I flew through this book. By the second day of the tandem readalong for this title, I couldn’t stop reading. The story oozed suspense and mystery. I just had to know what would become of the Oakes and the Jacksons. I was left wanting more answers, and I’m hoping the author will continue the story.

[arc review]
Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Best of All Worlds releases June 3, 2025

2.75

It’s an unnaturally hot summer weekend, and thirteen-year-old Xavier is forced to spend his time at a lakeside cottage with his dad and pregnant stepmom. But when they wake up that first morning, they realize that the entirety of their cottage has moved to an isolated farm. Not only are they physically and technologically cut off from the rest of the world, but they are enclosed inside of a dome.

Xavier and his guardians are quick to become compliant — adapting to their new normal by tending to their crops and livestock, and raising a newborn child.
After three years of living in a world in which they are its only inhabitants, another house with a family of four is 3D printed and placed under the dome with them.

With themes largely surrounding climate change, this speculative story had a lot of promise. The dichotomy between the two families, both in their nationalities and ideologies, paved a way for an interesting character study. However, where this fell short was in the ending. I can get behind ambiguity when it serves a purpose, but this was too ambiguous.
Literally nothing was explained… Who was responsible for the dome structure? What planet were they on? Were there hidden cameras? Why did they choose the Oaks or the Jacksons over any other family? Why did they wait three years to introduce a new family? Was this just a simulation/social experiment or a true act of human preservation? How come the narrative glaringly avoided tackling queerness by automatically implying that the two male children from the Oak family would pair up and procreate with the two female children from the Jackson family, when a myriad of other political topics weren’t shied away from? What if the three-year-old grew up and realized they were queer?

Trapped. Tense. Uneven.

Let’s take a moment: Best of All Worlds had me in the first half. It cracked open with one hell of a hook—a sudden relocation, isolation, mystery, psychological dread. I was on board, snacks in hand, ready to spiral. And then… the dome didn’t crack. It just sagged.

If you like your dystopia served cold, sealed in a sci-fi snow globe with family tension, ideological warfare, and just enough existential dread to keep you turning pages—this one might be for you. But fair warning: the concept is stronger than the follow-through.

⚠️ Trigger Warnings
- Gun violence
- Political extremism
- Sexualization of teen characters
- Gender essentialism / heteronormativity
- Isolation & psychological distress
- Misogyny
- Conspiracy theories

🌀 Synopsis (No Spoilers)
Xavier Oaks is 13 and not thrilled to be spending the week at a lake cottage with his dad and very pregnant stepmom. Then one morning, the world as he knows it is gone—literally. The house has been moved, the lake has vanished, and they are trapped in an invisible dome with no answers and no way out.

Three years later, another family arrives. Tensions flare. Beliefs clash. And Xavier finds himself in the middle of a psychological power struggle inside a prison no one understands.

It’s Lord of the Flies meets The Truman Show with a dash of YA existential dread.

📝 Quote
There were sharp moments, no question. A few lines had teeth. But by the time I got to them, I was so emotionally tired I just blinked slowly and kept scrolling.

🔍 What to Expect
- Slow-burn psychological tension
- One teen boy’s moral superiority complex
- Canadian politeness vs. American panic
- Passive-aggressive politics in a pressure cooker
- Dystopia dressed as family drama
- Big ideas, mixed execution
- Moments of brilliance surrounded by missed opportunities

💭 Final Thoughts
I wanted to love this. The premise? Amazing. The writing? Solid. The dome? Deliciously creepy. But the execution faltered—dragged down by a single POV that left key characters underdeveloped, particularly the women.

There are flashes of something powerful here. Social commentary. Political tension. Identity under pressure. But too often it leans on stereotypes instead of nuance, and by the time the final act rolls around, the emotional investment feels more like exhaustion.

Mackenzie, the teen girl introduced midway, deserved so much more than being viewed through the foggy lens of adolescent projection. And I cannot stress enough how badly this book needed her perspective—or literally anyone’s but Xavier’s.

