Customer Reviews

Code Blue - Emergency

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cha Thrat is a Somaradvan warrior-surgeon, one of the first *female* warrior surgeons. She is also a stickler for the traditional proprieties of her calling which makes her very unpopular with her collegues and superiors. Her unsatifactory career takes a dramatic turn when she is called upon to treat an injured human. Dispite her ignorance of the species she manages to save the life of a Monitor Corps Captain who shows his gratitude by getting her an appointment to Sector General. Though intelligent, adaptable and eager to please Cha Thrat manages to create havoc in every ward to which she is assigned. Determined not to return home a failure she accepts a transfer to the Hospital's maintenance staff and quickly discovers the work is neither menial nor dull. For a while it looks like Cha Thrat has finally found her niche - then a maintenance job takes her aboard the Ambulance Ship Rhabwar and she finds herself breaking rules and offending people all over again. This entry in the Sector General Series is especially interesting for its close up look at the work of the Maintenance Department and is the first novel to be told from a non-human, and female, POV.

All the previous volumes in the series were told from the viewpoint of Dr. Peter Conway, except for the first story in _Hospital Station_. All the volumes from this point on are from the viewpoint of other characters, no two the same, and only two of them human. _Code Blue Emergency_ not only has the honor of being the first experiment with the new style, but is the first story told from the viewpoint of one of the non-human staff members: Cha Thrat, the first female to achieve the status of warrior-surgeon among her people, and how she came to be the first and so far only Sommaradvan to join Sector General's staff.

I highly recommend the Sector General Series. It was a standard setter in its time, and is timeless in its wonderful writing, forward thinking on medical breakthroughs, character, and versatility of aliens needing help and their variety of medical needs. The plot lines are strong, the scenes so well written you can feel you are there, and the characters and dialogue top notch. I highly recommend these and all the James White books to readers who haven't yet had the pleasure of reading them. They are the kind you will likely keep and reread often over time.