The Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel

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✦ BLURB ✦

Xavier Oaks doesn't particularly want to go to the cabin with his dad and his dad's pregnant new wife, Nia. But family obligations are family obligations, and it's only for a short time. So he leaves his mom, his brother, and his other friends behind for a week in the woods. Only... one morning he wakes up and the house isn’t where it was before. It's like it's been lifted and placed... somewhere else.

When Xavier, his dad, and Nia go explore, they find they are inside a dome, trapped. And there's no one else around...

Until, three years later, another family arrives.

Is there any escape? Is there a reason they are stuck where they are? Different people have different answers -- and those different answers inexorably lead to tension, strife, and sacrifice.

In this masterpiece, award-winning author Kenneth Oppel builds to a heart-stopping pitch in drawing a story that feels very much of our moment, where our very human choices collectively lead to humanity’s eventual fate.

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✶ PRE-READING ✶

I was intrigued by the premise - it reminded me of a real-life Stardew Valley with a twist. The isolated cabin, the rural setting, the promise of found community or eerie dystopia… I expected something atmospheric and a little mysterious, with perhaps a survivalist or sci-fi bend.

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✶ POST-READING ✶

As I thought... It was atmospheric and mysterious, with that strange sense of dislocation that really pulls you in. Oppel’s writing makes even small details feel tense and relevant, and the isolation feels increasingly psychological as time passes. I really didn't want to put this one down!

It surprised me by... How philosophical and morally layered it became. What starts as a "survival in the dome" story evolves into a meditation on choice, ideology, and the ways we try to create a utopia - and the costs that come with it. The interpersonal tensions felt realistic and emotionally grounded, and I didn’t expect the story to scale up the way it did. The stakes kept rising in very human ways.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

Book Recommendation: The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He - also features isolation, survival, and big philosophical ideas wrapped in intimate, emotional storytelling.

TV or Movie Recommendation: The Society (Netflix) — a group of people isolated and forced to rebuild a community, with increasing tensions and conflicting visions for what kind of society they want to create. Ends on a cliffhanger, but the journey is worth it!

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

A colour palette: pine green, steel grey, misty white

A soundtrack: soft ambient tones shifting into dissonant synths

A season: late autumn – fading light, creeping cold, survival mode

A mood: uncertain, contemplative, quietly eerie

A scent: damp earth and fire smoke

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

Five of Wands – Light Seer’s Tarot
In this card, five figures climb toward the same light - but each follows a different path, and not all of them work together. It speaks to the frictions that emerge in confined spaces, where shared goals don't always mean shared values. In The Best of All Worlds, this card captures the rising tensions between the families as they navigate survival, ideology, and the elusive possibility of escape.

The Best of All Worlds publishes on the 5th June, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.