Parallel Universes Interacting

The next adventure in my ongoing Kindle odyssey was Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer. This is book one in the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. It won the Hugo in 2003, and was nominated for the Campbell award the same year.

The book, and the series as a whole, deals with the idea of a parallel universe in which Neanderthals won out over Homo Sapiens and became the dominant humanoid on Earth. Much of this first book deals with exploration into what that society may have been like. I’m not going go into details of the book here, just a couple overall impressions.

For a book that dabbles in at least seven scientific disciplines (particle physics, quantum computing, cosmology, evolution, genetics, anthropology, and sociology) and one non-scientific one (theology), it reads remarkably quickly. I think I finished the entire book in three days. The flow keeps alternating between the Human and Neanderthal worlds in a consistent time line, so it’s relatively easy to keep going. Also, there’s not a huge number of characters to deal with in either world, so there’s little effort spent in keeping track of who’s who.

I’ve got a couple beefs with the story, though.

First, there’s a rape scene. It’s not really that graphic, but I question why it’s included within the narrative of the story. Now, I’m not a prude by any means whatsoever. But looking at the effect the scene had on the story I don’t see why it needed to be within the book. It easily could have been something the character in question was dealing with as the book started. As it stands, it’s an anomaly within the book making it stand out that much more.

Second, there’s a couple devices the author uses that serve his purposes a little too easily. The mix of people involved in the quarantine, and their “pairing off,” was just a little too convenient in advancing the story.

Finally, some sections of the book came off a little preachy when discussing the differing natures of Human society vs. Neanderthal.

That said, there’s a lot to think about within the covers. I haven’t done any research into quantum computing to know if Sawyer’s explanation is accurate, but I tend to give authors the benefit of the doubt in those aspects. It at least sounds plausible. And some of the features of the Neanderthal society will certainly make you think.

Overall, I’ll give this one 3.5 out of 5. It’s cleanly written, and easy to read. At times the short “chapters” felt almost like potato chips – I just kept reading one more. It doesn’t strike me as a “Hugo-worthy” winner, but I haven’t read any of the other nominees from that year to effectively make that judgement. I do note that only one of the nominees appeared on the Nebula list as well (Bones of the Earth from Michael Swanwick.) So, maybe it was a weaker year. That happens. I’ll certainly read the remainder of the series at some point.