Rating: 
Summary: Actually pretty darn good
Review: I am only an occasional fan of science-fiction. I like to pick up an interesting social sci-fi book once in awhile. Stardoc's title and book cover drew me in and I bought in on impulse. After getting it home and investigating it further I was put off a little that the novel had romance book connections but I decided to give it a go anyway.I was astonished to find that it was an inventive, deep, and fun to read mystery/coming of age/speculative story. A mixture of genres with great characters and character interaction.
Rating: 
Summary: Great! Some Weak Points
Review: Stardoc is the story of physician Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil. Dr. Cherijo is a brilliant doctor, with a problem: she is being stalked by her obsessive father Dr. Joe Grey Veil. To escape her evil Dad, Cherijo arranges a transfer for herself to a remote colony world, where she starts working at an alien trauma ward. Through her work in the ward, she makes friends, (and enemies), develops a relationship, with a blue angel-winged alien, and makes some hard choices. Does Cherijo have what it takes to be a doctor on the 'cutting edge' of a new alien frontier? I really liked Stardoc. Even if I felt Cherijo was an odd hybrid of Clark Kent and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, this character worked for me on a number of levels. First, I liked the romance between this character and her alien fiancee (even if I found the pace of the romance to be rather difficult to believe). Second, I liked the supporting cast of characters. They were interesting and amusing. Things I didn't like: The character of Reever. If her Dad is a stalker, this guy is worse. His attempts to 'force' her to 'mind-meld' with him, despite her being involved with another man were quite abusive. (I'm sorry, but I didn't care about his tragic past, or any other excuses behind his behavior, I expect Science-Fiction to be a tad more enlightened than Stalk-me-until-I-begin-to-enjoy-it behavior that epitomizes romance novels from the eighties). Also, I felt the Terrans being portrayed as 'evil tourists' and 'xenophobic nutjobs' and all aliens are 'good' and 'tolerant' was a little overdone. Besides these two peccadillos, I STILL recommend this book quite highly. There are some creative ideas in Viehl's mind and its great to see them on paper. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Get Real
Review: Reading this book was fun and I couldn't put it down until I was finished. Its written in first person which is unusual but very realistic, it felt like I was right there in the story. I also liked the main character Cherijo Grey Veil. I work in a hospital so I can tell the writer has alot of medical knowledge from how she writes about surgeons and patients. She's also very, very funny. If you like medical adventure and surprises in the books you read then buy this one, you won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow
Review: Quite possibly the worst book I've read all the way thru. Avoid this book if you enjoy complex dialog and character development. There was none of that in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Debut, Needs Polish
Review: This debut novel introduces a promising talent. Viehl's writing is rough around the edges, but her instincts are good. Combining no-nonsense attitude and wry sense of humor, StarDoc's protagonist is instantly likeable. Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil grew up in privilege and semi-isolation on Terra. Her father, a renowned physician and geneticist, raised her in his image and has dominated all facets of her life even into adulthood. One day, she uncovers an awful secret about him. Fearing for her safety, she accepts a job on a distant colony world and slips away with her cat, Jenner. She has no other family or friends to leave behind. Terrans are supremely xenophobic, and Dad's a leading voice for genetic purity. Cherijo shares none of that ingrained species prejudice, perhaps due to a woman named Maggie, who provided a maternal presence for the motherless child. Maggie's dead now, but remains a source of advice and comfort, after a fashion. On colonial K-2, Terrans are a small minority. Cherijo begins work in a FreeClinic trauma center, with badly outmoded equipment in short supply and an endless parade of mostly alien patients. Her boss hates her on sight. One colleague is a shiftless incompetent. Her first day on the job is a fiasco. Nevertheless, she not only survives but thrives away from Dad's heavy-handed influence. Then his occasional long-distance harassment becomes a concerted effort to drag Cherijo home. That's when StarDoc really grabs readers' attention. Dad's methods are extreme, his reasoning diabolical. At the same time, Cherijo confronts an unknown contagion on K-2. New friends rally around, along with unexpected allies including her boss and the unfathomable telepathic linguist Duncan Reever. Viehl's prose can be awkward. There are well-meant but clumsy attempts to reflect future language drift; tech-based terms like "lascalpel" might pass, but clunkers like "sleeping platform," "footgear," and "cleansing unit" for bed, shoes, and shower are simply annoying. It also seems at times like Viehl took a creative writing class and was advised to dress up her styling, only she's using words not really familiar to her. Her dialects come off pretty well, as do her more straightforward narrative efforts. There are some false notes in StarDoc's plotting. Readers are forced to grope for a reason why Cherijo-or Maggie-shouldn't be more xenophobic. The too-quickly developed passion between Cherijo and Kao Torin doesn't seem in keeping with either her upbringing or her temperament. Her almost-inhuman prowess at treating alien trauma puts a strain on readers' belief; it eventually makes sense, but the story would have benefited from more overt foreshadowing of the key information. Beginner's failings aside, StarDoc is a good read. The characters are colorful and well-drawn. Viehl's picture of life as a trauma center physician has a ring of authenticity. She needs to develop more control over plotting nuances, but her basic story elements are solid. Readers will root for Cherijo to kick some serious [booty] in the promised sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous start to a fascinating series
Review: Stardoc is the opening book in the series of the same name. It introduces us to Dr Cherijo Grey Veil, a brilliant surgeon who needs to leave Earth and find sanctuary to escape from a personal and scientific betrayal by her father. She accepts a position at Kevarsangia Two's FreeClinic, and like most Free Clinic's today, the conditions there are less than ideal. Humans are a despised minority, and Cherijo has to prove herself professionally again and again, in sometimes hostile conditions. Unfortunately, her father is a very powerful man, and he wants her back... The strength of this story is Cherijo herself. Her medical skills are brilliant, and the style reflects Viehl's medical and military background and this clearly in depth knowledge forms the backbone of the appeal of the book. Her own struggles with her situation, her friendships, her obvious intelligence, her troubles and the power plays between species, between herself and her colleagues, the politics and the friends she makes are what the story is about, and here Cherijo is very human in her actions and reactions. It's a great start to the series and a powerful book in itself.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Now I can buy the rest of the series.
