20 January 2019
I should start by saying I got a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. That won't color my review at all, because I was very disappointed by this book.
Reading 'Adak: The Factory of Superhumans' failed me for several reasons. First was the clinical and dry writing style - phrases were sometimes restated or unnecessarily embellished (deeply describing the main character's family heritage held no value; the paragraph describing how the institution classified patients by number held no value). Alternatively, other phrases were elongated without significance or definition throughout the book ("[He] was calmly focused on assessing the problem that they had to deal with in order to find a proper solution"). This was a short read, but with editing I feel like the story would be at least half the size because of these hollow sentences alone. The author's from Brazil so maybe that attributes to his style of writing, but I had other problems with the book as well.
Secondly was the pacing of the story, since it took a third of the book to get to something resembling a plot. Up until that point you get description and exposition that takes way, way too long. And when the story finally got going, it didn't really meet the bar for the book summary: a "factory of superhumans" feels like the story should be more about them, rather than focusing on one, and introducing a second to help the story move forward. The story that eventually comes out of this book may hold slight interest to the reader if they make it that far, but it felt like the author ran out of ideas and gave up, rather than building the story up.
Third was the lack of substance for the characters. The flippant attitude of the nurse to her job was unbelievable, and the doctor's casualness to the nurse's lassiez-faire behavior was downright absurd (especially when they build up the doctor as someone whose life built upon this project, and his corner cutting underscores his determination for success). The military characters had no personality at all, and one of them was the protagonist of the story. That muted behavior led none of the characters to have individually or... character.
I cannot recommend this book. It feels like the author had a story idea but didn't know how to write it, so he wrapped it up to move onto something else. With more time, development and editing maybe there could've been something worth reading, but this was a waste of time. 1/5