The first book I've read by author Oppel since Ghostlight, which was scary and fun! Best of All Worlds is a little science fiction, a little weird (in a cool way), and a little romance. Where Ghostlight was different and over-the-top spooky and fun, Best of All Worlds is pretty slow, focused way too much on the romance (and I love a good romance, but Oppel makes too much of this story a romance thing between main character Xavier and Mackenzie).
The Oak family - Xavier, his step mom and his dad - wake up one morning in a totally different world...not on the beach in the cabin where they fell asleep the night before but on a large, beautiful farm, with a beautiful big barn, and farm animals, all needing to be milked and fed and cared for! No stores, no other people, no cars or buildings (other than the barn). They explore their new world while trying to decide on what exactly happened - taken by aliens? Taken by the government? In their three years in this place, a new baby brother is born, who doesn't know (or miss) the world they used to know.
Then the Jacksons suddenly appear. A new family with their own very strong opinions about how they ended up being dropped in this strange new world. The families cooperate but also disagree on where they are, how they got there, and what to do about it. Xavier would be in high school, and Mackenzie, already in high school, becomes his love interest. And so these plots intertwine.
This wasn't a terrible book, and Oppel is usually a really good story teller. But as a dog I can readily point out when something doesn't "smell" right. Best of All Worlds made me want to read a really good science fiction story, maybe a classic like War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells or Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Or something newer, like Shipbreaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. I often recommend Oppel to strong 7th grade and 8th grade science fiction fans, but this one...only for a die hard Oppel fanatic.
3 paws.
