All the Water in the World offers a unique perspective on climate change, narrated through the eyes of Nonie, a girl with a profound connection to water. While the premise of a post-apocalyptic New York City and a family’s journey for survival is compelling, the novel's pacing often feels sluggish, with repetitive plot points that dilute its potential for tension. The world-building, although creative, sometimes lacks the urgency needed to fully capture the peril of a climate-ravaged future.

I wish Nonie's connection to the water had been explored more. The characters' time spent in the museum was my favorite part of the story bringing the central themes of preservation and resilience to the forefront, particularly in the family's dedication to safeguarding humanity’s knowledge. I thought Eunice Wong did a good job narrating the story. Overall, while the book’s heart is in the right place, its slower rhythm may leave readers craving more emotional depth and conflict.

I was excited to read this one given the dystopia / post-apocalyptic aspects of the storyline. I was also interested in the climate change theme as well. However, I was really bored, and the story did not hold my interest. There wasn’t enough action going on and the pace was way too slow for my liking. I found my mind wandering off. I also never fully connected with any of the characters. I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator very monotone. Unfortunately, this one was not for me.

The premise of this audio book was fascinating to me. I heard great things from social media so I requested it. I really tried to like it but I could not finish. I couldn't connect with the story as it was too outside of my realm of possibility. I am not a fantasy/time travel person so I think I should probably passed. I am sorry I could not finish.

Thank you Net Galley, Macmillian Audio and Eiren Caffall for the opportunity to preview this title.

I did not share this review on my socials because I did not want to negatively impact the release. I will come back and change this review if I am able to come back to it and finish it.

I am a big fan of dystopian or cli-fic, but this one just didn't stand out for me. The chapters were short which was nice but also led to me not really feeling connected to the characters. I didn't love their journey and started to zone out about 2/3 through the book. There was just no desire to continue but I did just to complete the book. Sadly, this one wasn't a winner for me. After the Flood was a better "the water is rising" novel IMO. Thanks to NetGalley for the ALC of the book before release.

I want to know if I'm crazy for thinking this, but "All the Water in the World" by Eiren Caffall reminded me of reading "The Road" but didn't make me supremely depressed afterwards.

The water levels rose, the city fell, but some stayed. Camped out on the American Museum of Natural History a group of survivors are maintaining the collections. Living through the Lost, feral animals, new diseases, they have made it. But you can't fight Mother Nature and no city is designed to survive a superstorm. When the city is flooded Nonie and the remnants of her group venture out, hopeful that there is somewhere out there they can live.

Narrated by Eunice Wong, damn fine work.

Reasons to read:
-If you are familiar with the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who stayed to preserve the collections
-Hope in bleak times
-Less depressing "The Road" vibes
-Plenty of gut punches
-Climate warnings
-I enjoyed the back and forth way of pushing the story and context

Cons:
-Oh no the dogs

This was a moving survival story set in a post-climate change apocalyptic world that sees a group of travelers trying to find a place where they can live in peace. Very much along the lines of The road or Station Eleven, this was good on audio and pairs perfectly with The last bookstore on Earth, another 2025 new release climate change dystopia. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

A thrilling tale of survival that evokes "The Road" in its use of simpler language to express deep emotion. Museum-lovers will especially enjoy it.

Part dystopian alternate world where water and raging storms have taken over the world, part apocalyptic world with mosquito illnesses ravaging the world and survival becoming dangerous and difficult. All the Water in the World blends adventure, science, light fantasy/magical realism, and climate change. It was an enjoyable read, I listened on audio and would recommend the narration. It gave me Camp Zero vibes, so if you enjoy this one, go read that next!

Imagine the city of NY, with water covering the buildings. To survive, people fled or barricaded themselves into buildings and lived on rooftops. One group made a home out of the American Museum of Natural History. They made use of what they could while trying to save as much as possible.

Massive storms made much of the world uninhabitable and people will do anything to survive. When a huge storm takes out the home they once knew, they know they have to leave. Nonie can feel the storms, like water in her blood, she knows when they are coming and how big they will be.

They journey to a farm her mother used to talk about, and along the way, they realize how different the world outside has become. Danger and disaster are around every corner, can they survive and make it to the farm? Or will they succumb to the new world?


Thank you to MacMillan audio for a copy to enjoy.

All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall had the potential to be a great book. Unfortunately, the book fell short.

The premise was great. All the glaciers have melted and most of the Earth’s habitants are gone. The book focuses on thirteen-year-old Nonie, who lives with her mother, father, and older sister on the roof of NYC’s American Museum of Natural history. At least until a hypercane (think hurricane but times it by a hundred) wipes out the museum and Nonie and her family escape to find safety up north.

There is no doubt that Caffall is a good writer. However, the writing style was a bit too “poetic” for my liking. I listened to the audiobook and found it difficult to focus on the story, which is not typical for me.

