Kalinke and Mitchell summarise the saga thus: The crux of the tale is the prophecy that the offspring born to the king and queen of Syria will rule the kingdom after the king's death.
In the assessment of Otto J. Zitzelsberger, Adonias saga, which runs to seventy-one chapters, is unnecessarily prolongued by its unrelenting account of large-scale military preparations and actions as well as duels and other single encounters.