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Best of All Worlds
Best of All Worlds | Kenneth Oppel
1 post | 1 read
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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review
everlocalwest
Best of All Worlds | Kenneth Oppel
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Mehso-so

I was excited about this one because it was pitched as 'the next BIG book' from the editors at Scholastic. It's totally serviceable as a quick YA read, but absolutely falls apart if you interrogate its ideas.

everlocalwest The author wants to handle 'big ideas' but it's all so clumsy and ends up being unintentionally ableist and misogynistic (not labels I would pin to the author but to the text). In trying to portray the MC as nuanced he fell into a trap of caricature. Even with a first person POV, you can't have every character serve as a exclusively foil or companion to your main character. 4d
21 likes1 comment