
Dreamsnake
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Narrated by:
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Anna Fields
About this listen
When the healer Snake was summoned, she traveled the blasted landscape with her three serpents. From the venom of two of them, she distilled her medicines. But most valued of all was the alien dreamsnake, whose bite could ease the fear and pain of death.
When the dreamsnake is killed, Snake's powers as a healer are all but lost. Her only hope of finding another dreamsnake lies in a treacherous journey to the far-off Center City, where Snake will be pursued by two implacable followers: one driven mad by love, the other by fear and need.
©1978 Vonda N. McIntyre (P)1999 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Critic reviews
Contemplative and soothing
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A blast from the past
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loved the paperback, love the audiobook.
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Don't let that dissuade you though, it is still an entertaining listen.
Good but it Lost me a Little Towards the End
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I particularly liked the premise of the universe, and the world building, how the setting was introduced element by element.
Most of the book felt like a fantasy 'diary of a country doctor' and I really didn't like the romance element in it.
Good world building
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Took a chance, was rewarded
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Such creativity
Profoundly interesting
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I bought the book, was hooked from the first scene, read it compulsively for the next few days and have carried it with me from house to house ever since.
When I came across the audiobook version (with a much less inspired cover), I decided to find out whether the book was impressive because it was of its time or whether it was simply a good book.
The audiobook itself must have been pioneering as it was recorded by Blackstone Audio in 1999. You can hear its age from time to time in the sound quality but Anna Fields' talent as a narrator more than makes up for that.
I'm happy to say that "Dreamsnake" is just as good now as I remember it being then.
Even on the first read, I was aware of how deftly Vonda McIntyre tells her tale. She builds a complete view of a complex world, not by using info-dumps/quotes from historic chronicles, but by showing what people take for granted and what they question.
Back then I was also impressed by the liberal sexual mores of societies that embraced, polyamory and required adults to have control over their own reproductive capabilities. These were radical ideas back then but "Dreamsnake" neither sensationalises them nor pushes them as dogma.
On a second read, I became aware that Vonda McIntyre had done something truly remarkable that I didn't notice the first time around: she has written an exciting adventure that calls for bravery and self-sacrifice in the face of physical danger but where problems are never resolved through violence.
The strongest themes in this book are freedom, responsibility, and mutual obligation. Yet the book also reads as a quest-based adventure.
"Snake", the Healer in the book, remains one of my favourite characters in Science Fiction. She is honest, brave, determined to help others but not superhuman. She is prone to anger, guilty of arrogance from time to time and often endangers herself and others because of a fundamentally naive world-view. Yet she is the kind of person who will always inspire fierce loyalty without ever seeking to do so.
"Dreamsnake" is a short book by modern SF standards. On the re-read I was aware of how much more I wanted to know about this world and the people in it. There is enough here to power at least a trilogy. "Dreamsnake" was actually built on a short story "Of Mist and Grass and Sand" which perhaps explains its compact power and there were no sequels.
If you are an SF fan, you should count "Dreamsnake" as part of the cannon.
If you're not sure if SF is for you, give "Dreamsnake" a try and see if Snake and her serpents can win your heart the way they did mine.
Classic SF that's still fresh 30 year on
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Dreamsnake
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A beloved classic
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