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Sector General #7-8
General Practice
Sector General: A massive deep-space hospital station on the Galactic Rim, in the depths of outer space, where human and alien medicine meet. Its 384 levels and thousands of staff members who work there, human and alien both, have a single mission: To care for all patients, of all species. At Sector General, anything can happen, and frequently does. as staff work to meet the needs of any conceivable alien patient, though that capacity is always being strained as more (and stranger) alien races turn up to join the galactic community. Sentient viruses, interspecies romances, undreamed-of institutional catering problems...it all lands on Sector General's doorstep. And the only thing weirder than a hitherto unknown alien species is having a member of that species turn up in your Emergency Room. Here is General Practice (Sector General Omnibus 3, Bks 7-8)
Contents:
* Introduction (General Practice) (2003) • essay by John Clute
* Code Blue: Emergency [Sector General • 7] (1987) / novel by James White
* The Genocidal Healer [Sector General • 8] (1991) / novel by James White
.
Contents:
* Introduction (General Practice) (2003) • essay by John Clute
* Code Blue: Emergency [Sector General • 7] (1987) / novel by James White
* The Genocidal Healer [Sector General • 8] (1991) / novel by James White
.
510 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
44 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
About the author
James White
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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
February 7, 2017
I have officially overdosed once again on James White's Sector General space hospital stories. This is the third and final omnibus edition I will read, because it is the last one I own.
General Practice is made up of two stories, one called Code Blue - Emergency! and the other titled Genocidal Healer. This last, according to the introduction, is the only offering in all my three omnibus editions that was written as an intentional novel and was not merely previously published stories stitched together to make book length features.
In Code Blue, we meet a new character, a female warrior-surgeon from the planet Sommaradva. Cha Thrat is sort of a misfit, and has a code of ethics for itself that the Sector General people do not even know about at first, since she is a new being to them also. Some of the rules have been bent to allow her to train at SG, and the lack of awareness causes plenty of misunderstandings. Basically this story felt as if White mentally told himself "delete Conway, insert Cha Thrat". But even saying that, I have to admit that this was one of the most interesting of the whole collection, if only because I was constantly trying to figure out exactly what this new being looked like. White never describes her in one go: we learn about her bit by bit. Here we see that she has at least six arms (I was never quite sure of the final count) but we don't find out until There that she also has at least
four legs. Later it turns out that she has two mouths and four eyes, and much later a little detail about two stomachs is mentioned. Even though I could never quite picture Cha Thrat, I liked her.
The hero being of Genocidal Healer was also a large, unusual creature with extra limbs, more than merely two eyes, and lungs on the outside of his body. (White was certainly creative when he dreamed up his critters!) Lioren is also a surgeon, but one who is on trial for negligence when the story opens. Did he really cause the entire population of a planet to die because of his actions? What, if anything, will be his punishment, and will it be any worse than the tortures he has put himself through?
This story focused a great deal on philosophic issues, with Lioren trying to work out many tricky religious questions both for himself and others. I suppose at the time of writing such topics were on White's mind. While this was a deeply thought out little novel, it frankly was not as compelling to me as any of the others in these volumes. But it was still an interesting way to end my stay in Sector General, and I will happily overdose again in a few years when the details fade from my all too human memory.
General Practice is made up of two stories, one called Code Blue - Emergency! and the other titled Genocidal Healer. This last, according to the introduction, is the only offering in all my three omnibus editions that was written as an intentional novel and was not merely previously published stories stitched together to make book length features.
In Code Blue, we meet a new character, a female warrior-surgeon from the planet Sommaradva. Cha Thrat is sort of a misfit, and has a code of ethics for itself that the Sector General people do not even know about at first, since she is a new being to them also. Some of the rules have been bent to allow her to train at SG, and the lack of awareness causes plenty of misunderstandings. Basically this story felt as if White mentally told himself "delete Conway, insert Cha Thrat". But even saying that, I have to admit that this was one of the most interesting of the whole collection, if only because I was constantly trying to figure out exactly what this new being looked like. White never describes her in one go: we learn about her bit by bit. Here we see that she has at least six arms (I was never quite sure of the final count) but we don't find out until There that she also has at least
four legs. Later it turns out that she has two mouths and four eyes, and much later a little detail about two stomachs is mentioned. Even though I could never quite picture Cha Thrat, I liked her.
