In Dreamsnake, Vonda McIntyre tells a captivating and moving story about a healer, Snake, and her quest to find a new dreamsnake after the death of her first, Grass. Along the way, she meets a man, adopts a young girl, travels great distances, and overcomes many hardships, physical and emotional. She proves herself to be honorable, strong, wise, and the kind of character a reader can really care about. The relationship that develops between Snake and Melissa, the young girl she adopts, is deep and believable enough to have moved me to tears. What's more, so is her relationship with her snakes. I intensely dislike snakes; I am terrified of them, in fact. I am so afraid of snakes that not only will a picture of a snake in a book startle me but that I cannot bring myself to touch even a picture of a snake. However, because of the value the Snake places on her snakes (Mist, Sand, and Grass), I begin to care about the snakes, too. When Grass is killed early in the book, I feel only sadness and loss at the death of this small creature. Creating sympathy for snakes is quite a feat and McIntyre accomplishes it beautifully. Beyond good storytelling and compelling characters and relationships, McIntyre's novel is interesting because of its focus on biology as well. Snake is immune to her snakes' venom and is able to manipulate their venom to heal others; she also comes from a community of healers that is able to practice cloning and genetic manipulation. Furthermore, the post-nuclear apocalypse setting of Dreamsnakev is only hinted at, for the focus is not on the old technologies or on the "shiny metal machines" that many (e.g., Orson Scott Card) associate with science fiction; the scientific emphasis is instead on biological manipulation. This use of biotechnology will become more important in science fiction in later years, but in 1978 this was fairly groundbreaking.
Absorbing story set in a well-realized world. The tale of one lone woman travelling through a harsh land and cultures differentiated by different levels & awareness of technology. I really appreciated how little info-dump exposition there is in this book. Everything arises from characters interacting with one another, a seemingly off-hand description here and there with no particular fanfare. These seem like genuine thoughts and actions from people who LIVE in their world, with entire lives' knowledge of background info that came to the fore as situation arose, not artificially displayed for some hidden reader /listener.The world itself, its harshness, the way people lived scrabbling to conserve and re-use every resource, is excellently realized, is thoroughly logically consistent and still beautiful.I like how the story begins with basic tribe-level subsistence-level life, ignorant of vaccination & complex medicine, then opens up from thereon to hint at greater and greater events, enlarging the scope and complexity of this world. Even though the story remains centered on Snake and her immediate concerns, it is fascinating how knowledg changes one's perspective. If the world is a terrifying and mysterious place to one person who has no understanding of technology, shift the perception to another person who has greater understanding and the very nature of the world shift as well (and we as readers get to experience these shifts first-hand). This happens several times in the novel, and the interaction of characters each with these different levels of understanding is masterfully conveyed.A story from a master storyteller, told with low-key poetry, and feels as relevant today as it did 40 years ago. Timeless. Highly recommended!
Do You like book Dreamsnake (1994)?
This story feels more like a fantasy than science fiction, but it's actually a post-nuclear war story where society has returned to small agrarian villages and almost no relics remain of industrial technology. (Travel, for example, is by horse.)Snake is a middle-aged woman who travels across these farmlands as a healer. In addition to some familiar medicines, including disinfectant and aspirin, she uses snakes as part of her art, milking various venoms. But the most important is the Dreamsnake, a rare, genetically engineered serpent that acts not just as a healing agent but a pain-relieving narcotic. The story is roughly divided into three sub-adventures, held together by a common thread.Snake is an engaging character, generous but stubborn, strong in purpose if weak in body. Unlike most post-apocalyptic fare, this story has very little violence. Snake expects civility towards her as a healer as she travels unarmed and alone through the countryside.Very nice story, well-written, it easily holds the attention.
—G33z3r
SF. Snake is a healer on her proving year, travelling the vaguely post-apocalyptic landscape (there's always a vague apocalypse) to treat illness and injury using the venom of her snakes, but when her dreamsnake is killed she must find a new source for the extremely rare creature or she will no longer be able to work as a healer.This reads like an Anne McCaffrey book, except with more restraint. It's melodramatic -- the girl's name is Snake! only three other healers have ever been given that name!! she rides a tiger-pony she genetically engineered herself!!! It gets a bit ridiculous after a while. Oh, did I mention she uses "thee" and "thou" to address her snakes? For no reason that is ever, ever explained?I could live with all that -- I have read and enjoyed many Anne McCaffrey books -- but this isn't very exciting. The story meanders as Snake bounces from one problem to another without any real sense of risk or urgency, and the world-building is weak. Why are there alien domes? What's the story behind the snake healing?Here's the other major problem: there's a lot of ableist language. "Crippled" is tossed around freely, and a big part of the story involves a "crazy" following Snake. Apparently "crazies" are a common threat in the desert, though why is something else that's never explained.This society does have an open attitude toward sex (though somehow this leads to rape being a complete surprise, as if the two are in any way related), and many of the desert cultures live in three-people family groups. It's always nice to see something other than m/f couples as the standard. Two stars. This is more the story of Snake than the story of snake healing, and I wasn't all that interested in her. Let's just say I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd had violet eyes.
—Punk
So for a while there, I couldn't remember if I'd actually finished this book or not. I knew I can been really close, but didn't want to take it with me on my commute just to read for five minutes and then carry around for the rest of the day. Turned out I hadn't, but I might as well have--there wasn't much to the ending.I liked the world and concepts behind it, but for me the adventure kind of dragged. It seemed like a lot of traveling for not a lot of gain. She makes it all the way to the gates of the city (view spoiler)[ and then is turned away. (hide spoiler)]
—Maree