This could have been a standout in the genre. Instead, it’s a 5-star idea with a 2.5-star execution.

⭐ Final Rating
★★★☆☆ (2.5 stars rounded up to 3)
Would recommend with caveats—but prepare for uneven pacing, some frustrating character work, and a lot of untapped potential trapped inside one very symbolic dome.

📢 Call to Action
If slow-burn isolation thrillers and ideological tension are your jam, this book may hit. If you want the full unhinged version of this review—with more sass, more shade, and less filter—it’s waiting for you over on Substack.

This is the PG-13 version. The emotionally damaged dome-core chaos lives over on Substack.
maniacalbookreviews.substack.com

This was such a suspensful read, the tension definitely amped up once the new family arrives which made it more intense, I felt invested and drawn into the high stakes.

I don’t read much YA, but big thanks to NetGalley and Tundra Book Group | Penguin Teen Canada — this was so much fun.

The writing is sharp, the pacing tight, and the characters are great. And the premise? Politically timely and incredibly entertaining: two wildly different families are thrown together — one a bookish, illustrated French Canadian clan, the other a group of gun-loving American conspiracy theorists. They're forced into cooperation in a bizarre situation where the only plausible explanations are either aliens or a deep-state cover-up.

On one side, a father so committed to diplomacy that he ends up passively accepting everything. On the other, a man so deep in denial he’s ready to fight a war that may not even exist — refusing to acknowledge reality, even when the facts are right in front of him. And in the middle, a bunch of kids just trying to make sense of the world and one another, while the adults scramble to find common ground despite everything.

It’s smart, layered, and I actually found myself googling conspiracy theories mid-read, thinking, Wait... is this a thing? I had a blast.

Thanks to Tundra Book Group, Penguin Teen Canada, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub date: 3 June 2025

When I saw this book being compared to Leave the World Behind, I knew I had to read it—it's one of my all-time favourites (I know, controversial). That comparison is definitely valid, largely because both books feature the sudden arrival of an unexpected family. One of my favourite aspects of Leave the World Behind is its refusal to offer clear answers. The ambiguity, the sense of looming but unexplained catastrophe—it all lingers in a way that’s deeply unsettling. This novel captures that same unsettling vagueness. There are moments where you're desperate for clarity, for explanation, but the narrative resists closure. It’s more about mood, atmosphere, and the psychological toll of uncertainty than it is about resolution.

I also think it's fair to compare this book to The Wall by Marlen Haushofer and Under the Dome by Stephen King. Like those novels, this one explores isolation and the fragility of human relationships under strange and possibly supernatural circumstances. There's a growing sense of claustrophobia and emotional deterioration that fans of those works will likely appreciate.

I don't think this book will be for everyone—especially adult readers expecting straightforward plotlines or clear genre conventions—but for the right reader, it’ll really land. Those who appreciate quiet dread, interpersonal tension, and open-ended storytelling will find a lot to love here.

Fast-paced and propulsive, I didn't expect this to connect as quickly as it did, and I somehow ended up finishing the book in one day. It opens up strong, right in the middle of our mystery, and keeps up a breakneck pace. It was a mind-bendy, suspenseful read for people who love a good Science Fiction story, or a narrative full of great twists and turns. It was strange and really compelling, making for a great creepy Summer read, perfect for teens, and fans of Lost, Under the Dome, The Society, and similar Science Fiction mysteries. I had a lot of fun with it, and LOVED the ways the book kept us in suspense, and left us with so many questions.

Constructive feedback: Pacing-wise, it started off so strong, but got a bit messy/chaotic near the end, where it felt a bit rushed. I enjoyed the inclusion of another family, but it felt like every single character in this book was a bit flat and one-noted. While it didn't lessen my enjoyment significantly - since this was more a plot-driven book than a character-driven book, it would have been nice to get a bit more nuance, especially from our gun-toting, racist, Southern American family.

Overall though, I thought this was really compelling, and reminded me of how much I enjoy reading Kenneth Oppel!