The hero being of Genocidal Healer was also a large, unusual creature with extra limbs, more than merely two eyes, and lungs on the outside of his body. (White was certainly creative when he dreamed up his critters!) Lioren is also a surgeon, but one who is on trial for negligence when the story opens. Did he really cause the entire population of a planet to die because of his actions? What, if anything, will be his punishment, and will it be any worse than the tortures he has put himself through?
This story focused a great deal on philosophic issues, with Lioren trying to work out many tricky religious questions both for himself and others. I suppose at the time of writing such topics were on White's mind. While this was a deeply thought out little novel, it frankly was not as compelling to me as any of the others in these volumes. But it was still an interesting way to end my stay in Sector General, and I will happily overdose again in a few years when the details fade from my all too human memory.
February 13, 2010
I enjoy this series- it's generally very light indeed, but entertaining, and manages to have plots without every having a Big Bad- something that's pretty unusual. The theology in the second novel here, though, was pretty narrowly Christian, to the point having having that be the norm across the galaxy; I think a more nuanced approach would have been interesting, and several of the monotheist theological problems are not issues in polytheistic systems. Still, a fun read.
July 23, 2013
It's not a crazy question to ask if at almost seven books into a series where all the stories revolve around a somewhat simple premise (hospitals! in! space!) said series is still worth reading. And if you had asked me that after the end of the last volume I might have given you a hesitant "I guess . . .", as the Sector General series seemed to be slipping into a cozy rut, with all the doctors and nurses romping around a friendly and familiar medical terrain, while the friendly but constantly scowling Chief Psychologist looked over it all. Until someone broke free from the chlorine levels and for five minutes all heck would break loose. He probably could have gone like this forever, inserting his usual crew into whatever strange alien medical scenarios came into his head.
Yet there were signs at the end of the last book that he was thinking of tweaking the formula somewhat. The elevation of Conway to Diagnostician was a big signal that things were changing, as the good Conway was unable to be as hands-on as he was before. To continue further would either mean changing the very nature and tone of the stories, or shifting the focus slightly.
Turns out, White opted for the latter and the change seems to have invigorated him somewhat. This, the last omnibus printed in the wake of his death (one other omnibus had come out earlier collecting some later novels) contains only two novels but as much as I enjoyed the earlier stuff for the charming slices of SF that they were, the two stories reprinted here show White attempting to go somewhere deeper with his tales, even at this late date.
It was inevitable, as he had been writing the stories for about twenty-five years at this point and he was flirting with stagnation if things didn't change. And they do, although the changes aren't obvious at first. "Code Blue: Emergency" introduces us to Cha Thrat, a surgeon basically reassigned to Sector General from her own planet because she essentially ticked off everyone she knows. She then proceeds to tick off everyone else she comes in contact with, by being a combination of abrasive and sticking to her cultural guns. It's more fun than it sounds. White seems to have taken the time to construct an alien point of view that runs somewhat counter to the general flow of the hospital and lets Cha Thrat run amok in it to see the mayhem that results. Which it does. Most of the fun comes from her interactions with the staff, all of whom are wary of her based on reputation and find themselves proved absolutely right, even as they can't argue with the results, destructive as they are.
There are a number of benefits to this approach. For one, it puts the spotlight more on O'Mara, who has thus far been reduced to the role of grumpy uncle. We've been told over and over how he manages the whole hospital and keeps everyone sane and is a brilliant psychologist and we finally get to see some of that as he tries to wrangle with Cha Thrat and keep all the different factions in the hospital from getting at each other's throats over her. The rest of the cast benefits as well, being shoved over to the side as legends allows them to act as the established bedrock of the hospital and in smaller doses they seem to work better. The biggest surprise is how awesome Prilicla becomes in this context, getting more screentime to prove that he is one of the smartest doctors on staff and demonstrating how his empathic abilities allow him to manage people even better than O'Mara can.
