tfelmet 's review for:

Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake

4.25

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

This book was HIGHLY anticipated. I just am always enamored by Olivie Blake’s writing style. I loved the characters in this book- not just the three Wrens, although they were especially great. All super interesting and complex. Assholes you learn to love, which was exactly the point. I loved Gillian, Yves, and Jaime. I even liked Cass.

Lou being the narrator was a very interesting twist and made the jumping around of the story a lot easier to make sense of.

For a while I was a little confused on how magic was incorporated in this world compared to in One for my Enemy and Atlas Six. It’s interesting to look at the similarities and differences of how Blake weaves it into the world and the story. Her understanding of science astounds me. The idea of the Wren’s colonizing Lou’s family’s magic and society in general capitalizing on it while systematically making Magic(TM) seem illegitimate and primitive… WOOF. The descriptions of motherhood also seem very realistic- from a person who works with kids with none of her own. I liked how in depth she went on the little things and the big emotions that can come with them.