Cloud Atlas is a book that I admittedly came to through seeing the film first — and it’s just as enjoyable as the movie (and just as mind-bendingly bizarre, yet beautiful). It’s a multi-character, historical, detective, science fiction, nautical journey with allusions and references, with the tales of the past influencing the future in weird and wonderful ways. 

It’s ultimately a dystopian story, a warning against dehumanisation, against using people as a means to an end. And it often depicts this quite graphically, with exploitation, imprisonment, even cannibalisation and murder. Sounds rather gruesome! While institutional and corporate greed plays a part, the role of the individual is important in not only perpetuating these crimes but also as an important factor in standing up for others — and stopping crimes. 

It has a very strong environmental ethics message too, and while the accounts in the six stories linked by artefacts are more obviously flagged in the film (in a very creative fashion, using actors in multiple roles) — Cloud Atlas is a challenging novel that is well worth puzzling over.