Once again the story is structured as a series of short episodes with their own individual problems, so the lack of narrative momentum that has plagued the series is still in full force. Basically, Cha Thrat encounters a problem, solves it by making people angry and then gets reassigned. Repeat until you run out of departments. But White is able to make the solutions more organic than Conway's method of pulling things out of the air and Cha Thrat's status as resident whipping alien makes it more believable when she has to stumble into solutions on the sly. It helps that Cha Thrat isn't a bad person either, and most of her successes are due to compassion (the giant lonely hypochondriac fish, don't-touch-me Khone) that can be moving in parts. And with most of the usual tropes shoved to the side, the setting seems both new and leaner (we even get to explore maintenance), although White still can't let go of some of his stranger plans (the doctor's rationale for why women can't use the memory tapes makes you want a character to ask "You're kidding, right?"). But overall, a surprising triumph, with a nice little character arc to boot. You're rooting for Cha Thrat to succeed, which is nice. Even when she comes up with a logical reason to amputate her own limb (perhaps the best moment in the whole series).
It works so well that White tries to repeat the formula for the next novel "The Genocidal Healer", again giving us an alien as a main character and taking him through the various segments of the hospital. The premise at first is worrying . . . Lioren made a rush decision about the treatment of a race with consequences that feature a high-body count. The opening scenes are a rehash of the events because Lioren insists on putting himself through a trial even though the hospital has already cleared him. This makes the proceedings somewhat pointless and this winds up being the most taxing part of the book, as everyone has to come up with contrived reasons to see this through and keep it going. You start to wonder if White is going to take a short story's worth of material and attempt to expand it into novel length, when the story finally dispenses with the trial stuff and gets to the meat of it.
In essence we have a rerun of the last story but the stakes are somewhat different and White is interested in different matters here. Wanting to die but unwilling to kill himself, stripped of his right to be a surgeon, Lioren is given menial tasks but O'Mara, working with characters both new and old and utilizing the same "episodes within a story" format that worked so well last time. The key difference is a new focus on the spiritual and emotional, something that hasn't been as apparent in the midst of all the medical hoo-ha. White was a Catholic and while a certain universal decency and goodwill towards all attitude was readily sensed in the earlier stories, here he explicitly delves into the beliefs of other alien species, the nature of forgiveness and what it means when you don't believe you have a soul. This leads to some startlingly moving scenes, as when Lioren is assigned to talk to a former Diagnostician who is now elderly and dying, and then later with a small representative of a giant species. The shift from a focus on healing to what it means TO heal opens up the heart of the novel and gives us the first story that doesn't simply generate good feelings because everyone in the hospital is nice, but because the issues raised are genuinely thought-provoking.
The regulars all put in their time, with Prilicla standing out yet again (he gets the best line in the novel when an old mentor on his way out jokingly offers to arm-wrestle him, both tender and sad and exactly the kind of thing old friends would say to each other) but it's the journey of Lioren that drives the novel and even if good old Catholic values are driving the heart here, White never turns it into a SF version of the Good Testament, simply suggesting that just because someone is an alien, doesn't mean they can't know God. This late in the career it's an unexpected avenue of exploration and the series is all the better for it. And after almost writing him up before I have to wonder, is this as far as he could go, or can he surprise me again?
Yet there were signs at the end of the last book that he was thinking of tweaking the formula somewhat. The elevation of Conway to Diagnostician was a big signal that things were changing, as the good Conway was unable to be as hands-on as he was before. To continue further would either mean changing the very nature and tone of the stories, or shifting the focus slightly.
Turns out, White opted for the latter and the change seems to have invigorated him somewhat. This, the last omnibus printed in the wake of his death (one other omnibus had come out earlier collecting some later novels) contains only two novels but as much as I enjoyed the earlier stuff for the charming slices of SF that they were, the two stories reprinted here show White attempting to go somewhere deeper with his tales, even at this late date.
