The Neanderthals, on the other hand, are hunter-gatherers. Our civilization is based on agriculture and ultimately that affects every facet of our lives including the foundations of our societies, our physiology, and our environment. Here, Sawyer employs the latest research on Neanderthals to build a unique and fascinating world that, though quite different from our own, is still very recognizably human. Sawyer’s books are almost always grounded in cutting edge science and describe how the logical extension would affect people and society. This proves an excellent set piece for describing the vast differences between the two worlds. That’s where our second main character, Mary Vaughn is introduced she’s the reigning expert on Neanderthal DNA and is asked to verify that Ponter is truly another species.īack in the Neanderthal world, Ponter’s disappearance cannot be explained and his man-mate (all Neanderthals are bisexual) is accused of murdering him. In our universe, Ponter is rushed to the hospital where they discover that he isn’t like any other human. The first book tells the story of Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal scientist whose experiment accidentally opens a doorway between the worlds and falls through. The books describe the discovery of a parallel world where Neanderthals became the dominant species rather than Homo sapiens. Sure enough, they were just as good as I remembered.

Seeing a gap in my current reading list, I thought I’d re-read the series and see if I loved it as much the second time around.

I eventually convinced CurlyGeek to give them a read and she fell in love with them as well. When they were first published, I read each book as quickly as I could get my hands on them. The books were published in 2002-2004 and Hominids won the Hugo Award while Humans was a Hugo Finalist. So without further ado…ĬurlyGeek’s husband here again, with my review of a trilogy by one of my favorite authors, The Neanderthal Parallax (Hominids, Humans, and Hybrids) by Robert Sawyer. It’s science fiction but I think it’s a fascinating series even if you’re not a big science fiction reader. Today we get a guest review from none other than my dear husband! He recently re-read a trilogy that both of us recommend all the time.

Hominids sawyer