Hominids
Hominids Robert J Sawyer, 2002 Hugo Winner - 2003 Premise: In two universes, an experiment, and then a neanderthal falls through an unexpected rift into a world of homo sapiens. (Content warning: rape) There's a lot to be intrigued by in the premise of this book. The different structure of neanderthal society is interesting at first, and it's well presented, slowly cluing in the reader without infodumps. At least, it is at first. But then it devolves into a series of clunky, boring conversations about systems of morality, in which the humans are left feeling self-conscious about how terrible their world is. Even though the story set on the other world (much more interesting) starts to hint at the ugliness of their system by the end, the imbalance is striking. By the time it got to fully explaining the neanderthal world, which seems awkwardly similar to modern China (secular, communist, heavy surveillance state, repressive reproductive control) but adding (possibly...