Hybrids (Neanderthal Parallax, #3) by Robert J. Sawyer

Hybrids by Robert J. Sawyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



In Hominids, author Robert J. Sawyer introduced a character readers will never forget: Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist from a parallel Earth wh...more In Hominids, author Robert J. Sawyer introduced a character readers will never forget: Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist from a parallel Earth who was whisked from his reality into ours by a quantum-computing experiment gone awry - making him the ultimate stranger in a strange land.

Now, in Hybrids, Ponter Boddit and his Homo sapiens lover, geneticist Mary Vaughan, are torn between two worlds, struggling to find a way to make their star-crossed relationship work. Aided by banned Neanderthal technology, they plan to conceive their first hybrid child, a symbol of hope for the joining of their two versions of reality.

But after an experiment shows that Mary's religious faith - something completely absent in Neanderthals - is a quirk of the neurological wiring of Homo sapiens brains, Ponter and Mary must decide whether their child should be predisposed to atheism or belief. Meanwhile, as Mary's Earth is dealing with a collapse of its planetary magnetic field, her boss, the enigmatic Jock Krieger, has turned envious eyes on the unspoiled Eden that is the Neanderthal world.



I absolutely loved this ending book in the Neanderthal trilogy. We continue to follow the story Ponter and Mary as they attempt to make a live for themselves in the now connected parallel earths. I loved the progression of the story as well as the ending. Very good trilogy!!

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Humans (Neanderthal Parallax, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer

Humans by Robert J. Sawyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Robert J. Sawyer, the award-winning and bestselling writer, hits the peak of his powers in Humans, the second book of The Neanderthal Parallax, his trilogy about our world and parallel one in which it was the Homo sapiens who died out and the Neanderthals who became the dominant intelligent species. This powerful idea allows Sawyer to examine some of the deeply rooted assumptions of contemporary human civilization dramatically, by confronting us with another civilization, just as morally valid, that has made other choices. In Humans, Neanderthal physicist Ponter Boddit, a character you will never forget, returns to our world and to his relationship with geneticist Mary Vaughan, as cultural exchanges between the two Earths begin.As we see daily life in another present-day world, radically different from ours, in the course of Sawyer's fast-moving story, we experience the bursts of wonder and enlightenment that are the finest pleasures of science fiction. Humans is one of the best SF novels of the year, and The Neanderthal Parallax is an SF classic in the making.



A wonderful continuation of the story that started with 'Hominids'. This book starts immediately after the first one. Ponter has returned home to his Earth, but he can not forget about Mary who he left behind on the parallel earth. He convinces the High Gray Council to allow him to reopen the tunnel that connects his earth with Mary's earth in hopes of being able to exchange knowledge. We follow the story of the two worlds and the more personal story of Ponter and Mary's love affair. Very good book and a wonderful addition the the trilogy.

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Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer

Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer


Hominids is the first book of The Neanderthal Parallax, a trilogy that will examine two unique species of people. They are alien to each other, yet alike in their never-ending quest for knowledge and essential humanity. We are one of those species, the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they, not Homo sapiens, became the dominant intelligence. In that world, Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to our own, but with a radically different history, society, and philosophy.

During a quantum-computing experiment, Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist, accidentally pierces the barrier between worlds and is transferred to our universe. He is almost immediately recognized as a Neanderthal, but only much later as a scientist. He is quarantined and studied, alone and bewildered, a stranger in a strange land. But Ponter is also befriended - by a doctor and a physicist who share his questing intelligence and boundless enthusiasm for the world's strangeness, as well as by Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan, a woman with whom he develops a special rapport.

Meanwhile, Ponter's partner, Adikor Huld, finds himself with a messy lab, a missing body, suspicious people all around, and an explosive murder trial. How can he possibly prove his innocence when he has no idea what actually happened to Ponter?" Contact between humans an Neanderthals creates a relationship fraught with conflict, philosophical challenge, and the threat to the existence of one species or the other - or both. Yet their meeting is also rich in possibilities for cooperation and growth on many levels, from the practical to the esthetic to the scientific to the spiritual. In short, Robert J. Sawyer has done it again.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Excellent read. Hard to put down once I started. Great characters, great plot and lots of stop and think moments. Totally love the Parallel Earth plot and look forward to reading the next two in the trilogy!

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