I am a die-hard Kenneth Oppel fan, and this was so interesting!! I love any concept where people are trapped in a dome and this delivered with intrigue. A couple reviews have disliked the ending but I thought it was great. My only 'complaint' is that the political and social commentary felt fairly on the nose, BUT this is intended for a younger audience, so I think this could be really insightful and eye-opening for young teens.

This might be the weirdest book I’ve ever read and I don’t say that in a good way. The story starts off with Xavier or Zay and his family going to their cottage for the weekend only to wake up the next morning and find that it was mysteriously moved to a farm and that they happen to be trapped in a dome. Flash forward 3 years, the family is really good now at farming and living off the land. At this point in the story I kind of wanted to DNF it just because I wasn’t really enjoying myself but I was curious to see the reason behind how they got to this place, spoiler alert, you don’t find out.

I will say that this book was very heavy on conspiracy theories and political themes that were kind of shoved down your throat at times and the stereotypes between the Canadian and American families was maybe a bit too much. I think though that my major complaint was being in the head of Xavier. All he thought about was girls and when one finally showed up in the form of Mackenzie, it felt like she was just there to move the lot along for Xavier. The only redeeming thing about this book was Noah and I found myself laughing and smiling when he was in the page, and although I don’t spend a lot of time around 3 year olds, it felt like he was written as someone older, possibly around 6 with everything he said and did. Also every time “Erf” was mentioned I cringed.

Overall, this book was fine, I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it, I was really only finishing it to see the reason behind the domes and was disappointed to find out that you don’t get a reason for them. 2.5 stars from me, recommend you skip this one unless you like angsty male teenagers POV and and unsatisfying ending.

This book really started off strong and from the very beginning I had an uneasy feeling about everything that was taking place. From the family waking up in a strange place that isn't all that strange at all, to the eery discovering that they are not alone, being watched, being tended to, it set up for a wild ride from the first couple of chapters.

As the book progressed and things got even more uncanny and strange you couldn't help but feel for Xavier as he goes through this odd life, seemingly alone (besides his family), and loses most of the things he holds dear to him, it's heartbreaking and frustrating to read through his eyes. Until one day suddenly he's not alone. I admit, that when the second family arrives, Xavier's initial reaction to them was a little frustrating to read, his feeling of entitlement while understandable was still a little much for me, but over all it was easy to see why things were the way they were.

I think for me the turning point came when it became that the second family and rally the overlying message of the book was to be a bit of commentary on conspiracy theorists, and while it is a YA book, which often seek to prove a moral point, I felt that the politics of the book were a little heavy handed in the back half of it. That said, it was still a really enjoyable book with a plot twist at the end that was a little predictable but good.

The open ended-esque of the conclusion of the book really finished it with that eery and unsettling tone that it set at the start of it and closed it off in a way that felt satisfying.

Overall, I enjoyed this read. It kept me engaged and interested in following through to the end to find the answers to all the questions it presented at the start of the book.

It seems that Kenneth Oppel can write excellent books in any genre and for any age group. Not only is this YA speculative fiction/survival thriller engaging, but during this turbulent time in our world's history, I think it will feel very relevant to a wide range of teens.

The Best of All Worlds will keep readers guessing, keep them reading, and -- by the end -- give them lots to think about and discuss. It would be a great pic for literature circles and/or book clubs.

I expect this book to do very well and will do my best to help make that happen.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read a digital ARC in advance of publication.

This had me hooked from the premise - waking up in a dome, no idea how you got there, and then three years later, another family turns up. Oppel has taken a familiar idea delivered in a new way.

A very quick 250 pages that felt overall well-paced, considering it spans nearly four years. The introduction of conflicting ideas and ideals between the two families was well done, and broken up with relatively chaste yet realistic horny teen boy thoughts. I was kept guessing til the end, and am still left wondering now... What on earth happened?

Concept was great, writing mechanics were serviceable but not anything special. So, all in all a perfect summer read for reluctant teens!