It was inevitable, as he had been writing the stories for about twenty-five years at this point and he was flirting with stagnation if things didn't change. And they do, although the changes aren't obvious at first. "Code Blue: Emergency" introduces us to Cha Thrat, a surgeon basically reassigned to Sector General from her own planet because she essentially ticked off everyone she knows. She then proceeds to tick off everyone else she comes in contact with, by being a combination of abrasive and sticking to her cultural guns. It's more fun than it sounds. White seems to have taken the time to construct an alien point of view that runs somewhat counter to the general flow of the hospital and lets Cha Thrat run amok in it to see the mayhem that results. Which it does. Most of the fun comes from her interactions with the staff, all of whom are wary of her based on reputation and find themselves proved absolutely right, even as they can't argue with the results, destructive as they are.
There are a number of benefits to this approach. For one, it puts the spotlight more on O'Mara, who has thus far been reduced to the role of grumpy uncle. We've been told over and over how he manages the whole hospital and keeps everyone sane and is a brilliant psychologist and we finally get to see some of that as he tries to wrangle with Cha Thrat and keep all the different factions in the hospital from getting at each other's throats over her. The rest of the cast benefits as well, being shoved over to the side as legends allows them to act as the established bedrock of the hospital and in smaller doses they seem to work better. The biggest surprise is how awesome Prilicla becomes in this context, getting more screentime to prove that he is one of the smartest doctors on staff and demonstrating how his empathic abilities allow him to manage people even better than O'Mara can.
Once again the story is structured as a series of short episodes with their own individual problems, so the lack of narrative momentum that has plagued the series is still in full force. Basically, Cha Thrat encounters a problem, solves it by making people angry and then gets reassigned. Repeat until you run out of departments. But White is able to make the solutions more organic than Conway's method of pulling things out of the air and Cha Thrat's status as resident whipping alien makes it more believable when she has to stumble into solutions on the sly. It helps that Cha Thrat isn't a bad person either, and most of her successes are due to compassion (the giant lonely hypochondriac fish, don't-touch-me Khone) that can be moving in parts. And with most of the usual tropes shoved to the side, the setting seems both new and leaner (we even get to explore maintenance), although White still can't let go of some of his stranger plans (the doctor's rationale for why women can't use the memory tapes makes you want a character to ask "You're kidding, right?"). But overall, a surprising triumph, with a nice little character arc to boot. You're rooting for Cha Thrat to succeed, which is nice. Even when she comes up with a logical reason to amputate her own limb (perhaps the best moment in the whole series).
It works so well that White tries to repeat the formula for the next novel "The Genocidal Healer", again giving us an alien as a main character and taking him through the various segments of the hospital. The premise at first is worrying . . . Lioren made a rush decision about the treatment of a race with consequences that feature a high-body count. The opening scenes are a rehash of the events because Lioren insists on putting himself through a trial even though the hospital has already cleared him. This makes the proceedings somewhat pointless and this winds up being the most taxing part of the book, as everyone has to come up with contrived reasons to see this through and keep it going. You start to wonder if White is going to take a short story's worth of material and attempt to expand it into novel length, when the story finally dispenses with the trial stuff and gets to the meat of it.
In essence we have a rerun of the last story but the stakes are somewhat different and White is interested in different matters here. Wanting to die but unwilling to kill himself, stripped of his right to be a surgeon, Lioren is given menial tasks but O'Mara, working with characters both new and old and utilizing the same "episodes within a story" format that worked so well last time. The key difference is a new focus on the spiritual and emotional, something that hasn't been as apparent in the midst of all the medical hoo-ha. White was a Catholic and while a certain universal decency and goodwill towards all attitude was readily sensed in the earlier stories, here he explicitly delves into the beliefs of other alien species, the nature of forgiveness and what it means when you don't believe you have a soul. This leads to some startlingly moving scenes, as when Lioren is assigned to talk to a former Diagnostician who is now elderly and dying, and then later with a small representative of a giant species. The shift from a focus on healing to what it means TO heal opens up the heart of the novel and gives us the first story that doesn't simply generate good feelings because everyone in the hospital is nice, but because the issues raised are genuinely thought-provoking.
