mschlat's review
3.0
I've got a few of these Sector General novels or collections, and they've been a fixture in my "fun read" collection. In many ways, they resemble the classic puzzle stories in early science fiction (think Asimov's robot stories), except with a medical background. Our protagonist Conway is always trying to work out a medical mystery and does so at the last minute with some unorthodox thinking.
This volume starts with a puzzle story and then moves to an interstellar war involving the space station hospital. I found the whole thing pretty readable, although White's conclusion happens a little too quickly for me.
One note: this book reflects the sexism of the early 1960's. All the doctors, administrators, and soldiers are male. The only human females are nurses, and only one (Murchison, Conway's romantic interest) is dealt with in any detail. Murchison is highly competent and professional, but she's also described in almost every appearance as doing a good job of filling out her outfit. (White's not that crude, but the emphasis got tiring.) And there's some romantic dialogue near the end that's highly cringe-worthy.
This volume starts with a puzzle story and then moves to an interstellar war involving the space station hospital. I found the whole thing pretty readable, although White's conclusion happens a little too quickly for me.
One note: this book reflects the sexism of the early 1960's. All the doctors, administrators, and soldiers are male. The only human females are nurses, and only one (Murchison, Conway's romantic interest) is dealt with in any detail. Murchison is highly competent and professional, but she's also described in almost every appearance as doing a good job of filling out her outfit. (White's not that crude, but the emphasis got tiring.) And there's some romantic dialogue near the end that's highly cringe-worthy.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review
3.0
I didn't like it quite as much as the first book. The sexism of the 1960s showed through pretty strongly and soured the book. Examples:
- All the doctors are male and all the nurses are female, even in a future that includes mind-bogglingly massive sociological, medical, and technological progress
- The nurses are called girls, even though they have clearly reached an adult age
- Nurse Murchison is continually sexually harassed by her boss, Dr. Conway, including unwanted physical touching
- Nurse Murchison's wishes to keep the relationship professional and platonic are disregarded by Dr. Conway, and he repeatedly tries to manipulate her into a sexual relationship
- Continuous references to Nurse Murchison's huge tits throughout the book
It may be a book about various advanced lifeforms set in the far future, but it was written by a human male in the 1960s and has some hack writing to prove it.
- All the doctors are male and all the nurses are female, even in a future that includes mind-bogglingly massive sociological, medical, and technological progress
- The nurses are called girls, even though they have clearly reached an adult age
- Nurse Murchison is continually sexually harassed by her boss, Dr. Conway, including unwanted physical touching
- Nurse Murchison's wishes to keep the relationship professional and platonic are disregarded by Dr. Conway, and he repeatedly tries to manipulate her into a sexual relationship
- Continuous references to Nurse Murchison's huge tits throughout the book
It may be a book about various advanced lifeforms set in the far future, but it was written by a human male in the 1960s and has some hack writing to prove it.
johnwillson's review
4.0
In a time when a lot of sci-fi was just naval adventures ported into a spacefaring setting, this pacifist author told fascinating stories about a galactic hospital tasked with treating any and all species, no matter how alien.
This is a collection of short stories with the same setting and main character. In each one, Doctor Conway must decipher an unfamiliar alien's physiology, figure out what ails it, and save its life, all without the benefit of a common language or culture. These are puzzles of advanced anatomy, pathology, psychology. But they're more than intellectual challenges: in every case, the fate of the hospital, or the outcome of a war, hangs in the balance.
While reading, one is rarely aware that these stories are about 50 years old -- aside from the occasional, startling bits of sexism that pass through the text, unremarked upon by the characters. The writing is adept and not too stylized. Overall: recommended for readers in the 21st century.
I read the omnibus edition that collected Sector General books 1-3, but I'm reviewing them separately so that I get credit for 3 books in my reading challenge :) This is the second book.
This is a collection of short stories with the same setting and main character. In each one, Doctor Conway must decipher an unfamiliar alien's physiology, figure out what ails it, and save its life, all without the benefit of a common language or culture. These are puzzles of advanced anatomy, pathology, psychology. But they're more than intellectual challenges: in every case, the fate of the hospital, or the outcome of a war, hangs in the balance.
While reading, one is rarely aware that these stories are about 50 years old -- aside from the occasional, startling bits of sexism that pass through the text, unremarked upon by the characters. The writing is adept and not too stylized. Overall: recommended for readers in the 21st century.
