Where possible, quotes link to full reviews:

• "Masterful" --Los Angeles Times
• "The Cloud Atlas ... is, quite simply, one of those first novels that shouldn't be missed." -- Nancy Pearl, KUOW (Seattle). (The Cloud Atlas also appears on Nancy's list of "favorite books of 2004.")
• "Atmospheric and elegiac" -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer
• "Beautifully written and astonishingly well researched." -- San Jose Mercury News
• "A thought-provoking success." -- Detroit Free Press
• "[The narrator's] natural reticence takes us through the book's most beautiful moment--a casually executed, heart-stopping act of compassion.... It's over almost before you and [the narrator] catch your breath and think, Damn. ...[W]hat stays with you is the great arc of a small man's life on the edge of the world, and of sympathy that resonates." -- Time Out New York
• "...Callanan has produced a genuine page-turner." -- Rocky Mountain News
• "...the novel proffers a disarming bouquet of story lines that, like brightly colored wires leading to an explosive charge, reveal an ominous threat while hiding their maker's logic until it's too late..." -- Baltimore City Paper
• "Callanan is a mesmerizing new talent. This heavenly debut means he must also bear the heaviest of literary labels: that of a promising young writer with, yes, enormous potential. If The Cloud Atlas is any indication, Callanan will have little trouble finding his way." -- Creative Loafing (Charlotte, NC)
• "equal parts history, memory and vision quest.... Callanan wears the burdens of historical fiction with ease." -- New York Times Book Review (may require registration)
• "..a lyrical, thrilling, tragic and funny read that portrays Alaska with the authority of a local." -- Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
• "With its polished form and language, unexpected and haunting episodes and the powerful metaphor of the beautiful, lethal balloon bombs, "Atlas" will be the title of choice for those who enjoy serious literature...." --Anchorage Daily News (may require registration)
• "...riveting...Callanan elegantly tells a story of secrets and personal revelations, in which World War II is but one battle." -- Virginian Pilot
• "The Cloud Atlas is all silver lining." -- Amazon.com
• Trade reviews: visit Kirkus or Publishers Weekly for their full reviews, though each website requires a subscription. The Barnes & Noble page for The Cloud Atlas, however, includes the full text of the Kirkus, PW and Library Journal reviews. Booklist no longer archives its reviews online, although the full text of its review (as well as the PW review) is available on Amazon's page for the book.