Review by Booklist Review
The latest from blockbuster fantasy author Blake--BookTok-famous author of The Atlas Six (2022)--is primarily a family drama, although magic simmers at the edges. Thayer Wren, CEO of WrenFare, has died. His business empire will likely go to one of his three children, but while they're all gifted in their own ways, they've all crashed and burned. Meredith is the head of a startup that might change the world--except that all her data is fraudulent. Arthur is a mediocre politician who is too busy people pleasing to get anything passed. And Eilidh was once a ballerina, but injury forced her into a degrading nine-to-five at her own father's company. All three are a mess already, but as their stories come to an ominous climax at their father's funeral, all three are ready to explode. While the plot drags a bit, fans of Blake and of character-rooted fantasy will be too invested to mind the page count. Blake's gifts for convincing, entertaining characters, snappy dialogue, and intriguing narration are on full display, and readers will be excited to get their hands on this new release. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Blake is a social-media star, and her legion of fans eagerly awaits each of her new releases, no matter how much they differ from one another.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Succession gets the dark fantasy treatment in this riveting standalone from bestseller Blake (The Atlas Six). Thayer Wren, longtime CEO of Wrenfare Magitech, has died, and his three children vie for control of his magically backed empire. Each also deals with their own individual struggles. Meredith, the oldest and the owner of her own "magitech" company, fears being exposed by her journalist boyfriend for committing corporate fraud. Middle child Arthur, a congressman, is on the brink of divorce and faces public mockery for his floundering political career. Finally, there's Eilidh, the magnate's youngest but most beloved daughter, who's devastated after her promising ballet career is cut short by an injury. Before their father's spirit can rest, the three must settle their differences. Blake keeps the vaguely delineated magic in the backseat, there to provide atmosphere, not to move the plot along. Instead, the focus is on the siblings' complex relationships with their deceased father, their friends, their partners, and society. Though hardcore fantasy readers may be disappointed, it's just the kind of deliciously toxic interpersonal miasma that Blake's fans have come to expect. Agent: Amelia Appel, Triada US. (Apr.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Thayer Wren, the father of modern technology and founder of Wrenfare Magitech, is dead and could be succeeded by any of his three children. The eldest, Meredith, has her own biotech company and has created an app that can end mental illness. She also has a journalist ex-boyfriend who could expose her as a fraud, and her own powers of manipulation don't work on him. Arthur is the second-youngest congressman in history, trying to fight for good. However, his hedonistic ways and his tendency to damage things with electrokinetic powers may cost him his marriage and his chances of reelection. The youngest, Eilidh, has served as a marketing assistant at Wrenfare for the last five years, after a traumatic injury ended her ballet career. She can literally change lives but only at a disastrous cost. All three need to find their worth in their late father's eyes, and each would tear down their siblings to do it. VERDICT Blake's (The Atlas Complex) command of morally gray characters and grim humor creates a dramatic, Succession-esque novel about a powerful, dysfunctional family.--Kristi Chadwick
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Magic can't solve the problems of this incredibly dysfunctional family. As teenagers, Meredith, Arthur, and Eilidh Wren seemed poised for glorious futures. Now as the three approach 30, that promise seems to have gone a bit sour. A former lover is about to publish an article exposing prickly tech mogul Meredith as a fraud: She used magic to fake positive test results for a splashy new device which purportedly adjusts your brain chemistry to make you happy. Arthur, the country's youngest congressman, watches his political fortunes tank while he juggles a complex love life that includes a devoted but apparently asexual wife as well as active participation in a pleasure-seeking throuple with a British aristocrat and a French race car driver. And lonely Eilidh mourns the glittering ballet career she lost five years ago to a car accident that injured her back, secretly pines for her father's executive assistant, Dzhuliya, and worries about a secret ability that mimics the ten plagues. The three estranged siblings are forced to reckon with their past--and their future--when their domineering father, founder of the powerful corporation Wrenfare Magitech, suddenly dies. Blake has previously specialized in writing about brilliant, unpleasantly self-involved people; in this book, her apparently semiomniscient narrator actually comes straight out and tells you that all the Wrens are assholes. When the narrator's identity is revealed (not that it was hard to figure out), it becomes clear that their opinions on the siblings are murkier than they previously admitted; but that might not do much to change the reader's opinion as to whether there's anything likable or indeed, relatable, about the Wrens. The author claims inspiration from Wes Anderson's filmThe Royal Tenenbaums. She is clearly trying to establish the Wrens as Anderson types, charmingly quirky failures who have difficulty saying what they feel, struggling under the weight of expectations not fulfilled. Anderson's cinematic world is contrived and artificial, existing in a sidestep from our reality; however, he can generally make his odd characters seem genuine. But Blake's strange bundles of traits never quite coalesce as believable people. Blake is gifted at attaining bestseller status; ascertaining her talent for authentic drama is more difficult. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