I read the omnibus edition that collected Sector General books 1-3, but I'm reviewing them separately so that I get credit for 3 books in my reading challenge :) This is the second book.
familiar_diversions's review
3.0
Star Surgeon starts off with Conway treating an alien of a sort he’s never seen or heard of before. It turns out that his newest patient’s species is seen as somewhat godlike by those aliens that know of them. They’re purported to be immortal, and they have a habit of gradually making themselves the supreme ruler of a world, solving its problems (I was left with so many questions), and then leaving. They are always accompanied by a companion of a different species.
Conway’s efforts to treat his patient, Lonvellin, impress it so much that it later insists he help it and the Monitor Corps with a problem it’s having on the planet Etla, which is part of a larger Empire made up of several planets. Etla used to have a thriving population before it was hit by one horrible illness after another. To make matters worse, Etla’s natives are deeply suspicious of beings that look different from them, so they refuse to accept help from anyone except the Empire’s Imperial Representative, who rarely stops by. Earth humans and Etlans just happen to look very much alike, so Conway and the Monitor Corpsmen are able to sneak in, assess the situation, and try to help. Unfortunately, the situation is much worse than anyone realizes and deteriorates to such a degree that Sector General finds itself caught up in an interstellar war.
I think this is my second full-length Sector General novel, although I’ve read a bunch of Sector General short stories. So far it looks like one of the nice things about the full-length novels is that they gave the author the time and space to show readers things that weren’t directly related to solving medical mysteries. Star Surgeon shows readers one of Sector General’s recreational areas (as Conway tries to convince Murchison to take their relationship from “friends, sort of” to “dating and maybe even having sex”), and I learned that there are apparently 218 human (or at least DBDG) women at Sector General, not that we ever learn the names of any of them besides Murchison.
Unfortunately, Star Surgeon turned out to be less focused on medical mysteries and more of a war book. Lonvellin’s medical issues were dealt with fairly quickly, and Etla’s problems were revealed to be less medical and more political (and absolutely horrifying). That left the interstellar war, with Sector General at its heart.
This book’s tone and message reminded me strongly of the story “Accident,” available in the Sector General omnibus Alien Emergencies. The specifics of how Sector General was evacuated were fascinating - in addition to concerns about moving sick or injured patients, every species’ general physical needs (gravity, atmosphere, temperature, and more) also had to be taken into account.
Unfortunately, Sector General’s evacuation and the events that happened afterward were also a bit emotionally draining. Sector General was intended to be a hospital capable of catering to any and every alien species. The evacuation and Sector General’s transformation into “what amounted to a heavily armed military base” (104) were both painful.
Once again, I can’t help but wonder about the economics of the Sector General universe. Money still seems to exist and be necessary, because it took great gobs of money to build Sector General in the first place. The damage Sector General sustained during the battle and the hospital’s evacuation and repurposing should probably have financially wrecked it. And yet it apparently recovered just fine, because there are many Sector General stories and books that come after this one.
As much as I like the idea behind the Sector General series, the books and stories have several recurring problems. One of those problems kept rearing its ugly head in Star Surgeon: sexism. Since the series is usually careful not to assign a gender to any of its aliens, except in one instance where a particular alien species cycles through genders during the course of its life, that means that most of the more blatant sexism involves Murchison, the series’ only named human woman (that I know of).
If Murchison ever appeared on-page without some mention of her appealing physical form or features, it was rare. Also, just like in Star Healer, Murchison requested to be allowed to use an educator tape, only to be shot down by O’Mara.
And then there was this, said by Murchison to Conway:
Am I the only one who thinks that explanation sounds uncomfortably sexual? At any rate, while I’m thankful that at least one Sector General fix fic exists, it doesn’t stop the burst of anger I feel whenever I come across things like this in the original books and stories.
Well, even though I hate the series’ sexism, I love its “doctors in space” focus. Unfortunately, this particular book was grimmer and had less in the way of medical mysteries than I preferred. It wasn’t a bad entry in the series, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for when I started reading.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Conway’s efforts to treat his patient, Lonvellin, impress it so much that it later insists he help it and the Monitor Corps with a problem it’s having on the planet Etla, which is part of a larger Empire made up of several planets. Etla used to have a thriving population before it was hit by one horrible illness after another. To make matters worse, Etla’s natives are deeply suspicious of beings that look different from them, so they refuse to accept help from anyone except the Empire’s Imperial Representative, who rarely stops by. Earth humans and Etlans just happen to look very much alike, so Conway and the Monitor Corpsmen are able to sneak in, assess the situation, and try to help. Unfortunately, the situation is much worse than anyone realizes and deteriorates to such a degree that Sector General finds itself caught up in an interstellar war.