The regulars all put in their time, with Prilicla standing out yet again (he gets the best line in the novel when an old mentor on his way out jokingly offers to arm-wrestle him, both tender and sad and exactly the kind of thing old friends would say to each other) but it's the journey of Lioren that drives the novel and even if good old Catholic values are driving the heart here, White never turns it into a SF version of the Good Testament, simply suggesting that just because someone is an alien, doesn't mean they can't know God. This late in the career it's an unexpected avenue of exploration and the series is all the better for it. And after almost writing him up before I have to wonder, is this as far as he could go, or can he surprise me again?
April 22, 2023
James White’s Sector General series should be required reading for ANYONE assigned to first contact missions. Note in the first paragraph below (from Alien Emergencies), the inclusion of specialists in communications, philosophy, and psychology. Note the exclusion of specialists in any of the hard sciences. And the military. (Note also, the more effective way.)
“The Cultural contact people were the elite of the Monitor Corps, a small group of specialists in e-t communications, philosophy and psychology. Although small, the group was not, regrettably, overworked …
“… During the past twenty years,” O’Mara went on, “they have initiated First Contact procedure on three occasions, all of which resulted in the species concerned joining the Federation. I will not bore you with the details of the number of survey operations mounted and the ships, personnel and materiel involved, or shock you with the cost of it all. I mention the Cultural Contact group’s three successes simply to make the point that within the same time period this hospital became fully operational and also initiated First contacts, which resulted in seven new species joining the Federation. This was accomplished not by a slow, patient buildup and widening of communications until the exchange of complex philosophical and sociological concepts became possible, but by giving medical assistance to a sick alien.”
I can’t recommend White’s work enough. Finally, an intelligent approach to alien life. (Because yes, pretty much every novel I’ve read, and every movie I’ve seen, to date, has been embarrassing for its UNintelligent approach to alien. Why haven’t we discovered intelligent life out there? Because we’re too stupid to visit.)
“The Cultural contact people were the elite of the Monitor Corps, a small group of specialists in e-t communications, philosophy and psychology. Although small, the group was not, regrettably, overworked …
“… During the past twenty years,” O’Mara went on, “they have initiated First Contact procedure on three occasions, all of which resulted in the species concerned joining the Federation. I will not bore you with the details of the number of survey operations mounted and the ships, personnel and materiel involved, or shock you with the cost of it all. I mention the Cultural Contact group’s three successes simply to make the point that within the same time period this hospital became fully operational and also initiated First contacts, which resulted in seven new species joining the Federation. This was accomplished not by a slow, patient buildup and widening of communications until the exchange of complex philosophical and sociological concepts became possible, but by giving medical assistance to a sick alien.”
I can’t recommend White’s work enough. Finally, an intelligent approach to alien life. (Because yes, pretty much every novel I’ve read, and every movie I’ve seen, to date, has been embarrassing for its UNintelligent approach to alien. Why haven’t we discovered intelligent life out there? Because we’re too stupid to visit.)
August 12, 2020
Code Blue Emergency
I totally LOVED this one! Cha Thrat is a feisty "warrior class" surgeon from Sommeradva -- she does not fit in there, and when she gets to Sector General she somehow manages to get in trouble wherever she goes. Only problem being, she is smart, does excellent work, and is usually right which drives people even nuttier! She ends up getting involved with Conways Gogleskan friend Khone too. Just excellent fun! Just what the doctor ordered!
The Genocidal Healer in General Practice
White tackles guilt and forgiveness and the effect of shame and despair on the health of an individual. Lioren, a Tarlan surgeon, made a decision about how to treat some aliens in desperate need and things didn't go so well (he did, in fact succeed at what he was trying to cure, but he didn't anticipate the consequences). He wants to be condemned to death, but chief psychologist Dr. O'Mara is having none of that! [[Mary Doria Russell]] is one of the only others who have put sf and religion together successfully. With truly breathtaking tact and intelligence
White takes on religious practices, ethics and you name it with grace and expansive common sense. White has learned to have moments of humor that bring to life the characters and make the deeper interactions fit more naturally.
