★★★★ (4.4 of 5)

• Full Title: Hybrids
• Series: The Neanderthal Parallax #3
• Author: Robert J. Sawyer
• Year: 2003 (mine was 2003 library hardcover)
• Pages: 394*
• Genre: Science Fiction
• Publisher: Tor
• ISBN 978-0-312-87690-4 (library hardcover)
• Wikipedia page (series)
• Author’s Wikipedia page

(* not including about the author, acknowledgements, etc.)

 

Summary

The third and final book of The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, Hybrids picks up where Humans left off, with Mary Vaughan and Ponder Boddit in love and each of their two worlds still getting used to the idea that the other exists.

Resolving a few threads that began in the previous book, and one that had been there since the beginning of the original book, Hybrids doesn’t stand alone but is a fitting end to the trilogy. Ponder and Mary agonize over how to have interspecies offspring and which characteristics to give it, expecially considering a new theory that Homo sapiens only believe in God due to a gene mutation. While Earth’s leaders push to move the dimensional portal to Manhattan, leaders in the Neanderthal world remain suspicious of humanity’s intentions — and for good reason.

 

Praise

As with the other two, Sawyer uses the imaginary construct of parallel worlds to make commentary on our real one, and does it smartly. And whatever Sawyer’s own beliefs about the supernatural, I think he fairly represented both religious people (protagonist Mary Vaughan is Catholic) and atheists (all Neanderthals are stunned at the absurdity of religious claims), which is a rare feat in my experience.

As with previous books, the writing is clear, descriptions concise and functional.

I also enjoyed the new (to me, anyway) hypothesis about why humans tend to believe in gods (considering I recently considered that very subject at length). It was fascinating and felt (at least while reading) like actual research.

 

Points Off For...

I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the first two books (both of which I awarded five stars), but it was a high bar to clear and Hybrids was enjoyable too. One downside, naturally, was that the ideas and commentary that were so fresh at the beginning of the series seemed here to be merely repeated — they were only new to the new characters experiencing them.

Subjectively, I thought the plot of this book was somewhat weaker and more contrived than the first two, slower to get moving. However, I am unable to pinpoint exactly where or how this feeling arose.

 

Conclusion

To be clear, my criticism above is very slight; I think anyone who enjoyed the first two books will like this one too.

Interestingly, I suspect Sawyer intended to write more books in this series, or at least left open that possibility. While most of the story threads were tied up here, some obvious ones were left open, including Mary and Ponder’s coming child, the aftereffects of Earth’s collapsing magnetic field, whether the permanent portal will indeed be established near the UN headquarters in New York, and of course how the Neanderthals and Sapiens continue to interact. One other indication that another sequel was intended was the addition of quotations at the beginning of each chapter. All of these seemed to be pulled from a fictional presidential speech about going to Mars, leaving the Neanderthal version of Mars pristine while trying to colonize the Mars in our universe. And it was never mentioned in the story itself, though I kept thinking it would be.

 

 

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