A review by eccles
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre

lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5

A sweet, gentle, if slightly clunky fantasy.  Set in an interestingly sparsely-drawn post-apocalyptic world, after some kind of vaguely hinted-at nuclear war and alien invasion have left a barren and hostile landscape populated with a few scattered tribes eking out a subsistence living.   Our hero is a wandering Healer, using snakes to treat tumours and other diseases.   There’s a fun mingling of a witch-doctor-y vibe with high tech genetic engineering, hinting at snippets of pre-apocalypse knowledge, or perhaps alien technology that has been adopted into this medieval economy.  This interesting world feels small, somehow, with most of the main points of interest within a few days ride of one another.  I suppose the author isn’t trying to write a space opera or build some comprehensive vision of an alt-future; rather telling a story about people moving through a strange-but-plausible world.  The plot is compelling and often surprising, but wanders, and in the end feels like a small epic pieced together from loosely connected episodes.  The characters are charming, but a bit clunky at times, and there is an unexpected amount of time dedicated to interactions that tell us something about on sex and consent. Each bit of this wandering tale was interesting, but the whole felt to be one or two too many ideas strung together, and eventually I just lost interest.