Cloud Atlas

Mitchell's almost comically ambitious novel is indeed a kind of cumulus: a wild and woolly condensation of ideas, styles and far-flung milieus whose only true commonality is the reincarnated soul at its center. The book's six nesting narratives - from 1850s New Zealand through 1930s Belgium, groovy California, recent-ish England, dystopian Korea and Hawaii - also often feel like a postmodern puzzle-box that whirls and clicks as its great world(s) spin, throwing off sparks of pulp, philosophy and fervid humanism -- 100 best books of the 21st century * New York Times *
Remarkable . . . it knits together science fiction, political thriller and historical pastiche with musical virtuosity and linguistic exuberance * Guardian *
An impeccable dance of genres . . . an elegiac, radiant festival of prescience, meditation and entertainment * The Times *
His wildest ride yet . . . a singular achievement, from an author of extraordinary ambition and skill * Independent on Sunday *
David Mitchell entices his readers onto a rollercoaster, and at first they wonder if they want to get off. Then - at least in my case - they can't bear the journey to end -- A. S. Byatt * Guardian *
A magnificent tour de force * Time Out *
A glorious puzzle for the reader . . . Mitchell's storytelling in Cloud Atlas is of the best * Independent *
An impeccably structured novel of ideas in many voices -- Literary Editor's Best Books * Observer *
A novel of breathtaking ambition and scale, spanning continents, oceans and centuries * Independent *
Funny, exciting, imaginative and energetic * Evening Standard *
A virtuoso performance . . . deeply impressive * Daily Telegraph *
The way Mitchell inhabits the different voices of the novel is close to miraculous . . . No other British novelist, to my mind, combines such a darkly futuristic intelligence with such polyphonic ease -- Robert Macfarlane * Sunday Times *
His most accomplished achievement to date . . . a novel in the biggest, most exhilarating sense * Observer *
Gloriously inventive and dazzlingly virtuosic * Independent on Sunday *
A thrilling ride of a story * Observer *
Tremendous . . . one of the most shamelessly exciting books imaginable * Spectator *
Stunning . . . One of those rare books that manages to be enormously clever while resisting the temptation to show off * Daily Mail *
Reassuringly excellent * Times Literary Supplement *
Engrossing * Financial Times *
Mitchell writes as though at the helm of some perpetual dream machine, can evidently do anything, and his ambition is written in magma across this novel's every page * New York Times Book Review *
This isn't just one brilliant book, it's a collection of six completely different brilliant books * Sunday Independent *
Mind-bogglingly good * Elle *
One of those how-the-holy-hell-did-he-do-it? modern classics that no doubt is - and should be - read by any student of contemporary literature -- Dave Eggers
Astonishing . . . essential fiction for the 21st century * Independent *
Not just dazzling, amusing, or clever but heartbreaking and passionate, too. I've never read anything quite like it -- Michael Chabon
An intense, arcing colossus of a book whose narrative links, supplied by the voices of six main characters, are spun out into a unified theory of everything: history, human evolution, science, the will to power. The voices span epochs, continents, and genres . . . Mitchell has rightly commanded attention for the sheer breadth and energy of his composition . . . I am moved by (his) talent * Prospect *
It takes only a few pages of any part of this masterful feast of a novel to make you want to read the rest * Evening Standard *
David Mitchell may well be possessed of genius . . . As well-plotted, entertaining narrative, Cloud Atlas succeeds on many levels. As political and cultural fable, with an unerring humanist sense of the dangerous will to power that lies at the dark heart of man, it's visionary * Irish Independent *
As mind-bending in its ideas as it is accessible on the page . . . It pretty much resists hyperbole simply by being better than you'd ever dare hope * Big Issue *