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birdstar's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
boseph158's review against another edition
4.0
That first chapter was a bit of a rough start for me but I was hooked shortly there after. Its hard for me to put my finger on exactly what I loved about this story. I'll start with Snake and her strong lead in the story. Having no experience at a parent and honestly a lack of desire to be one I have always struggles to connect with more mature female leads. Snake was different, her strength came from her nurturing compassion. She is a healer in a world medical knowledge is limited. She uses snakes to help her patients and at the start of the story her abilities are severely hampered. She then embarks on a journey to redeem herself as a healer. Throughout her journey Snake tries to help the people she meets and though those actions we are shown a different kind of hero. One that does not need to carry a sword and slay monsters. Honestly Snake the refreshing take on female leads that I did not know I needed. I was sad when the story was over and I need more about Snake. Solid 4 out of 5 stars.
hannahlee's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This was really fabulous - it had everything, from deep world-building (that yet retained enough mystery to be interesting) to solid characters with relationships I was invested in, to evocative descriptions of the scenario. There is a unique, peculiar quality to sci-fi writing from the 70s, and I appreciated McIntyre's seeming lack of self-consciousness. This is unapologetically nerdy sci-fi written by someone who loves both science and story, and has a mastery of both. My only complaint is that I wish it had gone on longer!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
Moderate: Drug abuse, Animal death, Drug use, Torture, Grief, Violence, Blood, Confinement, and Terminal illness
Minor: Pregnancy, Mental illness, Abortion, Rape, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, and Sexual violence
barnstormingbooks's review against another edition
5.0
The 1979 Hugo Award for best novel DreamSnake holds up decently well. In a post apocalyptic world where a healer armed with the knowledge somewhere between magic and science travels the deserts on her tiger pony armed with three poisonous snakes she can control to heal the ill. The science fiction is believable, the themes of family, care, healing and love in all its forms are powerful.
The characters (especially the females) are the heart and soul of this book. Challenging ideas of women’s work and women’s roles in society, as well as the right to be a mother or not in all of the definitions of motherhood.
McIntyre sets all of the deeper themes against a travel adventure over landscapes and challenges that push the characters to their limits, keeping the reader on the page.
dreamgalaxies's review against another edition
3.0
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I love the unique premise of this book and how McIntyre combines elements of dystopia and utopia in the post-apocalyptic. The love story made me cringe out of my skin, though (they don't even know each other!) and there are some dated things going on here--no surprise since it's from the 70s.
I love the unique premise of this book and how McIntyre combines elements of dystopia and utopia in the post-apocalyptic. The love story made me cringe out of my skin, though (they don't even know each other!) and there are some dated things going on here--no surprise since it's from the 70s.
humanignorance's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. The book started out too slow and descriptive. It picked up the pace a third in, and became relatively engaging from that point on. Nevertheless, there were several serious problems. The world was intriguing but insufficiently explored. The mother-daughter relationship was really well done, but the romance was woefully inadequate. The ending felt very contrived and was far too abrupt.
kbhenrickson's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was better than I expected. The setting is very interesting - I’d love to have learned more about the world - and I really liked the characters of Snake and Melissa (and Snake’s relationship with her actual snakes). While I didn’t love the ending, I was really glad that Snake was able to save herself and Melissa, and the male “love interest” character didn’t show up at the last minute to save the day, even though he was there to help them after.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, and Child abuse
Minor: Rape
hank's review against another edition
3.0
As others have said, 70's through and through although don't ask me to explain what that means, mostly dialog and what I think of as flatness of world building.
An interesting start trying to figure out who and what Snake is and then it morphs into a sort of traveling adventure story like Gulliver's Travels or The Wizard of Oz. In fact there is a fairly blatant homage to The Wizard of Oz in the middle of the book which I will let others find for themselves.
Snake is the kind of person I have tried to grow up to be (still working on it), easy going, easy to forgive slights against herself yet inflexible when she sees a wrong that needs to be corrected.
