Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax)

Rating:
Summary: Really terrible
Review: The first book in this series really grabbed me, the second was OK, but oh, does the final book stink. You can see it from other reviews, but seriously the main idea of this book is that there are two terrible evils in our world: 1) Religion (especially Christianity) and 2) White, male men - no make that White, male, American men (Canadians men are apparently a little better.) The book is frankly downright silly; just about every liberal / politically correct idea in the world is addressed: Male voilence against women, homosexuality, bisexuality, tons of environmental issues, socialism, and on and on...

I can understand making a social commentary, but this is one of the most cliche pieces of liberal dribble I have ever read.

Rating:
Summary: really bad
Review: The first book was interesting but the series failed to maintain a good science fiction line. The romance between a human and Neandertal wasn't believable and got to be boring.

Rating:
Summary: Slip-sliding down the trilogy tunnel
Review: The trick with most trilogies is to start and finish strong, and kind of phone it in on the middle installment. Or so they tell me. It seems to me that it's often the last part that holds up the worst (Back to the Future, Return of the Jedi, Alien3 [before they made the fourth, that is], Godfather III, etc.). The "Neanderthal Parallax" by Robert J. Sawyer falls into this category.

Over the summer, I tore through Hominids and Humans, and thought both were excellent. Hominids introduced us to fascinating characters and a fascinating premise of parallel universes merging through the power of quantum computing. The second stood as almost a self-contained mystery story involving Ponter Boddit's umm...questionable means of dispensing justice. The last of the trilogy, Hybrids, took what was built up in the first two volumes, and fed us 400 pages of largely anti-climactic story. Most of the book didn't even focus on what the trilogy was building up to - Mary and Ponter attempting to conceive a child. Instead, it focused on recovering rape victim Mary Vaughan's budding lesbian relationship with a female Neanderthal (or Barast) named Bandra. There was then a lengthy storyline about finding the means for creating DNA threads that didn't have the payoff (in a scientific sense) that I wanted to read.

Most people critique this book for its unfair portrayal of Americans and white men. I can see why some people would think that, because it certainly comes off that way. Also, what were fairly interesting studies of organized religion in the first two volumes seemed tired and rehashed, though this might just be the fact that it was four months between reading the first two and reading the third for me.

I'm definitely glad I picked up this book to read, and it did only take about four days to get through. Overall, the trilogy was pretty good, but this last volume fell short of the lofty target set by the first two.

Rating:
Summary: A solid and interesting end to a remarkable trilogy
Review: This was phenomenal! In the first two books, "Hominids," and "Humans," Sawyer deftly described the 'alien' in the form of the Neanderthals in such a way as to show us our own failures as human beings, but at the same time, with such a light touch that it did not come across as preachy. If you haven't read those two, then stop now, head on over, and pick up "Hominids," first.

The story in the first two books introduced us to a wide range of neanderthal and human characters, living on parallel earths, and rudely made aware of each other when a single neanderthal, Ponter, falls through into our earth. In the second tome, relations are opened between the world, and a Synergy Group formed. Ponter's relationship with a human woman, Mary Vaughn, grew toward love, and the differences between their two cultures began to show the startling way in which humans have really failed. Indeed, in this book, one of the characters, Jock, begins to see just how poorly humans have handled their world.

There is much to this book that is easily missed - Sawyer has put gender issues, sexuality issues, racism, violence, criminal systems, enviromental practices - all of it is on display in this series, and in the third book, it is in the character of Mary that we get to explore both worlds with her biased human eye.

As the collapse of our Earth's magnetic field continues (it flips now and then, and is doing so now), Jock, Mary, and the rest of the Synergy group are slowly realizing what it could possibly mean to humanity, while at the same time Mary explores options of potentially creating a hybrid child with Ponter, the neanderthal she has fallen in love with.

Most interesting to me (as a gay reader) was Mary's intellectual and emotional wrestling with the Neanderthal relationship structure (they each have a man-mate and a woman-mate, and live in same-gendered relationships for most of their lives, with about four days a month spent in opposite-gender relationships). As Mary moves towards adopting the Neanderthal way of life, she slowly allows herself to consider the option of a woman-mate, and the eventual outcome of her thoughts and feelings really struck me.

Just as interesting was the religious debate that has been ongoing in this series. The Neanderthals, very uncurious and entirely unreligious, are shown to be lacking whatever brain components are required for 'faith.' When Mary and Ponter decide to have a child, the Catholic Mary needs to figure out if her child should have the gene for faith, or not. It's an amazingly good thought process for both of them, and again I tip my hat at Sawyer.

Where the story finally goes took me by surprise, and left me satisfied about the trilogy at large. This was superb, and as always, I wait for Sawyer's next great novel. There's a reason he's one of only sixteen people to have both a Hugo and a Nebula for best novel, folks.

'Nathan