I totally LOVED this one! Cha Thrat is a feisty "warrior class" surgeon from Sommeradva -- she does not fit in there, and when she gets to Sector General she somehow manages to get in trouble wherever she goes. Only problem being, she is smart, does excellent work, and is usually right which drives people even nuttier! She ends up getting involved with Conways Gogleskan friend Khone too. Just excellent fun! Just what the doctor ordered!
The Genocidal Healer in General Practice
White tackles guilt and forgiveness and the effect of shame and despair on the health of an individual. Lioren, a Tarlan surgeon, made a decision about how to treat some aliens in desperate need and things didn't go so well (he did, in fact succeed at what he was trying to cure, but he didn't anticipate the consequences). He wants to be condemned to death, but chief psychologist Dr. O'Mara is having none of that! [[Mary Doria Russell]] is one of the only others who have put sf and religion together successfully. With truly breathtaking tact and intelligence
White takes on religious practices, ethics and you name it with grace and expansive common sense. White has learned to have moments of humor that bring to life the characters and make the deeper interactions fit more naturally.
June 11, 2021
In this age of strife and division, this omnibus was JUST what I needed! 65 different intelligent beings in the universe so far, and all of them attempting to live in peace with one another, particularly in the huge, multi-species hospital called Sector General. Written by a pacifist author who suffered through the Catholic/Protestant wars in Ireland, it is wonderful and soothing to read stories that don't involve enemies and war and merciless killing. I especially enjoyed the new avenues and characters introduced and followed in these two books.
May 28, 2018
Contains two books, Code Blue - Emergency and The Genocidal Healer. These books, I assume like all the Sector General books, are basically medical procedurals, just set in a hospital space station and addressing procedures performed on and by entities from many, many species across the known universe. On the one hand, entertaining and anthropological. On the other hand, dated notions of gender and religion are deeply, deeply embedded.
December 7, 2016
The first part, about Cho Thrat (?) was enjoyable. The second part, apparently the last Sector General book, dragged quite a bit for me in the middle, but I'm glad I stuck with it. The ending was fully satisfactory.
June 25, 2019
James White books
This rating is for all of James White’s books. Excellent reads! I would recommend them for ages “young adult” to infinity. The subject matter is so unique and mind-expanding.
This rating is for all of James White’s books. Excellent reads! I would recommend them for ages “young adult” to infinity. The subject matter is so unique and mind-expanding.
November 19, 2018
I've been giving all of these four stars, but they really get a lot better as they go.
June 28, 2021
I goofed and ordered this Omnibus with 7 & 8 when I intended to read the second one, with 4, 5, & 6. It didn't matter because the stories stand alone and I enjoyed them very much.
August 25, 2021
Fun sci-fi medical drama concepts, weighed down by stiff and repetitive prose.
July 26, 2020
Sector gteat
Sector general a place of wonder and maturity. The whole series is a great and fun read. Predates and predicts lots of current sf trends.
Sector general a place of wonder and maturity. The whole series is a great and fun read. Predates and predicts lots of current sf trends.
December 8, 2020
Nobody does aliens like James White. "Why thank you Cha Thrat…While I don't know what the limb gesture means exactly, I could feel that I was being complimented." Other than that - hospital drama! I love that the new gal is not human, and gets to experience the cacophony of the hospital from a nonhuman perspective convincingly. Also that humans are referred to as Earth-human (as opposed to Earth-whale, say). I especially like the species that prides itself on its timidity and cowardice (valuable in the hospital as it takes all precautions).
July 23, 2015
There is a subgenre of science fiction that is not generally recognized that -- to make up a word -- I will call xeno-anthropological science fiction. It is characterized by positing an extraterrestrial alien sentient species and then exploring the ramifications of its culture. Quite often the exploration is done by assuming misunderstandings between the aliens and humans. I tend to think these stories could be done better if the alien cultures were simply made to be human cultures. Geographically and historically there have been a large number of human cultures that have been radically different from one another and there have been many and varied conflicts generated by misunderstandings based on cultural assumptions. Without doubt there are also very many human cultures that could exist, but never have. The advantage of writing stories about these hypothetical human cultures is that the author would not have to worry about making up an anatomically and physiologically different alien species. As different as various human cultures may be they are still human and the author and the reader could share certain assumptions about them and that would lend to the story's verisimilitude. As varied as human culture might be it is still constrained by factors such as human psychology, anatomy, physiology and environment. If one is going to write about alien cultures it would be better if the alien culture was not within the parameters of what is possible for human culture. It is rare that those alien cultures are outside of human parameters though. That is another problem. Making space aliens just like humans except that they look different detracts from the verisimilitude too.