Nothing was very extraordinary about this book which is why it got an ordinary rating. The plot was very straight forward, the life lessons very unambiguous and simple, the characters un-nuanced. I also don't like fantasies masquerading as sci-fi. Sure this was a post apocalyptic setup with lost science and technology but mostly this was pure fantasy.
Definitely better than most 70's "sci-fi" but I have enjoyed recent novels more.
An interesting start trying to figure out who and what Snake is and then it morphs into a sort of traveling adventure story like Gulliver's Travels or The Wizard of Oz. In fact there is a fairly blatant homage to The Wizard of Oz in the middle of the book which I will let others find for themselves.
Snake is the kind of person I have tried to grow up to be (still working on it), easy going, easy to forgive slights against herself yet inflexible when she sees a wrong that needs to be corrected.
Nothing was very extraordinary about this book which is why it got an ordinary rating. The plot was very straight forward, the life lessons very unambiguous and simple, the characters un-nuanced. I also don't like fantasies masquerading as sci-fi. Sure this was a post apocalyptic setup with lost science and technology but mostly this was pure fantasy.
Definitely better than most 70's "sci-fi" but I have enjoyed recent novels more.
suzemo's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, but if I had read it when I was younger (and I wish I had), it would be a 5 star book to me.
Snake is a healer on a post-apocalyptic Earth, off on her proving tour through the desert-lands, where healers typically do not travel. Along the way she has a mishap and she must then travel (first to her home, but then to a big City) do her best to right what has happened. Along the way she has a greater journey to a discovery that will (probably) forever benefit the healers in the future, and also makes personal gains.
The book is a bit dated, with flavors of the time period when it was written. Free sexuality (and total internal birth control)and less patriarchal norms is something that was probably more interesting at the time. However, it's still a good novel with a good story; McIntyre shows that a sci-fi fantasy novel doesn't need to be 700 pages and describe everything in painful detail to be good.
I like that in this post-apocalyptic world, there's a mix of primitive tribalism and hard-living survival right along with genetic manipulation and biotechnology that's commonplace. You get a glimpse of a city that is technologically advanced, but forbidden to "outsiders" and you hear of off-worlders (whether they are pre-apocalypse terrans that made it to the stars or aliens is unclear), so the world is varied and interesting.
I guess some people would want to have a lot of their questions answered (what happened to Earth to cause the nuclear war that has so scarred the land, how have these different people formed, what's with the domes and the "alien" life forms in them, what's with the City, what's with the offworlders, how did the technology become dispersed, what was the pre-war/nuclear world like, etc.), but I quite enjoyed the glimpse into this world as an observer with Snake on her journey.
Snake is a healer on a post-apocalyptic Earth, off on her proving tour through the desert-lands, where healers typically do not travel. Along the way she has a mishap and she must then travel (first to her home, but then to a big City) do her best to right what has happened. Along the way she has a greater journey to a discovery that will (probably) forever benefit the healers in the future, and also makes personal gains.
The book is a bit dated, with flavors of the time period when it was written. Free sexuality (and total internal birth control)and less patriarchal norms is something that was probably more interesting at the time. However, it's still a good novel with a good story; McIntyre shows that a sci-fi fantasy novel doesn't need to be 700 pages and describe everything in painful detail to be good.
I like that in this post-apocalyptic world, there's a mix of primitive tribalism and hard-living survival right along with genetic manipulation and biotechnology that's commonplace. You get a glimpse of a city that is technologically advanced, but forbidden to "outsiders" and you hear of off-worlders (whether they are pre-apocalypse terrans that made it to the stars or aliens is unclear), so the world is varied and interesting.
I guess some people would want to have a lot of their questions answered (what happened to Earth to cause the nuclear war that has so scarred the land, how have these different people formed, what's with the domes and the "alien" life forms in them, what's with the City, what's with the offworlders, how did the technology become dispersed, what was the pre-war/nuclear world like, etc.), but I quite enjoyed the glimpse into this world as an observer with Snake on her journey.