Reviews

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

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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

barnstormingbooks's review against another edition

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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

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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.

humanignorance's review against another edition

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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

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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

hank's review against another edition

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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.

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