It’s been some time since I read S. L. Viehl’s StarDoc, and it was depressing to see that the second book in the series had been sitting in my TBR since Christmas. Not last Christmas, but Christmas 2024. The problem only escalated when I bought a bundle of books which included one of the spin-offs. Since I ended up with books 2 and 4, and a random extra book, I decided to read them all this March. the results were, to put it gently, mixed.

The premise of the StarDoc series is simple. Cherijo is a young woman on the run from the human government. She’s an illegally created clone created by a mad scientist posing as her father. Seeking shelter, she heads into frontier space where she works as a doctor, her job covering literally hundred of alien species. Imagine you took any doctor from Star Trek and gave them a series of their own. That’s StarDoc.

The medical side of things is great. Figuring out alien biology is always good fun in fiction, as are all the moral quandaries and ethical dilemmas that come along with the territory. I know precious little about life as a doctor, but Viehl has the credentials to back up her writing. Add to that a dash of adventure and some charming side characters, and you’ve got a winning combination. At least, you do when romance is off the table.

If you peer over the boundary fence into fantasy, you’ll see a whole lot of romantic fantasy (romantasy) being discussed at the moment. If you like that sort of thing, good for you. For me personally, I’m more than happy to have no romance in my science fiction. Which is probably why I’m left bewildered by the fact that StarDoc rapidly swings between medical drama and the SF equivalent of romantasy. Cherijo is constantly falling in love, being proposed to, being seduced, and generally tripping headfirst into every trope available. again, this is fine if you like it, but I don’t. It also ties in to my bigger issue with the series.

In the original StarDoc, Cherijo and a friend are sexually assaulted through vague alien means. that gets largely brushed over by the time the second book rolls around. Just in time for her to be sexually assaulted again, in a completely unrelated incident. This in turn leads to a marriage proposal that she is blackmailed by threat of suicide into agreeing to. I haven’t read book three, but by the time we get to book four, Cherijo discovers her ‘father’ figure’s true intentions. He didn’t just want a clone, you see. He wanted a vessel to carry his child. Oh, and by the time she learns this, she’s already been harassed a few extra times for good measure. In case you wondering, the spin-off Bio Rescue doesn’t fare much better, as Dair is inadvertently groped in the opening chapters before having a violent sexual encounter later on. Clearly, these sexual experiences have little in the way of romance about them. However, the two sides of Cherijo’s sexual experience obviously inform one another, and the lines are constantly blurred. It’s enough to make me uncomfortable. By all means, include whatever taboo topics you think will make for a good story, but there are other ways to threaten female characters, and other things to motivate the men in her life.

There’s a good chance I’ll pick up another StarDoc novel if I happen across one in the wild. There’s so much good material in them. But the twin downsides are a massive obstacle to overcome, and I don’t know if the series has the desire to break free of the weird narrative loop it’s snarled up in. I want to find out if it can learn to focus on what makes it work, but on the basis of these three novels, I’m certainly not rushing to find out.