Cloud Atlas named best book of the 21st century by Goodreads readers

In a community poll conducted on Goodreads at the start of April 2026, readers voted David Mitchell’s novel “Cloud Atlas” as the best book of the 21st century. The novel, first published in 2004, earned an average rating of 4.01 out of 5 based on more than 24 thousand reviews.

The vote highlighted the book’s distinctive multi‑threaded structure that links six interwoven stories set across different eras and locations – from 19th‑century Belgium and 1970s United States to modern England, a futuristic Korea and a post‑apocalyptic Hawaii – and its “matryoshka‑like” construction that unfolds and resolves each narrative in reverse order. Readers praised its originality, emotional depth and philosophical exploration of power, identity and the consequences of human choices.