Hybrids [Mass Market Paperback]

This is the third book in The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. The other two being Hominids (book 1) and Humans (book 2).

In this book we find Dr Mary Vaughan (human geneticist) and Ponter Boddit (Neanderthal physicist) continuing their relationship that developed when they first met. Mary has gone over to the parallel Neanderthal world to learn more about their culture.

From the first books we have learned that in the Neanderthal world:

1) The population has been limited to 185 million
2) All the men live on the outskirts of town and all the women live in the middle
3) The women live with their woman mate and children
4) The men live with their man mate
5) Every 25 days the men go into town and visit their woman mate for 4 days
6) Conception is limited to once every 10 years thus aiding the ZPG
7) Regressive genes (violence, disease etc )have been bred out of the population
8) While they have helicopters they don't have airplanes
9) They don't use fossil fuels but rather solar power
10) They have a strong opinion about religions, because they don't have any
11) They have an implanted electronic companion that records everything they do so crime and violence is rare

Mary and Ponter want to have a child however their chromosomes are different so it would not be possible. They meet a disgraced Neanderthal geneticist who may have solved that problem and smuggle out her equipment that has banned to be used.

However her boss, Jock, who works for the military designs an airborne virus that will only kill Neanderthals and leave their idealic world available to the humans.

The race is then on with Ponter and Mary trying to stop Jock. There are other minor story arcs that add variety to the book and it is highly entertaining

While this book is the third in a trilogy it stands alone as a great read. The background from the other two books, at least the highlights, is included in flashbacks to flush out the story arc.

The Neanderthal hero, Ponter Bobbit, and his homo sapiens lover, Mary Vaughan, are back to bring The Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy to a satisfying climax. As we have come to expect from Hominids and Humans - the first two books in this fine series - the interaction between human and Neanderthal provides unusual and exciting scenarios.

This time around, distinguished Neanderthal scientists have crossed from their universe into ours via the portal created and maintained with Neanderthal technology. Their scientific skills far surpass those of humans, and yet the world in which they live remains pristine. Primeval forests thrive; water and air are pure and sweet; the oceans abound with life and no animals have gone extinct from over-hunting. Their work with DNA rivals anything humans have discovered. The trusting Neanderthals believe the more information exchanged between worlds, the better, but their human counterparts are not so idealistic. Human conditions are overcrowded, the environment fouled by fossil fuels and littered with garbage. One powerful man sees the Neanderthal world as the new Eden and devises a horrifying plan to claim that rich wilderness for humans.

Humans and Neanderthals socially, emotionally, and philosophically gain greater understanding of each other in Hybrids.. Still, there are many problems. Humans cannot grasp the concept of a world without satellites, war, gps systems, cell phones, highways and airplanes. Neanderthals cannot understand a species that would pollute the world they live in and greedily deplete all resources. Meanwhile, Ponter and Mary plan to officially bond and have a child together. Theirs will be the first hybrid offspring between Neanderthal and homo sapiens, if they can utilize technology that has been banned in Ponter's world.

Hybrids is ethically and technologically intriguing.. The characters are fully developed and unique, whether they be good or evil. Dangers threatening both worlds are realistic and mirror a multitude of problems present in our lives today. Although Hybrids is the third and final book in Sawyer's Neanderthal series, the story could stand alone. I do encourage you, however, to read this excellent and well written series in order. As writer and story teller, Sawyer is deserving of every award he's won so far.

The Idea of Neanderthals crossing the dimentional divide via a Quantum singularity, who couldn't be intrigued by such a notion?
Unfrotunately for the reader it appears the author was one such person, where the book could have illuminated and inspiered it merely plodded along...The main character Mary Is simpering and paranoid in the extreme. The main lesson to gleaned according to the author from our connection with another universe? well rather perversly it is that Man, to be more accurate white Men, are all Evil, Bar one or two exceptions who are not actually in this book; the reason for our extraordinary Evil and general vileness, why of course, Testosterone and the Y chromosome!!! Talk about sweeping, inacurate, ignorant and offensive statements. There are numerous such pages where men (always white men) are recounted for their general lack of humanity. It gets quite boring after a while.Swayer shows a lack of genetic anthropological and historical adeptness in his writing only rivaled by his poor characterisation and plot lines. Avoid this book it will only let you down. A pity as ponter could have been very very cool.