Critical Appraisal
The Sector General series defined the sub-genre of multi-species medical stories, although L. Ron Hubbard's Ole Doc Methuselah stories and Murray Leinster's Med Service stories, neither of which were highly regarded, had explored some similar themes. Sector General was "the first explicitly pacifist space opera" series, while much of contemporary space opera from the USA was notably military. Mike Resnick described the series' characters as "the most memorable crew of aliens ever created". Michael Ashley commented that the setting of the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is reminiscent of Sector General. The Babylon 5 television series was also set in space station with atmospheres for different species.
Many commentators attribute the series' popularity to the altruism of its doctors and the emphasis on seeking to build peaceful relations between different species. John Clute wrote that "in the depiction of goodness may lie the real genius of James White." White's hatred of war and xenophobia is a constant theme of the series, notably in: Star Surgeon, where the Monitor Corps fights a savage battle in defence of the hospital space station, to prevent the conflict from escalating into a full interstellar war that can only end in genocide; and in The Genocidal Healer, where an alien race's sexual urges are almost eliminated by a plague and can only be stimulated by hand-to-hand combat.
The early stories focus almost entirely on medical problems, mainly from Conway's viewpoint. In Dave Langford's opinion the xenobiological novelties were becoming less credible by the end of Star Healer, and using a variety of alien viewpoint characters gave the later books "considerable new pep". These also deal with deeper issues, notably in The Genocidal Healer, and better than most science fiction according to Resnick.
Opinions differ about the quality of the series as a whole. For example Gary Westfahl wrote that "the Sector General stories remained consistently fresh and involving, and they grew in prominence as the series progressed." On the other hand Todd White wrote that the series declined after Star Healer (1985), hitting a low point with the Galactic Gourmet (1996), and that the later books tended to stretch a short story's worth of content to the length of a novel. However he thought that Mind Changer (1998) represented an improvement.
Publishers Weekly described Mind Changer as "White's finest performance, replete with wit, originality, medical expertise and sheer decency" and commented that the series shows no signs of aging, and Booklist described the book as an "enjoyable, witty resumé" of Chief Psychologist O'Mara's career.
Clinton Lawrence described the last Sector General book, Double Contact (1999), as "in a very positive way, a throwback to an earlier era in science fiction" since it is optimistic and depicts several advanced species working harmoniously. The struggle to build trust and produce a successful first contact is, he thought, as exciting and suspenseful as one could wish for. However he noted that the level of characterization was the minimum required to support the plot.
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