Olivie Blake
MacMillan
Otago Daily Times, June 7th 2025
Part HBO’s Succession, part Shakespeare’s King Lear, Olivie Blake’s Gifted and Talented returns us to a similar techno-magical setting of previous novels such as The Atlas Six trilogy and One For My Enemy.
The ‘gifted and talented’ characters of the title are Meredith, Arthur and Eilidh, the adult children of Wrenfare Magitech founder and CEO, Thayer Wren. Returning to the family home after Thayer’s sudden and unexpected death, spouses and assorted lovers in tow, the siblings are forced to confront both their inter-personal rivalries and the various ways in which their father has damaged their lives and relationships. Matters are further complicated by the fact that each is already in the throes of a personal crisis.
Meredith, the heir apparent, is CEO of her own, highly successful tech company whose signature product cures depression by rebalancing neurological circuitry. However when initial development turned out to slower than anticipated ,and Thyer refused to provide financial backing, she used her telepathic abilities to influence the outcome of the clinical trials, a fraud that is about to exposed by ex-boyfriend turned investigative journalist, Jamie.
Arthur, a first-term senator whose main ambition is to love and be loved (a congenital weakness in his father’s eyes) is running into trouble in his re-election campaign. His constituents are disappointed by his lack results, and his latent ability to manipulate electricity has flared up unexpectedly, making it impossible for him to interact with any form of electronic media. Even more problematically, he has started dropping dead at unexpected moments, much to the distress of those around him.
Eilidh, who was inducted into the family film after an accident ended her ballet career, is the only child to stay close to their father. But ever since her injury she has started involuntarily manifesting the apocalypse at moments of high emotion.
The novel follows the siblings as they wait to learn who will inherit the Wren dynasty. It is narrated by a fourth character who initially refers to themselves as ‘God’ but eventually admits to being Lou, Meredith ‘s estranged best friend and the only person who might be able to help Arthur and Eilidh regain control of their powers. Lou’s justifiable resentment of the Wrens, Meredith in particular, is reflected in her portrayal of them. It is a risky technique since nobody wants to spend an entire novel with unpleasant people, and I found initially none of them particularly likeable, not even Eilidh, the only one I felt any empathy with.
Although they become more sympathetic as we learn their backstories and the extent to which Thayer has contrived to limit their potential. No longer subject to his influence, each also takes the first steps towards personal redemption (Meredith) or self-fulfilment (Arthur and Eilidh). But it seems to take a lot of words to get to that point and there is only so much time I want to spend with poor little rich kids. I was hard-pressed to stay the distance.