Adam-2 by Alastair Chisholm

Adam-2 is a robot that has been living alone beneath the post-apocalyptic city of Edinburgh. When Linden and Runa stumble into his cell, they are immediately seized with fear. Why? Because humans are at war with all robots, and have been for generations. The artificial intelligence that humans created to serve its wants and needs eventually turned on them and attempted to wipe them out. Society as we know it collapsed, and the few humans that survived now continue to do so by hiding their whereabouts from the ever-watchful robots.

Adam saves Linden and Runa from a robot attack, so they bring him back to the human settlement where he is treated with hatred and mistrust.
But it is clear that Adam is different from other robots. Could he perhaps even be the key to ending the terrible centuries-long war?

What I liked about Adam-2:
It challenges readers to question their assumptions and behavior.
It encourages us to examine our relationship with technology.
It exposes the pointlessness of blind prejudice and hatred.
It promotes the importance of communication with those who hold opinions which differ from our own.

What I did not like about Adam-2:
Linden is gender-neutral, and the book uses gender-neutral pronouns. This is not a problem in itself, but it does not seem to fit into the story very well for the following reason: In the book modern society is said to have collapsed, and when people are fighting for their very survival it seems unlikely that they would be much concerned with gender identities and gender-neutral pronouns. I therefore think that this kind of character would fit much better into the scenario of a more stable society in which people have the time and resources to devote thought to existential matters. Actually, this may have worked better in the author’s first science fiction novel, Orion Lost. I must also say that I found the set of gender-neutral pronouns chosen for the story distracting and artificial. They are by no means universally accepted, and are unlikely to become standard simply because, although many neologisms are coined every year in English, languages cannot be forced to change in a certain way. Of course, the book will undoubtedly receive kudos for minority inclusion.

Another small gripe I have is that the book is pretty thin on physical description of the characters, and we get almost no idea of the appearance of the main human character, Linden. I found that this makes Linden rather hard to imagine and relate to.


Overall, Adam-2 is a solid work of middle grade science fiction. It is well written and engaging. However, in my opinion it does not quite live up to the high standard set by Chisholm’s first novel, Orion Lost, which is superior in plot, narrative, and characterization. ( )