The third book of the Neanderthal trilogy, and while it's not necessarily a let-down from the earlier novels, it does suffer greatly from a kind of "why are we complaining, again?" overbearing feeling.
This whole trilogy has had, as an undercurrent, a comparison between modern North American culture and an idyllic, unpolluted, nearly-communist, pan-surveillance state. And that comparison comes rushing to the fore here. To such a state as to become obnoxious.
The story stays quick and easy to read; the main characters seem reasonable (though the villain is stiff); and so from that standpoint, this is great escapist literature. But that grass-is-greener vibe grates on my nerves as the novel progresses.
Ultimately, that's what lowers the score. 3 of 5.
Some of the events are fantastic and improbable, but Sawyer handles the pace well. A great ending and a satisfying read.
The final book of the trilogy, and certainly the weakest in my opinion. In far too many places this is less a work of fiction than an ideological treatise wrapped in fiction, and not a good job of packaging. Issues were belabored far too long and rather condescendingly far too often. The main character, Mary Vaughan, seemed to be slow witted for someone who is supposed to be a world renowned scientist, taking an extremely long time to figure out basics of the Neanderthal society (and sometimes having them explained very slowly and repeatedly) that are obvious to a reader paying even moderate attention.
If you fell in love with the earlier books, then naturally you will want to read the final one. But if you thought they were only okay, then you can skip this one and probably not miss anything.