This book takes place in an interstellar hospital that takes on patients from many and varied alien species with many and varied alien cultures, so there are a lot of cultural ramifications to explore. Given the setting it would be a good opportunity to explore the ramifications of various alien physiologies and anatomies and some of that is done, but it is clear that the author is more interested in the anthropological implications. Despite the fact that I am generally not enthused by xeno-anthropological science fiction I did like this book. Yes, the alien cultures that were posited were generally within the human parameters, but the main thing that caused me to give it four stars rather than three is that not all of them were. Some of these cultural attitudes could not be held by any group of human beings because human beings are just not made that way. That became the most interesting part of the book.
This book takes place in an interstellar hospital that takes on patients from many and varied alien species with many and varied alien cultures, so there are a lot of cultural ramifications to explore. Given the setting it would be a good opportunity to explore the ramifications of various alien physiologies and anatomies and some of that is done, but it is clear that the author is more interested in the anthropological implications. Despite the fact that I am generally not enthused by xeno-anthropological science fiction I did like this book. Yes, the alien cultures that were posited were generally within the human parameters, but the main thing that caused me to give it four stars rather than three is that not all of them were. Some of these cultural attitudes could not be held by any group of human beings because human beings are just not made that way. That became the most interesting part of the book.
February 5, 2013
There's something utterly satisfying about finishing a Sector General novel, especially when you're as far along as this and are familiar with everyone's favourite space hospital. I love the way that intriguing situations are created without any conflict or violence, or at least, that the conflict that does arise tends to be the result of misunderstandings or arguments about the best treatment.
For anyone who's unfamiliar with the concept, Sector Twelve General Hospital is a giant multi-species hospital somewhere near the rim of the galaxy with the facilities to treat any species known to the Galactic Federation, from the more usual warm-blooded oxygen-breathers right up to the wild and wacky creatures that exist through the direct absorption of radiation.
At the end of the previous book in the series, Star Healer, the protagonist of the series up to that point, the Human doctor Conway was promoted to the top tier of physicians, the Diagnosticians. With this promotion, it became clear that he could no longer continue to be the reader's point of view into the mighty world of Sector General, so with Code Blue - Emergency, the first volume in this omnibus, White makes a leap of faith and makes a non-Human the protagonist, something that continues with The Genocidal Healer. And White's aliens are no Star Trek-style Humans with lumpy foreheads, but are truly weird, both physically and cognitively. The two books in this volume also begin to make the shift from purely physical medical problems to psychological ones, both in Code Blue - Emergency and The Genocidal Healer, although weird aliens with weird ailments are definitely still embedded in the genetics of the series.
In the introduction, John Clute speculates that White's gentle space opera emerged from his background in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. As a child of the Province myself, I lived to see the Peace that White so clearly dreamt of and portrayed so achingly in his novels and I wish that he had lived long enough to see the same.
For anyone who's unfamiliar with the concept, Sector Twelve General Hospital is a giant multi-species hospital somewhere near the rim of the galaxy with the facilities to treat any species known to the Galactic Federation, from the more usual warm-blooded oxygen-breathers right up to the wild and wacky creatures that exist through the direct absorption of radiation.
At the end of the previous book in the series, Star Healer, the protagonist of the series up to that point, the Human doctor Conway was promoted to the top tier of physicians, the Diagnosticians. With this promotion, it became clear that he could no longer continue to be the reader's point of view into the mighty world of Sector General, so with Code Blue - Emergency, the first volume in this omnibus, White makes a leap of faith and makes a non-Human the protagonist, something that continues with The Genocidal Healer. And White's aliens are no Star Trek-style Humans with lumpy foreheads, but are truly weird, both physically and cognitively. The two books in this volume also begin to make the shift from purely physical medical problems to psychological ones, both in Code Blue - Emergency and The Genocidal Healer, although weird aliens with weird ailments are definitely still embedded in the genetics of the series.
