Gifted and Talented by Olivie Blake is a brilliant contemporary fantasy that feels quite different than any other book I’ve ever read in the genre if it can even be placed in the genre at all. It’s both intelligent and deeply thought-provoking, with dry, biting humor.
The Wren siblings have been given every privilege in this life, elite schools and trust funds, every possible dream available to them thanks to the generational wealth provided to them by their father Thayer Wren, and his magitech company, Wrenfare.
Despite all the opportunities their family wealth provided and all the potential it promised, these three are floundering. Meredith, the eldest, is the CEO of her own magitech company, and a complete fraud. Arthur is a lonely, disappointing, and largely useless member of Congress. The youngest, Eilidh, once was a star ballerina until an injury ended her career, leaving her utterly lost.
After their father’s death, the whole world wants to know which one of these once-promising assholes is going to succeed the Wrenfare throne?
Readers get a strong sense of who these characters are from the very beginning, through strong narrative voice and the artful inclusion of details that shape them into something tangible. These are not serious people. They are assholes and frauds, but the author still manages to infuse them with incredible depth.
Olivie Blake has such a unique and fascinating writing style that I always love no matter her subject matter. It’s sharply witty and infused with dark humor, and it is such a joy to read.
Gifted and Talented employs a voice-of-god style narration, with a third-person omniscience but with its own voice and interjections, which adds rich layers to this clever story.
I will say this is not a fast or easy read. The language is erudite in a way that requires time to parse through. Remarkably little actually happens during the handful of days that make up the bulk of this book, it’s more an unraveling, a steady revelation of secrets and hard truths. It’s not necessarily exciting, per se, but it’s easy to devour the melodramas of these obscenely rich people.
My only issue with this book came at the very end, where there was this heartfelt exploration of motherhood that felt vaguely out of place but was poignant nonetheless, I suppose. The entire final bit of the book was a bit strange, but it still made for a satisfying conclusion of the plot.
Gifted and Talented will make you think. It will make you chuckle sardonically. It’s cynical, and it’s a specific kind of fun to relish in the brand of entertainment that the miseries of the uber-rich provide. Fans of the shows Succession or The Fall of the House of Usher will find this book a delight.
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