in a contemporary review for "the guardian", stephanie merritt praised the book, saying, ""kavalier and clay" deserves a place alongside the best of recent american fiction." "entertainment weekly" put the novel on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "this 2000 novel blended comic books, jewish mysticism, and american history into something truly amazing." in 2019, "the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay" was ranked 57th on "the guardian"'s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.