I think this is my second full-length Sector General novel, although I’ve read a bunch of Sector General short stories. So far it looks like one of the nice things about the full-length novels is that they gave the author the time and space to show readers things that weren’t directly related to solving medical mysteries. Star Surgeon shows readers one of Sector General’s recreational areas (as Conway tries to convince Murchison to take their relationship from “friends, sort of” to “dating and maybe even having sex”), and I learned that there are apparently 218 human (or at least DBDG) women at Sector General, not that we ever learn the names of any of them besides Murchison.
Unfortunately, Star Surgeon turned out to be less focused on medical mysteries and more of a war book. Lonvellin’s medical issues were dealt with fairly quickly, and Etla’s problems were revealed to be less medical and more political (and absolutely horrifying). That left the interstellar war, with Sector General at its heart.
This book’s tone and message reminded me strongly of the story “Accident,” available in the Sector General omnibus Alien Emergencies. The specifics of how Sector General was evacuated were fascinating - in addition to concerns about moving sick or injured patients, every species’ general physical needs (gravity, atmosphere, temperature, and more) also had to be taken into account.
Unfortunately, Sector General’s evacuation and the events that happened afterward were also a bit emotionally draining. Sector General was intended to be a hospital capable of catering to any and every alien species. The evacuation and Sector General’s transformation into “what amounted to a heavily armed military base” (104) were both painful.
Once again, I can’t help but wonder about the economics of the Sector General universe. Money still seems to exist and be necessary, because it took great gobs of money to build Sector General in the first place. The damage Sector General sustained during the battle and the hospital’s evacuation and repurposing should probably have financially wrecked it. And yet it apparently recovered just fine, because there are many Sector General stories and books that come after this one.
As much as I like the idea behind the Sector General series, the books and stories have several recurring problems. One of those problems kept rearing its ugly head in Star Surgeon: sexism. Since the series is usually careful not to assign a gender to any of its aliens, except in one instance where a particular alien species cycles through genders during the course of its life, that means that most of the more blatant sexism involves Murchison, the series’ only named human woman (that I know of).
If Murchison ever appeared on-page without some mention of her appealing physical form or features, it was rare. Also, just like in Star Healer, Murchison requested to be allowed to use an educator tape, only to be shot down by O’Mara.
"'As for the girls [he means the nurses],' [O'Mara] went on, a sardonic edge in his voice, 'you have noticed by this time that the female Earth-human DBDG has a rather peculiar mind. One of its peculiarities is a deep, sex-based mental fastidiousness. No matter what they say they will not, repeat not, allow alien beings to apparently take over their pretty little brains. If such should happen, severe mental damage would result.'" (132)
And then there was this, said by Murchison to Conway:
"'I...I asked him to give me [an educator tape], earlier, to help you out. But he said no because...' She hesitated, and looked away. '...because he said girls are very choosey who they let take possession of them. Their minds, I mean...'" (141)
Am I the only one who thinks that explanation sounds uncomfortably sexual? At any rate, while I’m thankful that at least one Sector General fix fic exists, it doesn’t stop the burst of anger I feel whenever I come across things like this in the original books and stories.
Well, even though I hate the series’ sexism, I love its “doctors in space” focus. Unfortunately, this particular book was grimmer and had less in the way of medical mysteries than I preferred. It wasn’t a bad entry in the series, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for when I started reading.
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
tome15's review
4.0
White, James. Star Surgeon. Sector General No. 2. 1963. Del Rey, 1970.
If there was ever a series to buck you up during a pandemic, it is James White’s Sector General stories that appeared off and on from the early 1960s through the 1990s and in reprints and combo editions in this millennium. It does not matter that most of the humans on far future space station hospital catering to aliens from all over two galaxies are for all purposes twentieth-century Anglo-Irish or that all the sex, even the alien sex, so tame it would not make it on Gray’s Anatomy. What makes the series such a perennial favorite is its unabashed faith in scientific ingenuity to solve the most mysterious and intractable medical and social problems. The multispecies hospital is the perfect answer to the question, “Can’t we all just get along?” In Star Surgeon, Dr. Conway has to keep the hospital running when an alien bombardment takes out most of the senior staff. Can he use mind tapes from six different species at once and set up a ward in the oxygen-breather’s dining hall? You betcha. The first book in the series is Hospital Station. You should read it first.
