i was under the impression that this is a dark academia book.

it is, infact, literally everything except that.

Thank you Pan Macmillan and NetGalley to the ARC!

If i got one thing out of this book, its that I felt an incessant need to go and hug my siblings, and I should be far more grateful for them. Also that happiness is completely what you make it out to be, not what anyone else tells you.

Gifted & Talented is a story following three siblings battling with themselves over their supposed sacred gifts and alleged promised talent, after being brought back together during their father’s death. Eldest daughter Meredith is tackling a blackmail case that will total her whole career, middle child Arthur can’t decide if his love lies with his partners, his wife or his work, and youngest Eildih just wants to be seen an appreciated by someone in her family. All three of them have to deal with (you guessed it for an Olivie book), the consequences of their own actions and how to be happy when the thing they’ve built their lives around crumbles.

Unlike other Olivie Blake books where the action is often philosophical, open ended, and leaves you numb at the thought of your existence, Gifted & Talented is an open and closed case. All the pieces are there, all the journeys are complete, all the morals have been learnt and there isn’t anything for you to do except reread and see how all these characters changed and got to where they are. I found it extremely clear what the overarching plot is (all siblings have their own storylines, but they’re all tied together by Thayer Wren’s company), and extremely satisfying to see how all the siblings play a part. All the pieces of the puzzle came together slowly- front it starting out as you needing to pick a side, and a sibling to defend but really none of them are the villain. Happiness is.

Highlights include:

• POV switching mid chapter,
• The use of different writing styles (case switching and scriptwriting).
• The narrator; Oh my goodness the narrator! I was prepared for an Olivie insert (usually in the form of a character backstory, or some inhuman being) and I thought I got that…but no! We got an extremely unreliable narrator in the form of the Wrens’ childhood best friend, and this was so perfectly written in I couldnt ask for anything else. The beginning people so ruthless and unhinged made much more sense when we realise Lou’s relationships toward the siblings. How much or little she knows of them, and how this reflects her views. Her then being a crucial part of the story, still while narrating everything really brought the unreliability into play. I too, thought Meredith pushed Jamie off the cliff.

Our side characters are all loveable, and it’s clear they exist to support the three siblings and aren’t a plot of themselves. I enjoyed the polyamorous representation, and bringing light Arthur’s conflicts about the love he feels for his wife, and the different love he feels for his partners, and the love he has for wanting to be loved. Eilidh and Dzyhulia shared a complicated, intertwined story namely one of comparison and gave a great story of ‘the grass is always greener. Jamie and Cass I could write an essay on how they’re foils for each other, and how love comes in different shapes and sizes. Be honest with those you love.

We only see each other at weddings and funerals’ is the phrase i’d title this whole thing. And the language? If you love Olivie-isms then this one is filled plenty with them. It’s delightfully unhinged.

This is...a lot. This review is a lot (mainly because I'm the most passionate about my highly anticipated reads when they let me down), so apologies if it's length. I'm extremely conflicted in my rating (either 2 or 3 stars) because i am REALLY rooting for Weavinghsaw to do well, except it missed the mark massively for me. This book was extremely easy to put down, and I didn't feel excited to pick it back up again. It was just...there.

I enjoyed small parts of the mystery (while I was still able to figure them out myself) and liked the unique magic system/ghost magic that was explained thoroughly, though would have loved a little more history about Lena's ghost work and why exactly she learns to do as she does (herself). Some of our characters are intriguing- namely the nobles in the latter half of the book and they were great at changing the dynamic.

Personally, this was sold to me as a dark academia, dark romantasy, gothic novel with political intrigue in which I believe it only hits 1/4 of those point- only dark romantasy. The author tries at gothic, but it's much more than just a dimly lit castle with ghosts. It's the setting, the world, the atmosphere, the horror- none of which was present. The political intrigue came across as very generic ('we hate immigrants') and then never gets explored after that. The romance also felt very copy/paste, and (if you go by tropes) is an insta-lust/slowburn, something that doesn't interest me at all (was expecting just slowburn). Lena is nothing but angry at everything and having this as our main narrator constantly made for some very repetitive thoughts i did not enjoy. I understand why she is angry, but that's all she is the whole book!

The beginning is extremely slow. Undeniably slow. Nothing happens for a very long time, and things that do pop up are immediately solved within that chapter. I was constantly told 'it gets better at 25%, no actually 50%, no actually i didn't buy it until 75%' and i don't understand why I should have to wait until over halfway for me to be hooked into the story. Suddenly the war is over, suddenly Rami got justice, suddenly we learn about the locket etc etc. Actions never had long lasting consequences (even the blurb of the book sets up the whole story to be about finding a lost brother- but he is found within 25%).

Over the course of the book, things stopped being mysterious. Anything that could have been intriguing was highlighted in the dialogue, almost like a 'HEY LOOK THIS WILL BE SUPER IMPORTANT LATER' arrow to the point where I wasn't figuring anything out and had my hand held the entire way. For an adult debut, this absolutely could have been in Young Adult/Upper YA as it read young (because our characters are naive and inexperienced).

Unfortunately, much of the story was clumsily revealed to us in a dialogue heavy, expositional chapter that ruined absolutely all of the mystery and the whole book from then on (about 70%) relied on dramatic irony. After The Wake chapter, the book went in a direction I had absolutely no interest in- demons. I wanted more political intrigue, I wanted to learn more of the world, but instead it went the other world route. With everything happening in the final 20% i couldn't help but wonder why this is a trilogy and not a standalone, at most a duology, since as a result of the ending i couldn't help but feel that all of the setup in this book was needlessly dragged out for no reason. It was a very open/closed case and story, that has now pivoted to something else entirely.

We also don't get to visit Weavingshaw until 60% of the way into the book. A strange choice, honestly. The ending is a cliffhanger that didn't make sense to me because:

1. where are you going to go?
2. it's really obvious you won't leave anyway.

I appreciate the effort that was made here- truly, and i can absolutely see this book finding its correct target audience, but sadly, to me Weavingshaw felt like a generic romantasy disguised in a gothic setting, and i'm extremely disappointed. I won't rush to get the sequel, but I will absolutely be rooting for it since It can be turned around, and I'd like to see how the author does that.