TITLE: Hominids
AUTHOR: Robert J. Sawyer
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: B+.
OVERALL GRADE: B+/A- (3.5/4.0).
OVERALL GRADE: B+ (3.33/4.0).
TITLE: Hybrids
AUTHOR: Robert J. Sawyer
PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: B.
IMPACT: B.
WRITING: B-.
TITLE: Hybrids
AUTHOR: Robert J. Sawyer
PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: B.
IMPACT: B.
WRITING: B-.
OVERALL GRADE: B-/C+ (3.0/4.0).
Robert J. Sawyer is probably best known now as the author of Flash Forward, on which the now-cancelled ABC television miniseries of the same name was based. However, the Canadian author is also acclaimed for his other science fiction work, which to date have won him Hugo, Nebula and Campbell Memorial awards.
Sawyer is the author of the Neanderthal Parallax, a trilogy of three books: Hominids, Humans, and Hybrids. I read these books this spring when I started watching Flash Forward. Sawyer is one of those speculative fiction authors who has really interesting ideas and is very creative. The central idea of the Neanderthal Parallax is that there are parallel universes, and in one parallel universe the Earth develops with Neanderthals (homo neanderthalis) as the dominant hominid species instead of humans (homo sapiens). When a quantum computer on one of the alternate earths malfunctions, a passage between the two societies is formed and Ponter Boddit, a neanderthal scientist, is transported into a society surrounded by creatures that were extinct on his planet.
Hominids is primarily concerned with using Boddit as a device to compare the two planets and societies where the two different hominid species have developed. Sawyer is at his creative best when he provides us with the details of life on the Neanderthal planet, particularly the social mores and beliefs (i.e. there is no belief in a higher power or "God" in Ponter's planet) through the Neanderthal's reactions and thoughts. Hominids won the 2003 Hugo award for Best Novel and is clearly the best book of the trilogy. Hominids other central character is Mary Vaughn, a Canadian geneticist who is also an expert on neanderthals. Since Sawyer is Canadian, much of the action takes place in Canada. Vaughn is an interesting choice to be the central homo sapiens character in the book. The main deficiency in the book is Sawyer's ham-handedness in the depiction of the characters of Ponter and Mary, as well as some of the other minor characters who are generally one-dimensional in scope.
The sequel to Hominids is Humans. It was also a Hugo award finalist. It continues the brilliant story first began in Hominids but it moves more of the action to the neanderthal version of Earth. In that case, we learn more about the differences in societal structure between neanderthal and human society. Sawyer again does a good job of depicting this surprisingly foreign world but he is somewhat hamstrung because he has to use the character of Mary Vaughn as a vehicle for taking the reader through this world. Vaughn has her own psychological traumas and predilections which influences the way she interacts and experiences the neanderthal planet and its society. Sawyer stoops to some soap opera-like relationship twists that I could have done without in the second book.
The final book in the trilogy is Hybrids which, surprisingly, was also nominated for a Hugo award. It is the least interesting of the three books, and I really only read it because I was curious as to how the plots would be resolved, but by this point I didn't really care. One of the most disturbing sub-plots is resolved in a somewhat obvious manner. Sawyer gets even more heavy-handed in his political allusions to modern Earth society, which I don't disagree with, but is still somewhat annoying.
Overall, the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy is an interesting addition to the science fiction canon, but most readers can just read the first book Hominids and forgo the other two books.
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