Humans FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Robert J. Sawyer, the writer, hits the peak of his powers in Humans, the second book of The Neanderthal Parallax, his trilogy about our world and a 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 story, we experience the bursts of wonder and enlightenment that are the finest pleasures of science fiction.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
In this solid sequel to Hominids (2002), the much-praised first volume in Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, which introduced an alternate Earth where for reasons unknown our species, Homo sapiens, went extinct and Neanderthals flourished, Neanderthal physicist Ponder Boddit brings Canadian geneticist Mary Vaughan back to his world to explore the near-utopian civilization of the Neanderthals. Boddit serves as a Candide figure, the naive visitor whose ignorance about our society makes him a perfect tool to analyze human tendencies toward violence, over-population and environmental degradation. The Neanderthals have developed a high artistic, ethical and scientific culture without ever inventing farming-they're still hunters and gatherers-and this allows the author to make some interesting and generally unrecognized points about the downside of the discovery of agriculture. Much of the novel is devoted to either the discussion of ideas such as these or to Boddit and Vaughan's developing love affair. Sawyer keeps things moving by throwing in an attempted assassination, his protagonists' confrontation with a rapist and, on a larger scale, the growing danger of what appears to be the imminent reversal of Earth's magnetic field. As the middle volume in a trilogy, this book doesn't entirely stand on its own, but it is extremely well done. When complete, the Neanderthal Parallax should add significantly to Sawyer's reputation. (Feb. 26) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
In this sequel to Hominids (p. 712), Sawyer sends a Neanderthal physicist from an alternate Earth back to our Earth only to discover what rotters Homosapiens really are. Umpteen years ago, Neanderthals evolved into the dominant primate species on Earth, displacing humans entirely. Theyﾽre now a tightly controlled, relatively small species that prizes rationality, control, and science above all. When physicist Ponder Boddit returns to Earth through a wormhole-like interdimensional portal, heﾽs not just fascinated by the crowded, smelly chaos that humans have made of it, but also wants to meet up again with geneticist Mary Vaughn. Herself oddly attracted to the brilliant, hairy, ridiculously muscled, heavy-browed Boddit, Vaughn wonders: If the two of them made love, would it be considered bestiality? Ultimately, more Neanderthals come through the tunnel and are paraded before the United Nations, while Vaughn goes to the Neanderthal Earth and learns of their ways. Boddit, like all the males, has a same-sex lover, and both are baffled by Vaughnﾽs jealousy. Veteran author Sawyer certainly knows his way around anthropological debates, but heﾽs less skilled as a dramatist. Events unfold in a jumbled, random manner, and little tension or interest in the story gets developed. The last of this trilogy is promised, but itﾽs hard to imagine why.
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