If there was ever a series to buck you up during a pandemic, it is James White’s Sector General stories that appeared off and on from the early 1960s through the 1990s and in reprints and combo editions in this millennium. It does not matter that most of the humans on far future space station hospital catering to aliens from all over two galaxies are for all purposes twentieth-century Anglo-Irish or that all the sex, even the alien sex, so tame it would not make it on Gray’s Anatomy. What makes the series such a perennial favorite is its unabashed faith in scientific ingenuity to solve the most mysterious and intractable medical and social problems. The multispecies hospital is the perfect answer to the question, “Can’t we all just get along?” In Star Surgeon, Dr. Conway has to keep the hospital running when an alien bombardment takes out most of the senior staff. Can he use mind tapes from six different species at once and set up a ward in the oxygen-breather’s dining hall? You betcha. The first book in the series is Hospital Station. You should read it first.
wandering_not_lost's review
4.0
Really a 4.5. Overall, I really got drawn into this book, and kept reading it frantically through the last half, wanting to know how it would turn out despite the incredibly sexist overtones of some of it.
The tension really ramped up in this book, compared to the previous book that was more lackadaisically paced and broken up into several novella-sized episodes. This book had an overarching plot, followed by a nail-biting siege of the hospital by a fanatical enemy force. It's very obvious that the author had a good handle both on war-time psychology and on the touching determination of medical staff to treat and protect their patients. The science and psychology seems solid, with some rather dated exceptions (no use of anything involving DNA sequencing, for instance, which is understandable given how old this series is, and under-use of wireless communication or personal technology). The pacing is good, and overall it was just SOLID.
Only one thing really kept it from a 5-star rating for me: holy sexism, Batman! What had been hinted at in the first book (lack of female doctors, occasional discussion of pretty nurses) was just...made very explicit here. The worst example revolves around the training tapes. The training tapes are a way that doctors of one race can learn quickly how to treat another race: it's a download of an alien doctor's memories, which lets them use that expertise. It's revealed in this book that females can't take memory tapes. That something sex-based about their "pretty little heads" won't allow it. There's no science behind this, no real reason. This is just the author's decision: there can never be a female physician or Diagnostician because they can't use the major learning method because Female Minds Are Inferior.
Ugh. UGH!
There's other examples. The main character is dating a nurse, and for pretty much the whole book she utterly fails to pass the Lampshade Test: she is a goal and an object to be pursued, protected, and pulled into rough embraces when convenient, with very little care for or discussion of her own feelings on the matter. She is also written very...coyly? Neither the MC nor she are honest about what they feel for much of the book, being cool or harsh with each other to express displeasure at their treatment of each other rather than talking like adults. She comes across as inscrutable, vacillating wildly between coolness and "I was so worried for you" and between "No, now's not the time" and "Oh, i don't want you mad at me, just tell me what to do!" It's all very, very dated. It was no doubt a common view of women for the time period the book was originally published, but it was just incredibly sad to read now, because it seems like such crappy characterization in the middle of an otherwise excellent book.
The tension really ramped up in this book, compared to the previous book that was more lackadaisically paced and broken up into several novella-sized episodes. This book had an overarching plot, followed by a nail-biting siege of the hospital by a fanatical enemy force. It's very obvious that the author had a good handle both on war-time psychology and on the touching determination of medical staff to treat and protect their patients. The science and psychology seems solid, with some rather dated exceptions (no use of anything involving DNA sequencing, for instance, which is understandable given how old this series is, and under-use of wireless communication or personal technology). The pacing is good, and overall it was just SOLID.
Only one thing really kept it from a 5-star rating for me: holy sexism, Batman! What had been hinted at in the first book (lack of female doctors, occasional discussion of pretty nurses) was just...made very explicit here. The worst example revolves around the training tapes. The training tapes are a way that doctors of one race can learn quickly how to treat another race: it's a download of an alien doctor's memories, which lets them use that expertise. It's revealed in this book that females can't take memory tapes. That something sex-based about their "pretty little heads" won't allow it. There's no science behind this, no real reason. This is just the author's decision: there can never be a female physician or Diagnostician because they can't use the major learning method because Female Minds Are Inferior.
Ugh. UGH!
There's other examples. The main character is dating a nurse, and for pretty much the whole book she utterly fails to pass the Lampshade Test: she is a goal and an object to be pursued, protected, and pulled into rough embraces when convenient, with very little care for or discussion of her own feelings on the matter. She is also written very...coyly? Neither the MC nor she are honest about what they feel for much of the book, being cool or harsh with each other to express displeasure at their treatment of each other rather than talking like adults. She comes across as inscrutable, vacillating wildly between coolness and "I was so worried for you" and between "No, now's not the time" and "Oh, i don't want you mad at me, just tell me what to do!" It's all very, very dated. It was no doubt a common view of women for the time period the book was originally published, but it was just incredibly sad to read now, because it seems like such crappy characterization in the middle of an otherwise excellent book.