This final book in the Sector General series features Dr. Prilicla, which was fun as he had been a favorite secondary character in many of the earlier books. Prilicla and the crew from the ambulance ship Rhabwar in responding to a distress beacon find themselves in a first contact situation with what appears to be a robotic race! In time, first contact with a second race becomes unavoidable when members of that race kidnap Murchison.

I was a tad disappointed that this final book didn't have Dr. Conway in it... ( )

An added bonus in the series that actually would have done better with O'Mara still as administrator so it was not the last book but the second last but that is nitpicking. It was an enjoyable book with an odd twist. However, it was edited by someone who had not read the previous books. Chapter Two starts with saying Doctor Prilicia is a he and him and Captain Fletcher is an it. Captain Fletcher calls Prilicia an it. Braithwaite is an it. Inconsistencies exist but I was pleased to have another Sector General story. ( )

(This review is written for those already familiar with the Sector General series)
A novel (as opposed to short stories) narrated by Dr. Prilicla. Also starring Murchison, Danalta, Naydrad,, and Monitor Corps Lt. Fletcher. Guest starring two CHLIs with an extreme aversion to DBDGs and some unexpected spiders. A good, solid, Sector General Story. ( )

Um. Pretty good story, seriously marred by stupid assumptions. I'm surprised, White has been very good about writing alien aliens. But here - an insectoid alien makes the verbal assumption that one robot is female, because it's smaller and more streamlined than the first they saw! There is a strong underlying assumption that every species they encounter has exactly two sexes, which pair-bond - both of the first contact situations are strongly affected by the medical treatment of one lifemate convincing the other. The world they visit also seems oddly welcoming - sun, sand and sea, nothing noxious or dangerous (though admittedly, they're cautious about that last). The primary character is Prilicla (the insectoid) - which produces some odd effects, like Prilicla being referred to as 'he' (when I'm used to it being called 'it', when Conway was the primary character) and Murchison, a human female, being referred to as 'it' even during frequent comments about 'it' wearing, or not wearing, a swimsuit. I forget the details of some of my other objections, but I kept being thrown out of the story by sheer disbelief that a Sector General person would say something that dumb. The plot would have been pretty good if it were better executed, though. A neat ambulance ship adventure, with (as the title hints) First Contact with two intelligent species (though not the two you think it will be, after the first chapter). Interesting physical, technical, and social structures; interesting people, too, in varied forms. But the medical parts read a trifle perfunctory, plus the gender assumptions were annoying, and the social differences only pointed up the similarities of the underlying assumptions. A weak continuation of a good series. I'm going to go back and read the early ones - O'Mara and Conway. They were more interesting and more thought-provoking. ( )

Sector General Hospital, out in deep space, may have a new administrator, but fortunately it still has White as its imaginative, dryly humorous chronicler, spinning out intriguing story lines. This time, responding to distress signals, ambulance ship Rhabwar finds an alien ship with a new genus aboard, the Trolanni, two of whom it rescues and brings in for treatment (White's description of the area-by-area search of the alien ship is first-rate writing). Senior physician Prilicla helps sort the patients' medical problems and, with his strong empathy, starts untangling their psychological problems. Things start going badly when pirate ships manned by crossbow-carrying spiders kidnap the practical pathologist Murchison. So now the Rhabwar crew has to go through the requisite first-contact procedures a second, hairier time. With tact and patience, Prilicla manages beautifully. The day is saved, and a low-key moral about the importance of learning how to live with others unlike oneself is delivered. Sector General fans old and new will enjoy, enjoy ( )