Review: I've had this book for a while and put off reading it until now. WOW! I should have read it a long time ago. I have already ordered the rest of the Stardoc series. A fascinating read of humans mixing with aliens.
Rating:
Summary: A Poor Read
Review: I bought this book to read during an international flight and had the choice to read it or stare at the walls. By page 160 I decided staring at the walls was preferable. The male characters were either incompetent or radically abberant, with the startling exception of the tall blue love interest. By contrast all the female characters are strong and brilliant. The aliens surprisingly have the same internal anatomy as humans, although some have twice as many colons, intestines, etc. The main character doesn't seem to reason out her prognosis, but operates on intuition which always is infallible, even on the species she's never seen before. She's always blowing up (naturally only at the male characters since they are the only people who make mistakes worth blowing up at in this book), sometimes with reason, sometimes seemingly without reason, but always justified in the book. She's so good that without changing anything on the automated scan equipment she gets the correct diagnosis, while her male counterparts get the wrong diagnosis. Meanwhile, she's overcoming the hostile aliens (who supposedly have destroyed everything they've come in contact with to this point, shooting first and not asking questions) with her doctorly manner. In short, the book trite and unrealistic. There is no suspense - the guys are all wrong and the gals are all correct and the doc will be correct no matter what she does. I had hoped for a book that had realistic characters (both male and female leads and villains), possibly an alien with a different internal structure or two, and a character who learned from her experience or the advice of those around her. All I seemed to get were the author's biased view.
Rating:
Summary: Quirky fast-paced medical space opera
Review: Stardoc is such a catchy story that once you get caught up in the plot, you can't let go. Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil has run away from her brilliant, domineering, xenophobic father from Terra to planet K2 to work in a free clinic. The story reads a bit awkwardly, being in first person, and for the first half of the book she keeps mentioning the "information she found about her father" but doesn't say exactly what that is even though we know she knows (and to not spoil this review, I won't mention what it is)! The book read more like a personal journal rather than a narrative. The rest of the story covers her adjustment to being on her own, meeting the rest of the galaxy, and solving the mysterious plague that wipes out thousands on K2. The multitude of very alien aliens is ludicrous but entertaining in the same vein as Star Trek. At least S.L. Viehl one ups Star Trek by adding more than brow ridges. Even if they're 10 foot tall spiders or as small as snails, they all have human personalities. In addition, she somehow figures out how to operate on various species without any prior training whatsoever! Suuuure... We're supposing that all life is so similar that once you one species, you know them all. When she delves into describing the surgical procedures and medical gabbledygook, I just skip to the next paragraph. This is science fiction, so its okay to to suspend disbelief and take a leap of imagination, as the strength of the book lies in the engaging plot. Cherijo is stubborn and relentlessly committed to her work (like most doctors), even after the first day of meeting the grim-faced Dr.Mayer and her antagonist the smelly half-human Dr. Rogan. There is a romantic element to the story, as Cherijo finds her self life-bonded with a blue-skinned studly warrior, but I would not consider this a romance. The most interesting character is the creepy telepathic linquist Duncan Reever, raised by aliens, is the most unhuman of all. This series looks like it'll be a blend of - Bujold's Miles Universe, ER, and Star Trek. This lighthearted jaunt is no literary work, but its not meant to be! Its fast and fun with lots of action and you'll enjoy the quirky characters.
Rating:
Summary: Star Trek fans will love this!
Review: Are you getting bored of long politics-based sci-fi with predictable characters and boring science? This book is somewhat a cure for your boredom. The main storyline of Stardoc revolves around a genetically engineered heroine phycician. The heroine practices medicine in a colony full of various aliens. This premise allows for random fictional science, which is great (those of you disagreeing with the science in the book obviously miss the point that this is a science-FICTION book). We learn about the insides of very weird aliens as well as their psyches. The author provides almost enough of alien life to satisfy the tastes of sci-fi readers, however, while reading the book, I wished she'd focus more one one or two species of aliens and describe their physiques/habits more thoroughly.
Alas, the book is interesting with a plot engaging enough for a person not to feel that the book is dragging. I actually wanted to see how it ends and not realizing that the book is the first one in the series, I've been tricked into having to buy the following installments.
Although bearing an extremely pacifist message, the book doesn't take itself too seriously, which is very nice and quite uncommon in this genre. As examples, we have the cliche (but entertaining) beaming of passangers into an alien spaceship and references to cult series with things like holodecks from Star Trek.
Overall, this is a pretty good book as far as sci-fi goes. It's an enjoyable read and I think many a sci-fi fan will enjoy reading it.
| 
