White's first novel, released in 1957. It shows. It begins promisingly with a scene that would have fit well in the spy novels that became popular a few years later. The hero, a doctor, has been tasked with waiting for an old man at an outdoor table reach the point of near death so that the doctor can (1) remove a poison capsule from the old man's mouth and (2) inject truth serum for a final interrogation. Far-fetched but well-told. What happens next though is ludicrous. Based on the man's few final words, all gibberish, an etymologist declares that he must have been speaking an extra-terrestrial language. Everyone buys this instantly, without comment, even though the man is clearly human in all details. Things get even sillier when they find a woman who explains what the alien plot is all about. Here's a clue: the novel has also been released as Tourist Planet. Eventually this all heads to Earth being put on intergalactic trial - no spoiler, that's what the paperback cover says. Oh, and might there be wedding bells for our hero and the female alien?

Buried within this silly pulp nonsense though is a hint of White's future career. En route to Earth's trial, the good doctor has to diagnose and operate on an alien creature so huge, that most of its body is in another dimension. This chapter is well done and could have come straight out of the Sector General series.

Only for White completists who want to see the seeds of Sector General. ( )

Die Geschichte fängt recht originell an, wird dann aber sehr episoden-haft und driftet in unterschiedliche Richtungen. Mit am besten gefiel mir dann noch der Teil mit dem Grosni. Und nach dem Finale endet alles sehr abrupt in wenigen Sätzen, als wäre dem Autor die Luft ausgegangen... ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/793622.html

This was James White's first novel, published in 1961, and like many of his others the central character is a human doctor confronted with peculiar health problems, a precursor to his best-known works, the Sector General galactic hospital series. However, it's definitely a novel of its time; the galactic federation is interested in Earth, apparently, because our planet is unique in having a) an axial tilt and b) decent scenery. Added to this, our Earthmen heroes discover that the ultra-civilised galactics have lost all knowledge of a) surgery and b) battle tactics, and are able to help them out of a tricky spot or two. But it's fun; and it's particularly fun for me because of the use of Northern Ireland (in particular Portballintrae) as a setting for much of the first half of the book ( )