★Caffall, Eiren. All the Water in the World. St. Martin’s. Jan. 2025. 304p. ISBN 9781250353528. $29. SF

DEBUT This captivating postapocalyptic novel is set in and around New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. Global warming has resulted in a sea level rise of unforeseen proportions. When the floodgates that keep the city dry are breached during a massive hurricane, the museum is inundated with water. The story is told from the perspective of Nonie, an adolescent insect enthusiast and the child of museum staffers who have taken flood refuge at their workplace. In the opening chapter, Nonie, older sister Bix, their father, and friend Keller barely escape the museum with their lives. After this, the book flashes back to their early days at the museum creating an embryonic community struggling to survive. The survivors flee the museum using a birchbark canoe taken from one of the exhibits and carefully make their way through the flooded city to the Hudson River. They then face a series of challenges and nearly lose everything before overcoming adversity in an epic finale. VERDICT The setting, the detailed emotive descriptions, and nail-biting adventure are incandescent. This debut novel from Caffall (The Mourner’s Bestiary) is like Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars met Barry Unsworth’s Sacred Hunger, with a focus on the essential nature of community.

★Groner, Cary. The Way. Spiegel & Grau. Dec. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781954118423. $29. SF

This epic journey through a near-future, postapocalyptic landscape blends extreme suspense with serene meditation. Will has survived a brutal pandemic by isolating at his Tibetan Buddhist retreat center after the death of most of the populace. With the devastated country in ruins, he is tasked with delivering a potential cure for the plague from Colorado to California. He and his companions—a raven, a cat, and two mules pulling a Ford pickup—journey across the Western United States. An intriguing facet is that Will has developed the ability to converse with the cat and the raven, adding an extra dimension to the narrative. The tale unfolds in a series of high-stakes encounters with dangerous wildlife and humans, including an enigmatic militia leader intent on stealing the plague cure. Due to Will’s thoughtful preparation and good luck, the company survives numerous deadly encounters. Along the way they pick up several traveling companions and make a series of surprising discoveries. VERDICT Groner (Exiles) offers a contemplative take on the postapocalyptic genre that leaves room for hope but doesn’t stint on realism. This novel reads like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road meets Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; highly recommended.