From archive (archive) Subject: Code Blue - Emergency by James White >From: djl@pbhye.UUCP (Dave Lampe) Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA Date: 4 Jul 87 19:42:33 GMT This line deliberately left blank. CODE BLUE - EMERGENCY by James White A new "Sector General" novel. If you have not read any of the other books in this series, they are not to be missed. For anyone who doesn't know, Sector General is a multi-environment hospital built in the interstellar depths to handle the cases too complex or too unusual for the planetary hospitals to care for. As all of these books, it is more a set of connected short stories than a novel. Unlike the rest, it is told from the point of view of an alien, not a human member of the staff. This alien female doctor is sent to Sector General without the usual rigorous screening. The problem is that while she is physically alien, mentally she seems to fit in with the staff very well. When she does react differently than she is expected to, it causes problems. As always in this series, the interaction between alien races is the real story, only this time the earth humans are one of the aliens. I strongly recommend reading this book and the rest of the series if you haven't already. Ballantine ISBN 0-345-34172-4 $2.95 Dave Lampe @ Pacific Bell {dual,ihnp4,hoptoad}!ptsfa!djl (415) 823-2408 From rec.arts.sf-reviews Fri Nov 1 10:56:12 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!seunet!mcsun!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com!ecl (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-reviews Subject: THE SILENT STARS GO BY by James White Message-ID: <1991Oct31.003715.29366@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 31 Oct 91 00:37:15 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 48 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com THE SILENT STARS GO BY by James White A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper Healer Nolan is about to set forth on a starship to a new world. Using cold sleep, ten thousand colonists will travel to a new world. Led by the Kingdom of Hiberia, the voyage is a joint venture with the Royal Court of Tenochtitlan, the Redmen of the West, and the courts of Cathay and Nippon. Because of rivalries and intrigues, however, Nolan is forced into a role he never expected. Yes, it's an alternate history--but why? (The answer that White is Irish and wanted to postulate a world in which the Irish are the super-power is not acceptable.) Because the ship takes off fairly early, there isn't enough time spent on the alternate Earth to use the background to its fullest, and the intrigues after the ship takes off could have been grounded in some future of ours, not in an alternate past. The space travel adventure story is certainly strong enough to stand on its own, and the alternate history just necessitates long expository passages about the history that led to this world. And the epilogue is the straw that breaks the camel's back for the alternate history element. Now what White *should* have done (in my not-so-humble opinion) would have been to write two novels, one set on the alternate Earth and stressing that part of the story, and one stressing the story of the spaceship traveling to a distant star system. They could even have been issued as a Tor Double. Because the adventure element, particularly the trek across an alien planet, is more than enough to make up for the shortcomings of (or short shrift given to) the alternate history plot. White does a good job with his many characters and their situation and manages to provide an enjoyable story that keeps you involved. So I recommend THE SILENT STARS GO BY as a space adventure novel, even though the alternate history elements make it drag at times. %T THE SILENT STARS GO BY %A James White %C New York City %D September 1991 %I Del Rey %O paperback, US$5.99 %G ISBN 0-345-37110-0 %P 441pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 20 10:45:29 1991 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!seunet!mcsun!uunet!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!pacbell!pbhyc!djdaneh From: ecl@mtgzy.att.com (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: THE SILENT STARS GO BY by James White Message-ID: <1991Nov19.191113.28435@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> Date: 19 Nov 91 19:11:13 GMT Sender: djdaneh@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Organization: Pacific * Bell Lines: 48 Approved: djdaneh@pbhyc.pacbell.com I assume you're asking for THE SILENT STARS GO BY: THE SILENT STARS GO BY by James White A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper Healer Nolan is about to set forth on a starship to a new world. Using cold sleep, ten thousand colonists will travel to a new world. Led by the Kingdom of Hiberia, the voyage is a joint venture with the Royal Court of Tenochtitlan, the Redmen of the West, and the courts of Cathay and Nippon. Because of rivalries and intrigues, however, Nolan is forced into a role he never expected. Yes, it's an alternate history--but why? (The answer that White is Irish and wanted to postulate a world in which the Irish are the super-power is not acceptable.) Because the ship takes off fairly early, there isn't enough time spent on the alternate Earth to use the background to its fullest, and the intrigues after the ship takes off could have been grounded in some future of ours, not in an alternate past. The space travel adventure story is certainly strong enough to stand on its own, and the alternate history just necessitates long expository passages about the history that led to this world. And the epilogue is the straw that breaks the camel's back for the alternate history element. Now what White *should* have done (in my not-so-humble opinion) would have been to write two novels, one set on the alternate Earth and stressing that part of the story, and one stressing the story of the spaceship traveling to a distant star system. They could even have been issued as a Tor Double. Because the adventure element, particularly the trek across an alien planet, is more than enough to make up for the shortcomings of (or short shrift given to) the alternate history plot. White does a good job with his many characters and their situation and manages to provide an enjoyable story that keeps you involved. So I recommend THE SILENT STARS GO BY as a space adventure novel, even though the alternate history elements make it drag at times. %T THE SILENT STARS GO BY %A James White %C New York City %D September 1991 %I Del Rey %O paperback, US$5.99 %G ISBN 0-345-37110-0 %P 441pp Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com