Dreamsnake

by Vonda N. McIntyre

Paperback, 319 pages

English language

Published Dec. 14, 1986 by Dell Pub. Co..

ISBN:: 978-0-440-11729-2
OCLC Number:: 5174467

(28 reviews)

In a world devastated by nuclear holocaust, Snake is a healer. One of an elite band dedicated to caring for sick humanity, she goes wherever her skills are needed.

With her she takes the three deadly reptiles through which her cures are accomplished: a cobra, a rattlesnake, and the dreamsnake, a creature whose hallucinogenic venom brings not healing but an easeful death for the terminally ill.

Rare and valuable is this dreamsnake. When Grass is wantonly slain, Snake must journey across perilous landscapes to find another to take its place...

14 editions

Sally Strange reviewed Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

Snake is a lover, not a fighter, but she'll still fight

5 stars

I rarely read or watch anything more than once, so books that I read more than once for the pleasure automatically get perfect ratings from me. This is one of those books. The main character is a healer; her quest involves finding ways to help her and her fellow healers help people more effectively. There is some plenty of action in her confronting the dangerous elements of a world devastated by nuclear war and apparently held in thrall by distant alien rulers. There are plenty of elements I wish had been fleshed out more, like who ARE those aliens? But those unresolved questions didn't overshadow the enjoyment I got from watching Snake grow in confidence and use both her strength and her intelligence to escape dicey situations. Highly recommend, especially to those who enjoyed, for example, "The Light From Uncommon Stars" by Ryka Aoki or the Monk and Robot series …

puravjha07 reviewed Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

Amazing!

5 stars

Snake is a healer in a post-apocalyptic nuclear world. She travels wherever her abilities are required as a member of a select group committed to helping the sick.

Along with her, she carries three lethal reptiles that help her cure patients: a cobra, a rattlesnake, and the dreamsnake, a snake whose hallucinogenic venom eases the dying rather than heals them.

This dreamsnake is precious and uncommon. Following the senseless death of Grass, Snake must travel through dangerous terrain in search of a substitute.

I got to read it from shabd.in

Lily reviewed Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

Review of 'Dreamsnake' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Dreamsnake: A book about a healer named Snake who heals with Snakes. I picked this up basically because it seemed like a really funny concept for a book, and it had won some awards.

Unfortunately this is an entirely earnest presentation of that ridiculous premise. Worse than earnest, it's also extremely linear and contains basically no surprises. It's more of a sketch than a novel, to be honest. The characters are pretty one note and the scifi world is largely unexplored.

It feels kind of like one of those fantasy romance novels from DAW books, but the romance as well is underdeveloped and barely shown.

Gaelx reviewed Serpiente del sueño by Vonda N. McIntyre

Review of 'Serpiente del sueño' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

5 estrellas en imaginar otro tipo de relaciones:
Una utopía feminista igualitaria respecto a las relaciones familiares (que no de sangre), de pareja, profesionales... Especialmente esperanzador cómo se proyectan las relaciones romántico-sexuales y las relaciones de género, libres de todo estereotipos.

4 estrellas en worldbuilding:
No se entra en detalles sino que es únicamente el telón de fondo. Pero el mundo postapocalíptico en el que se ha perdido la tecnología, pero no la medicina y el conocimiento sobre genética, resulta muy interesante y coherente.

1 estrella en cuanto a la trama y su ritmo:
Narrativa deslabazada, con saltos incoherentes y ritmo sincopado.

Barbara Krasnoff reviewed Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

Review of 'Dreamsnake' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Like many shorter pieces that are made into novels, this sometimes feels stretched out. The first part, "Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand," which was the original story, is absolutely marvelous, and is totally worth reading; after that, it's up to you.