Ok, this took a bit to get off the ground, but once it did I kind of enjoyed it. The main character has been accused in the reviews of being a Mary Sue, and I can kind of see it because everyone seems to be a little bit in love with her. However, I will say that this is like the third science fiction book I have read with a genetically modified modified main character, but she doesn't seem to be enhanced in any remarkable way than intelligence and healing powers, and even that is questionable. Like, it is explicitly stated she is meant to be a genius, but it just seems like she is competent at her job?
I will say that this author does not understand what makes a love triangle work. There is one love interest that she becomes engaged to over the course of the book and he dies, but the author didn't make this character interesting, so it became clear by 50% of the book that he is disposable, so you as a reader don't become attached to him as a character. The second love interest is so clearly meant to be the main love interest to the point where the relationship with the character she is engaged to feels like a plot cul-de-sac. But the relationship seems to be based entirely on misunderstandings until she forms a telepathic link and someone just bluntly tells her he likes her (at which point I am screaming show don't tell) not because they have so much chemistry. I also think it becomes a bit problematic rooting for this character as a reader when he rapes her because he is possessed by alien spores, which just strikes me as an entirely unnecessary plot point to establish that they are sexually attracted to each other kind of like the plot point where she loses her virginity, which, again just strikes me as very loud and incredibly close because this is a very unsubtle way to establish several things at once. ( )

I found Cherijo to be spunky, and the concept novel. Very cool. ( )

good enough to continue reading the series ( )

This is not a "hard science fiction" novel in that you need to enter the spirit of the work and not question the validity of the technology (everyone including the aliens eat the same food and breathe the same air, universal translators, and pseudo-science explanations). But, if you go with the spirit of this hospital on a world populated with 200 alien species, a splendid sarcastic first person narrator with a secret (Dr. Cherijo Grey Veil), and a twisting plot, this is fun. ( )

I enjoyed this book and the others in the series as well.