One of the reasons why I like reading speculative fiction/dystopian is to better understand where the world might go wrong and its impact on humanity. All the Water in the World did not delve into the “how” and barely touched on how this family survived. The book just felt like a very long journey without enough depth to keep me hooked.

The audiobook narration was perfectly acceptable. The narrator did a nice job of trying to capture all the voices. Unfortunately, the writing style made her voice seem a bit choppy.

There are so many good speculative fiction books on climate change that are out there. (The Light Pirate is hands down my favorite.) Unfortunately, All the Water in the World isn’t one of them.

I thought I was going to enjoy this book immensely but it fell a little flat for me. I think that I prefer to read for escapism and the storyline driven by the longterm effect of climate change did not suit

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.2
Fine, but...not much else. Station Eleven vibes, sure. Fine. Here, I suppose, are more words for the minimum.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for letting me listen to a ALC of All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall. I’ve rated this book 3.5 stars, but for the purposes of this review have rounded it up to 4 stars.

In a world ravaged and drowned by climate disaster, Nonie and her family must abandon the life they knew and find a new way to survive the world as it has become. They start a settlement on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH for short, pronounced like “Amen”) and live in relative harmony and safety, never letting in strangers, hunting and growing food in Central Park, and trying to preserve the massive collections of human history and science. Nonie, in particular, keeps her own records of life, the collections, and much more. When they must abandon the place they’ve come to call home, they take a boat and ride the swollen Hudson river hoping to make it to her mother’s old home in the north. As one would expect in a post-apocalyptic/climate disaster story, they encounter all types of unsavory characters who have found other ways of surviving. Readers are sure to encounter themes of grief, coming of age, community, love, the importance of history and knowledge, and question the ways in which humans choose to survive (perhaps one of the most intriguing parts of books like these).

I really really wanted this to be a 5-star read (especially since it’s compared to some of my favorite dystopian stories like “Parable of the Sower” and “Station Eleven”), but this missed the mark. I found it slow-paced, occasionally repetitive, and at times a little *too* much like the aforementioned comparison titles. That being said, if you want an atmospheric, post-climate-disaster drowned world, slow-burn read – this is a great option! I, perhaps, had too high of expectations for the contents, but that doesn’t make it not a great read for others. I really enjoyed Caffall’s writing style, tone, and Eunice Wong does an amazing job at bringing the character’s voices and experiences to life. I genuinely look forward to seeing what else she crafts in the future!

For my last read of 2024, I checked out All the Water in the World, a post apocalyptic story of a group that took refuge on the roof of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, known to them as AMEN. Many were scientists before the biosphere collapsed and left the world and society in a ruined state. I enjoyed it a bit more than I expected with great description, introspection of how the world got to this point, and the tension through the events and short chapters. This is partly an adventure story, but it’s more about how our protagonist, Nonie, feels about her world in both the past and present as we switch between the current journey and what’s happened in the past at AMEN. One thing I wish was that the present chapters would be in present tense to reduce confusion. She’s been trained to feel the water in order to keep their survival chances up, and yes, water is a very important and imposing element in this book. She also catalogues all the history in the museum for future generations. However, everything changes once the museum is no longer habitable and they have to find a new place to call home, hundreds of miles away. The adventure is perilous indeed, and with great description of the visuals, it was haunting of how the world could turn so dangerous in just a few decades. The characters were fleshed out as well with their own histories and personalities, and I have a feeling Nonie might be autistic from some things in the book, but I can’t be fully sure. I do like that she’s determined and resourceful as the story moves forward, but not unfeeling to everything going around around her. I’m happy that the chapters were mostly short to keep me engaged as some of the chapters were a bit slower paced and took me a bit to have it really sink in. There was some redundancy in some parts, but it wasn’t too bad. However I listened to the second half of the book in one go. I know those that love a more literary style will enjoy reading this book. The ending itself had an air of hope despite all that they have to go through. Eunice Wong brought the story to life with a voice that captured Nonie’s personality well. If you’re looking for an introspective story and character study, this is one not to miss.

All the Water in the World
Eiren Caffall
Narrated by Eunice Wong
Macmillan Audio

All the Water in the World is a story of hope, survival and family. Set in a time when the glaciers have melted and those still alive are trying to survive every single day. Part dystopian, part environmental/climate thriller and part science fiction, each piece is intended to bring the reader into the world where home is unknown, and water is everywhere.

Nonie, her older sister Bix, her parents and other researchers have found the Museum of Science and Natural History in NYC to be their refuge. Like the water, things are always changing and moving, and they know that it cannot be their home forever. They are without medicine, electricity and modern conveniences. They are cut off from the rest of the world but use their love for each other and knowledge of the environment and other factors to survive.

This is an emotional and reflective novel told from Nonie’s perspective about how life is, was and may be. All the elements of a good dystopian novel are included in this book - dangerous natural conditions, rogue marauders, not knowing who to trust and a tight group who remain hopeful. I keep asking myself, how close to truth and to our future could these conditions be?

