Best of All Worlds

By Author / Illustrator

Kenneth Oppel

Genre

Dystopian

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Guppy Publishing

ISBN

9781916558458

Format

Hardback

Published

05-06-2025

Synopsis

When Xavier wakes up on the first morning of an enforced family weekend away with his pregnant stepmum and dad, he doesn't recognise where they are - it's as if the house has inexplicably been transported to the set of a video game, inside an impenetrable dome where the family have been 'donated' chickens, goats, wheat to help them survive. There is no trace of their mysterious captors and no way to escape.

Three years later, he's sixteen and resigned to life without the internet, other people, let alone a girlfriend... when suddenly another family appears, one with vastly contrasting political ideologies and priorities. In the confines of this strange world, Xavier and 17-year-old gorgeous Mackenzie are thrown together, Mackenzie's erratic father becomes obsessively fixated on escape, and tensions between the two families begin to rise with devastating and tragic consequences...

Kenneth Oppel's most thrilling novel to date is challenging, provocative and unforgettable.

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Reviews

Clare

When Xavier Oak wakes up on his weekend away with his father and heavily pregnant step-mother he expects his usual vista; the clear water of the lake and the harbour. Instead their entire cottage seems to have been transported to a farm, replete with bleating goats demanding to be milked. Stunned and confused the three of them try to make sense of their surroundings - are they dreaming? Is this heaven? Have they been abducted by aliens??

As they begin to make sense of their new environment and all attempts at escape fail, they realise they are enclosed in some sort of dome. But is it for their protection or are they trapped? As the days roll into months and years, the Oak family adapt to their new lives but still hanker for lost family and friends. When suddenly a new family arrives with familiar feelings of confusion, anger and frustration, the Oaks' precariously-balanced world begins to crumble.

Best of All Worlds is a completely riveting read. Think the Truman Show with added menace. The families have to fashion a life without knowing where they are or who put them there. They can guess at motives but are never sure who the controlling 'they' are. With a fractured family, a baby born in captivity and a hormonal teenager, things could get dangerously messy.

Teenage Xavier is the lynchpin and is a just brilliant character - wise beyond his years, hardworking, witty and hopelessly controlled by his infatuation with the girl next door. No-one's perfect in this world, they are all just trying to deal with their circumstances as best they can. There are tense moments, acts of kindness and times when characters veer dangerously out of control.

I could go on to say an awful lot more about this book but the best thing to do is just read it!

256 pages / Reviewed by Clare Wilkins, school librarian