. It was a family drama of completely unlikable characters with crass language.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Infidelity, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thayer Wren is the head of a massive tech company that pioneered a magical technology. When he dies, it leaves his three children to battle it out for control of the corporation: Meredith, CEO of her own rival company; Arthur, the politician who in spite of being elected to Congress was still a disappointment to his father; and Eilidh, a former ballerina who took a high-level position at her father’s company when her dancing career came to an abrupt end. Each of them has their own reasons for wanting the company – but each of them is also hiding a huge secret.
This novel is brilliantly, beautifully written, but if you can’t do unlikeable main characters, this is not the book for you – they're vividly rendered and distinct characters, but they are, in the accurate words of the pseudo-omniscient narrator, assholes. Also, if uncomfortable situations make you cringe too hard, this might be a hard read for you. Siblings they may be, but every interaction between Eilidh and either of the other two is uncomfortable. The magic system is kind of ill-defined - it’s largely just extreme high tech, but not entirely, as in the cases of Arthur and Eilidh. But I found that that didn’t really matter to the story much, since that really wasn’t what it was about. This is not a fantasy story. It’s more of a family drama with the inclusion of magical elements, which are sometimes very important and sometimes not.
It wasn’t always an easy read, but overall, it was fantastic. Five stars.
Representation: POC characters, LGBTQIA+ characters, neurodivergent characters(?)
CW: drug use, sexual content, eating disorder
I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is brilliantly, beautifully written, but if you can’t do unlikeable main characters, this is not the book for you – they're vividly rendered and distinct characters, but they are, in the accurate words of the pseudo-omniscient narrator, assholes. Also, if uncomfortable situations make you cringe too hard, this might be a hard read for you. Siblings they may be, but every interaction between Eilidh and either of the other two is uncomfortable. The magic system is kind of ill-defined - it’s largely just extreme high tech, but not entirely, as in the cases of Arthur and Eilidh. But I found that that didn’t really matter to the story much, since that really wasn’t what it was about. This is not a fantasy story. It’s more of a family drama with the inclusion of magical elements, which are sometimes very important and sometimes not.
It wasn’t always an easy read, but overall, it was fantastic. Five stars.
Representation: POC characters, LGBTQIA+ characters, neurodivergent characters(?)
CW: drug use, sexual content, eating disorder
I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content
Moderate: Eating disorder
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Olivie Blake can do no wrong. Her writing makes me feral. So much so that she has the ability to make me feel something for billionaires and that’s saying a lot.
IMO this shouldn’t be categorized as a fantasy bc while this is a world that has technology-magic it basically functions as technology. It reads not dissimilar to our world now so I would call it more magical realism! Just to set expectations bc also Olivie has written much more blatant fantasy books. This one reads more litfic kinda like AWYITE
IMO this shouldn’t be categorized as a fantasy bc while this is a world that has technology-magic it basically functions as technology. It reads not dissimilar to our world now so I would call it more magical realism! Just to set expectations bc also Olivie has written much more blatant fantasy books. This one reads more litfic kinda like AWYITE
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Classism
Moderate: Death, Drug use, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship
Minor: Sexual content
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Classism
Minor: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was—in Olivie's own words—a lot of book. It takes place over a week or so surrounding a magitech (just roll with it!) mogul's death. Think Succession, but instead of Kendall, Roman and Shiv fighting about petty things (though there's a good amount of that), they're dealing with the fact that one of them faked their life's work in fixing depression, another is spontaneously dying and the third causes plagues of literal biblical proportion. More than acting, this book is a character study about the way we interact with our families and the way the pressure to be something (to the world, to someone) can severely fuck us up as adults. Even if there was a lot going on, by the time everything got rolling, I was fully on board. The book was funny and healing and odd and messy, and included a quote towards the end that, as a 30 year old former gifted kid, actually made me sob. It includes all the hallmarks of a quirky Olivie Blake work, including tense shifts and fourth wall breaks and fake outs and oddly structured chapters, and it forced me to take my time with it—and I'm so thrilled I did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy
Minor: Car accident