|
Fiction Review by The Gravedigger
|
11.13.02
|
This is the first novel of Robert J. Sawyer's THE NEANDERTHAL PARALLAX series, about a parallel Earth where Neanderthals became the only surviving species of human, not the Cro-Magnons (from which we're descended). Ponter Boddit, a Neanderthal physicist, accidently opens a rift between the two worlds and is transferred to our Universe. He encounters a world very much unlike his own. He's befriended by a doctor and physicist, who try to figure out how to send him back to his world. But back on the Neanderthal world Ponter's partner, Adikor Huld, finds himself on trial for Ponter's murder. If he's found guilty he'll be neutered, as will all his male relatives (how they've cured crime-they bred it out of their society). Sawyer's take on a modern Neanderthal society is fascinating and makes a lot of sense-in fact, you'll prefer the Neanderthal planet when you're reading this. Of course, while everything is resolved in this novel it is open ended for the next installment, HUMANS, where a woman from our world goes to theirs. If you have a fascination with prehistory, cavemen or parallel worlds, this is definitely the book for you.
|
Rating: nan out of 10.0 - votes cast total
|
|
|
|
|
