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THREE STARRED REVIEWS! From award-winning author Kenneth Oppel comes a startling, can't-wait-to-talk-about-it-with-someone novel that defies genre to create a teen survival thriller unlike any you've read before. For fans of Leave the World Behind, A.S. King, M.T. Anderson, and Margaret Atwood.
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 a heart-stopping story that feels very much of our moment, where our very human choices collectively lead to humanity's eventual fate. A #1 Kids Indie Next Pick
A YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers Selection
A 2025 Indigo Best of the Year (So Far)
PRAISE FOR Best of All Worlds:
"Oppel centers a persistent and intelligent protagonist in this unassuming but riveting novel. Compact yet brimming with tense atmosphere, it's a sharp examination of society and isolation presented as a thriller set in a deceptively bucolic landscape." -STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly
"Stereotypes on both sides of the political aisle are deftly explored through these characters, but above all, this is the definition of a page-turner. . . . A thought-provoking, uncomfortable thriller that readers won't be able to forget. Highly recommended." -STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal
"[A]n inventive, dramatic work of speculative fiction about accepting uncertainty and surviving change. . . . Oppel brilliantly withholds confirming the truth of the Oaks's and Jacksons' circumstances until the novel's crucial climax, ensuring readers will race through the chapters to Oppel's expert landing of a close. An excellent read-alike for fans of Neal Shusterman and Gary Paulsen." -STARRED REVIEW, Shelf Awareness
"Oppel . . . leaves readers to sift the evidence through their own social and political convictions. The plot heats up when the mysterious overseers are revealed along with a terrifying secret, and cultural frictions mount between the two families." -Kirkus Reviews
"[T]his already fantastic story takes even more incredible twists and turns, with issues that will strike readers as surprisingly timely and current. . . . [T]he first thing I did was reread the whole book in hopes of finding answers to the questions I still had about this well-crafted story - one that kept me guessing right to the end." -Bernie Goedhart, Montreal Gazette KENNETH OPPEL wrote his first novel at age fourteen and is now a multi-award-winning bestselling author. His books include the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies around the world, and Airborn, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. His most recent novel is Ghostlight, which was shortlisted for several awards, including the Aurora and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. Oppel lives with his family in Toronto.
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 a heart-stopping story that feels very much of our moment, where our very human choices collectively lead to humanity's eventual fate. A #1 Kids Indie Next Pick
A YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers Selection
A 2025 Indigo Best of the Year (So Far)
PRAISE FOR Best of All Worlds:
"Oppel centers a persistent and intelligent protagonist in this unassuming but riveting novel. Compact yet brimming with tense atmosphere, it's a sharp examination of society and isolation presented as a thriller set in a deceptively bucolic landscape." -STARRED REVIEW, Publishers Weekly
"Stereotypes on both sides of the political aisle are deftly explored through these characters, but above all, this is the definition of a page-turner. . . . A thought-provoking, uncomfortable thriller that readers won't be able to forget. Highly recommended." -STARRED REVIEW, School Library Journal
"[A]n inventive, dramatic work of speculative fiction about accepting uncertainty and surviving change. . . . Oppel brilliantly withholds confirming the truth of the Oaks's and Jacksons' circumstances until the novel's crucial climax, ensuring readers will race through the chapters to Oppel's expert landing of a close. An excellent read-alike for fans of Neal Shusterman and Gary Paulsen." -STARRED REVIEW, Shelf Awareness
"Oppel . . . leaves readers to sift the evidence through their own social and political convictions. The plot heats up when the mysterious overseers are revealed along with a terrifying secret, and cultural frictions mount between the two families." -Kirkus Reviews
"[T]his already fantastic story takes even more incredible twists and turns, with issues that will strike readers as surprisingly timely and current. . . . [T]he first thing I did was reread the whole book in hopes of finding answers to the questions I still had about this well-crafted story - one that kept me guessing right to the end." -Bernie Goedhart, Montreal Gazette KENNETH OPPEL wrote his first novel at age fourteen and is now a multi-award-winning bestselling author. His books include the Silverwing trilogy, which has sold over a million copies around the world, and Airborn, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award and a Michael L. Printz Honor Book. His most recent novel is Ghostlight, which was shortlisted for several awards, including the Aurora and the IODE Violet Downey Book Award. Oppel lives with his family in Toronto.