Cover of The Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel. The outline of a family of four, in front of a black cabin under a red sky. The image is upside down.

About the Book

Title: Best of All Worlds
Published: 2025

Cover Story: Freaky
Drinking Buddy: Just Zay
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (threats of violence, sexuality)
Talky Talk: Dial it Down
Bonus Factors: Escape, Blended Family
Bromance Status: Meh

Cover Story: Freaky

I like the harsh black on red, upside down images, as well as the one on the back of the family behind bars. But damn, Kenneth, describing your own novel as a ‘masterpiece’? We’ll be the judge of that.

The Deal: Thirteen-year-old Xavier ‘Zay’ Oaks is forced to spend a weekend off the grid at the family cabin with his father and Nia, his pregnant stepmother. He leaves behind his older brother, mother, and a girl from his D&D group who just might kind of like him.

The next day, they wake up in the same cabin, but now it’s on a farm somewhere. All the tools and equipment city slickers might need to begin living an agricultural lifestyle, including live goats and chickens. The water and electricity still work, but nothing else. And the farm is surrounded by an unbreakable dome. Looks like the Oaks are going to have to go full Green Acres.

Three years later, Zay’s father and Nia are loving this simple lifestyle, as is his new brother Noah. Things the family needs, like toys for Noah, etc, appear out of nowhere, gifts from their unseen captors. They could do this for decades! But Zay, who has never kissed a girl, is banging his head against the dome walls. He’s discovered a hole in the unreachable zenith of the dome, but has no idea how to get to it. He’s going to crack.

And the next day, another house shows up under the dome. With another family. Including Mackenzie, a girl Zay’s age (and her sister, who is Noah’s age). Goodbye loneliness!

Of course, Mackenzie has parents. And her father is convinced that it’s the US government holding them captive, and he’ll do anything to escape. Anything.

Drinking Buddy: Just Zay

Two pints of beer cheersing

Zay was okay. He’s frustrated with his position, as well as with his family, who seem content to live under the dome forever. In a rough scene, his old cell phone dies, causing him to lose all his pictures, his music, and his connections with the past.

Everyone else in this book was obnoxious. His family almost immediately gives up trying to escape. His father assumes they’ve been kidnapped by aliens, and because of that time dilation thing, his older son is probably dead, so no point in Zay trying to get back to him.

The new family is not better. Mackenzie clearly likes Zay, but she wants to stay loyal to her boyfriend back home (the jerk who convinced her to go condomless and gave her a pregnancy scare). The rest of her family are bigots and fools, but also have a workable plan to escape. It was hard for me to decide which faction the author wanted us to side with.

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (threats of violence, sexuality)

So when a sixteen-year-old hasn’t even seen a girl in years, it’s frustrating. And it’s clear whoever is running this has selected Mackenzie to be his mate. Zay’s up for that, but Mackenzie still expects to be released soon.

Meanwhile, her father is slowly going off the rails. He’s half-convinced the Oaks are government plants and grows increasingly paranoid. And Zay’s family just petulantly complains about his attempting to escape rather than enjoying life in The Village.

Talky Talk: Dial it Down

Very unlikeable and unrealistic characters. Noah’s behavior would be considered quite advanced for a six-year-old, and he’s only three, just out of diapers. I don’t care how smart a kid is, a toddler is not going to be generating his own D&D character, even if he misspells ‘dexterity’ in an adorable way.

The whole book was a fight between the intelligent, non-violent Canadians (like the author) and the loutish, racist, hyper-religious Americans. It wouldn’t have been hard to make Mackenzie’s father unlikeable. But they made him a blatant racist (Nia is of Haitian descent), a fundamentalist, a violent former prison guard, a COVID denier, and a guy who believes in the reptoids. Way over the top. And yet, because he’s trying to get the families out, I half-wanted Zay to throw in with him. Meanwhile, we know that Zay’s father has given up on his other son, and cheated on Zay’s mother with Nia, but that’s all kind of glossed over.

Bonus Factor: Escape

An open lock on a cage

Mackenzie’s father has a not unrealistic plan of reaching the hole at the top of the dome. But as he works on it, the captors are obviously not pleased. His power is shut off, spoiling their stored food. Birds arrive, damaging the fruit trees. Zay’s family begs him just to be a happy slave, but he’s determined.

Bonus Factor: Blended Family

Steve Urkel from Family Matters meets Stephanie Tanner from Full House

Zay’s been simmering for three years against Nia. Why did he come on this trip? Why did he let her convince him to leave his laptop behind? Why did he have to trade his mother and brother for this new family? And yet, when Noah is in danger, Zay will risk everything for him.

Bromance Status: Meh

Interesting concept, unlikeable characters, poor resolution. See you around.

Literary Matchmaking

Saint Juniper’s Folly

Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo is another book about a trapped kid.

No Escape

As is No Escape by Maren Stoffels.

All Your Twisted Secrets

Or Diana Urban’s All Your Twisted Secrets.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a free ARC from the publisher, but no money or lentils.

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Brian wrote his first YA novel when he was down and out in Mexico. He now lives in Missouri with his wonderful wife and daughter. He divides his time between writing and working as a school librarian. Brian still misses the preachy YA books of the eighties.