(3.75 stars)
The cover art of All The Water in the World immediately grabbed my attention. It shows famous landmarks of New York City (e.g., The Empire State Building) mostly submerged in water. And when I read the publisher’s blurb, I knew I had to read it.

Set in an unknown number of years in the future (but not too far in the future, I think), the story is told by a young teen girl, Nonie. She has a special relationship with water, can feel storms coming, for example. As the story opens, she and her older sister, Bix, and their father are living on the roof of what used to be the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in Manhattan. They have a small community, living in a longhouse structure on the roof but able to go inside the former museum for shelter. They call it AMEN, sort of an abbreviation of the museum’s abbreviation. The people of Amen have tried to save important things from the museum. They recall how the people in Leningrad and France and Italy and Iraq tried to save art and other priceless items, and also the monks of the Middle Ages, who transcribed ancient texts, to preserve them for the future. They tend a garden and hunt deer in Central Park. Their former home on 10th Street, downtown, is gone, completely under water. (Miami is gone, among other coastal places.) Their mother has died of a disease that once was treatable, but medicines are extremely scarce, along with many other things we all take for granted. Then a humongous storm upends even their current “normal” lives - it’s so big, it’s called a hypercane! NYC had built flood walls, but those were now overtaken by the storm. Water rises and rises. The rest of the story is how this small family plus a friend, Keller, handle their perilous new reality. Interspersed with their adventure/journey, are lots of flashbacks and entries from Nonie’s “water log.”

While I really loved the story, I found it to be a bit slow-paced, making it seem much longer than its 304 pages/8 hours and 12 minutes of audio. It was very reflective in nature, with it being told by Nonie. The whole thing was disturbing, discombobulating, as it covers so many landscapes and places that I know so well in “the world as it was,” as Nonie calls what we think of as present day.

I mainly listened to the audiobook version of All The Water in The World. It was beautifully narrated by a new-to-me narrator, Eunice Wong.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to a review copy of the audiobook. All opinions are my own.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an alc!

i’ve never been a fan of climate fiction (cli-fi), considering it’s not ever been a fictional concept and the looming threat contradicts my desire of escapism…

all the water in the world is most likely my first cli-fi novel, and i found the concept of our fmc nonie having the ability to be hyper-aware of when the next disaster would occur rather interesting.

the narrator was great as well!

I am a sucker for a found family and the small details that really make the world of the book come alive. This book had that in spades! I love the way that kids were taught and they way that they looked at their “home” - the Museum of Natural History. Nonie’s “powers” were just the slightest touch, which I thought was well done. Their journey to the new safe area was interesting and I liked the different kinds of challenges faces and people that they found along the way.
My only complaint is that the character of Keller was a little uncomfortable because he felt too tropey, but some of that was resolved by the end.
Overall this was an interesting post apocalyptic found family journey book.

This was a new and interesting take on natural disasters hitting the world and ending it as we know it.

My favorite piece was the knowledge given to us and shown through these characters. It is something we wonder about when things happen, who will remember them? Having human history honored and examined and used the way these characters did was a great addition.

I really enjoyed this story, it was heartbreaking and hopeful. It was written so beautifully with descriptions that evoked emotion and relatability in a world that seemed almost far fetched.

Stories like these always have me wondering about the before and how something happened. How did the world end and what was that time like through the eyes of those who lived it.

A dystopian novel which gives us a glimpse into the future of our planet. With global warming and the eventual melting of the glaciers, our world could very much be like the one described in this novel. A small group of survivors struggles to find a safe haven and must maintain hope and work together on their journey. I thoroughly enjoyed this well written book! The alternative storylines between the world as it is and the world as it was are told by Nonie, a young teen who has the ability to sense storms and other water-related events before they happen. While on the journey to a safe haven with her sister, father and a friend, she moves the story forward while remembering events that led up to the current crisis that forces the group to leave NYC. The story is informative, engaging and action packed and also offers good character development. All the elements of a good dystopian novel are included in this book - dangerous natural conditions, rogue marauders, not knowing who to trust and a tight group who remain hopeful plus much more! A really enjoyable read, especially for lovers of dystopian science fiction.
I listened to the audio version of this book and found the narrator to be engaging and appropriately dramatic without being over the top. Well done!

This just didn’t work for me, but I can tell that a lot of readers will really enjoy it.

My main gripes with the book include:
- It was boring and started slow, which caused me to lose interest early on. If this hadn't been a review copy, I would've DNF'd it.
- Nonie can ~feel~ water, but this ability isn’t explored.
- I wanted to know more about how the world came to be—not their life before the flood, but during it.
- I can tell I’m supposed to care about these characters, but the writing made them feel distant.
- The flashbacks were very jarring. One moment we’re in the present, and the next, I’m wondering why this person is still alive.

Some of these issues may have stemmed from listening to the audiobook. The narrator was good, but it was sometimes difficult to tell when the story shifted from past to present.