★★★★★

• Full Title: Hominids
• Author: Robert J. Sawyer
• Year: 2002 (mine was 2003 paperback)
• Pages: 413*
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Publisher: Tor
• ISBN 0-765-34500-5 (paperback)
• Series Wikipedia page
• Author’s Wikipedia page

(* Not counting appendix, further reading, preview of next book)

 

Summary

Winner of the 2003 Hugo Award For Best Novel, Robert J. Sawyer’s Hominids is the first book of a trilogy called “The Neanderthal Parallax”. The novel supposes multiple parallel universes, two of which are (1) our own and (2) one in which Neanderthals survived and Homo sapiens went extinct instead. An unintended effect of a quantum computing experiment connects the two universes temporarily, accidentally slipping one Neanderthal man through to the Earth filled with Homo sapiens.

Aside from the obvious “wow you look different than we do” moments, Sawyer manages a realistic exchange of ideas and concepts between the two types of humans — which required massive world-building work on the Neanderthal side.

 

Commentary

Sawyer’s style is comfortable to read; I felt the pages turning more quickly than my usual pace. A few characters felt two-dimensional, but the primary ones — Mary Vaughn, Ponter Boddit, and Adikor Huld — have noticeable arcs and surprising depth. Diversity in the character roster is apparent, and feels natural (rather than shoehorned-in) — multiple women, multiple people of color, and of course people of Neanderthal heritage from the other side.

The narrative switches back and forth — every few pages — between our Earth and the parallel Neanderthal one. At first I thought this would be irritating, and initially I wished that the Neanderthal half had been left off. But quickly I realized that side was just as interesting (and necessary for the plot), if not more so. The conversations about differences between the two worlds made a lot more sense once the reader has seen what it looks like on the other side.

 

The Built-In Social Commentary

Whether the author intended to include social commentary, I can’t know, but it is a natural result of a story in which two separate cultures collide unexpectedly. If he did intend it, this is a great framework to build it on. As far as I can tell, Sawyer relied on up-to-the-minute cutting edge scientific knowledge about Neanderthals, and extrapolated from there to create a world civilization populated entirely by Neanderthals, since Homo sapiens had gone extinct in that other world. So there is commentary on religion, agriculture, science, government, morals, the law, and so on. But this commentary flows naturally from the characters and never once feels like Sawyer is shouting from soap boxes.

The following exchange, while not the strongest social commentary in the book, I found humorous. It comes right after Mary has told Ponter that there are “a little over six billion” people on (our) Earth. Ponter responds with surprise.

Mary raised her eyebrows. “How many people are there on your world?”

“One hundred and eight-five million,” said Ponter.

“Why so few?” asked Mary.

“Why so many?” asked Ponter.

“I don’t know,” replied Mary. “I never thought about it.”

“Do you not — in my world, we know how to prevent pregnancy. I could perhaps teach you...”

Mary smiled. “We have methods, too.”

Ponter lifted his eyebrow. “Perhaps ours work better.”

—page 255

 

Points Off For...

I couldn’t come up with any complaints strong enough to knock a whole point off; it’s easy to see why this book won the Hugo. The only thing that truly stuck with me as a complaint was Sawyer’s description of two people sitting on the hood of a red Dodge Neon and watching the night sky. I currently own a red Dodge Neon from around the same time period and I can guarantee its hood isn’t strong enough for two adults to sit on it without damage — I can buckle it simply with pressure from my hand.

 

Conclusion

I would recommend this to anyone, even people who normally avoid science fiction. It’s set in the present day, doesn’t involve ray guns or aliens or space battles, and provides plenty of food for thought.

 

 

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