In the introduction, John Clute speculates that White's gentle space opera emerged from his background in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. As a child of the Province myself, I lived to see the Peace that White so clearly dreamt of and portrayed so achingly in his novels and I wish that he had lived long enough to see the same.
January 8, 2020
Let me preface this by saying two things: 1. James White is from well before my time, and 2. I read this anthology first.
I absolutely loved this. Written entirely from alien POVs, it's a beautiful blend of medical procedure and exploring relationships with wonder and respect. The exclusive use of nongendered pronouns for people of other species made my heart sing. James explores so many possible kinds of life, in so many varied environments, and they're all a delight even as they hurt and heal and learn.
That said, I was amazed when I read on to earlier works - What do you mean, O'Mara isn't a woman? How can Dr. Conway be so incredibly sexist? Why is Murchison such a paper cut-out of a character? What do you mean women are unfit to be doctors because of their brain chemistry? General Practice, with its alien POV, had completely (or nearly) removed the heavy mark of what I will kindly call an earlier generation. In so doing, it turned this anthology into something truly unique that I have yet to find the like.
I absolutely loved this. Written entirely from alien POVs, it's a beautiful blend of medical procedure and exploring relationships with wonder and respect. The exclusive use of nongendered pronouns for people of other species made my heart sing. James explores so many possible kinds of life, in so many varied environments, and they're all a delight even as they hurt and heal and learn.
That said, I was amazed when I read on to earlier works - What do you mean, O'Mara isn't a woman? How can Dr. Conway be so incredibly sexist? Why is Murchison such a paper cut-out of a character? What do you mean women are unfit to be doctors because of their brain chemistry? General Practice, with its alien POV, had completely (or nearly) removed the heavy mark of what I will kindly call an earlier generation. In so doing, it turned this anthology into something truly unique that I have yet to find the like.
June 12, 2009
An entertaining collection of medical science fiction stories concerning Sector General, a huge multispecies space hospital. The author uses the stories to offer viewpoints and ideas on inter-species relationships, ethics and beliefs. The language and social customs are a bit dated but the author has some intriguing ideas and I find the Sector General universe, where there is a constant positive vibe despite troubles, similar to the Star Trek universe. I would recommend pacing yourself on the stories, since they are more enjoyable a bit at a time, rather than burning through the book in one night.
This volume combines two prior Sector General publications: "Code Blue - Emergency" and "The Genocidal Healer". These stories take place in the middle of the Sector General sequence of stories and while reading the prior volumes is not necessary, it is highly recommended.
This volume combines two prior Sector General publications: "Code Blue - Emergency" and "The Genocidal Healer". These stories take place in the middle of the Sector General sequence of stories and while reading the prior volumes is not necessary, it is highly recommended.
February 15, 2016
Inter-species medcine and navigating the cross culture misunderstandings, it's a brilliant idea, well executed. At times a little too contrived (our main character is always at the centre of it) but it gets 5 stars because it gets you relecting on the implicit cultural biases we have and how effort is always required to see these and to meaningfully overcome them. Perhaps overcome is not the right description, it's more about reognizing and respecting difference without being required to adopt other viewpoints.
April 20, 2022
This omnibus contains "Code Blue - Emergency" and "The Genocidal Healer"
Reviews of each of these 2 books can be found under their individual titles.
"Code Blue - Emergency" 4* (3/2/21)
"The Genocidal Healer" 3.5* (reread on 3/2/21)
Reviews of each of these 2 books can be found under their individual titles.
"Code Blue - Emergency" 4* (3/2/21)
"The Genocidal Healer" 3.5* (reread on 3/2/21)
October 21, 2007
Sector General is a hospital. in space.
a multi-species/multi-environment hospital.
i love this series so much!
a multi-species/multi-environment hospital.
i love this series so much!
October 19, 2008
This series is pure brain candy.
August 26, 2013
I've enjoyed all of the Sector General novels. Such an optimistic view of future lives..
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