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Mar. 27th, 2015 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI think it was adiva_calandia who strongly recommended Dreamsnake to me years ago, and I dutifully put it on hold at the Brooklyn Public Library, and waited MULTIPLE YEARS, and it never came. But the Boston Public Library delivered it to me straight away, so score one for the other BPL! (I'm sorry, Brooklyn Public Library. I do still miss you!)
Dreamsnake is one of those quiet sci-fi novels that's more about the worldbuilding and the personal journey than about changing the world or saving the day (though the world is changed and the day is saved by the end, a little.)
The structure kind of threw me for a loop at first, because it seemed like it was going to be a straight line and then turned into a giant zigzag as the end-goals kept changing. Our heroine, Snake, is a healer whose main tools are a set of genetically engineered snakes that help her do things like mix up antibiotics and vaccinations -- the most important of which is the extremely rare alien dreamsnake, which basically generates morphine delivered via snakebite. When her dreamsnake dies on account of a tragic accident, she has to trek home to tell the rest of the healers and see if there's any chance she'll be able to continue her work when she's lost one of the precious dreamsnakes --
-- except then she bumps into a stable threesome in trouble (one of whom never has a pronoun attached to their name, which is an impressive feat when you're writing in third person, well done Vonda McIntyre) who give her a hint about where she might be able to find a new dreamsnake, so she decides to go on that side quest first --
-- except then she gets distracted by hanging out in a small town and helping an isolated teenager get through his issues about sex and developing an important relationship with an angry and abused little girl, which is a GREAT relationship and I love that it's the most important one in the book, but by this point we're 3/4 of the way through the book and she's nowhere near any of her end goals --
-- and then she finally hits the end point of the side quest, and when that doesn't work out and she's on her way home she then bumps into another side quest WHICH SHE PURSUES WITH ALACRITY and which then turns into a thrilling climax and conclusion --
-- so basically, Snake never actually reaches the destination which I initially assumed she would hit like a third of the way through the book. (Meanwhile, her hot nomad love interest spends the entire book attempting to follow her around and gets VERY CONFUSED. It's OK, dude, I would be too! He finally catches up at the end and is moderately useful at following instructions and being an assistant nurse at a key moment, well done Arevin.) But she does help a lot of people along the way, and illuminates a lot more of this probably-post-apocalyptic world and its variety of different cultures for the reader in a non-expository way, and grows as a person; it's a really good read!
You will probably like Dreamsnake if you like: stories about women being heroic in ways that don't have to do with beating people up; interesting and complex future worldbuilding; thoughtful handling of trauma and abuse; snakes.
You will probably not like Dreamsnake if you never in your life want to read about a woman being completely covered in snakes. Indiana Jones would not endorse this book.
adiva_calandia who strongly recommended Dreamsnake to me years ago, and I dutifully put it on hold at the Brooklyn Public Library, and waited MULTIPLE YEARS, and it never came. But the Boston Public Library delivered it to me straight away, so score one for the other BPL! (I'm sorry, Brooklyn Public Library. I do still miss you!) Dreamsnake is one of those quiet sci-fi novels that's more about the worldbuilding and the personal journey than about changing the world or saving the day (though the world is changed and the day is saved by the end, a little.)
The structure kind of threw me for a loop at first, because it seemed like it was going to be a straight line and then turned into a giant zigzag as the end-goals kept changing. Our heroine, Snake, is a healer whose main tools are a set of genetically engineered snakes that help her do things like mix up antibiotics and vaccinations -- the most important of which is the extremely rare alien dreamsnake, which basically generates morphine delivered via snakebite. When her dreamsnake dies on account of a tragic accident, she has to trek home to tell the rest of the healers and see if there's any chance she'll be able to continue her work when she's lost one of the precious dreamsnakes --
-- except then she bumps into a stable threesome in trouble (one of whom never has a pronoun attached to their name, which is an impressive feat when you're writing in third person, well done Vonda McIntyre) who give her a hint about where she might be able to find a new dreamsnake, so she decides to go on that side quest first --
-- except then she gets distracted by hanging out in a small town and helping an isolated teenager get through his issues about sex and developing an important relationship with an angry and abused little girl, which is a GREAT relationship and I love that it's the most important one in the book, but by this point we're 3/4 of the way through the book and she's nowhere near any of her end goals --
-- and then she finally hits the end point of the side quest, and when that doesn't work out and she's on her way home she then bumps into another side quest WHICH SHE PURSUES WITH ALACRITY and which then turns into a thrilling climax and conclusion --
-- so basically, Snake never actually reaches the destination which I initially assumed she would hit like a third of the way through the book. (Meanwhile, her hot nomad love interest spends the entire book attempting to follow her around and gets VERY CONFUSED. It's OK, dude, I would be too! He finally catches up at the end and is moderately useful at following instructions and being an assistant nurse at a key moment, well done Arevin.) But she does help a lot of people along the way, and illuminates a lot more of this probably-post-apocalyptic world and its variety of different cultures for the reader in a non-expository way, and grows as a person; it's a really good read!
You will probably like Dreamsnake if you like: stories about women being heroic in ways that don't have to do with beating people up; interesting and complex future worldbuilding; thoughtful handling of trauma and abuse; snakes.
You will probably not like Dreamsnake if you never in your life want to read about a woman being completely covered in snakes. Indiana Jones would not endorse this book.
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Date: 2015-03-27 01:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-27 02:25 pm (UTC)child sexual abuse cw
Date: 2015-03-27 04:40 pm (UTC)Have you read 'Of Mist and Grass and Sand'? It won the Nebula, and then she revised it into Dreamsnake. Except that it just goes just up to when the snake dies, so it's a lot bleaker. I think it's more coherent, for the reasons you mentioned, but I definitely liked the novel better, not least because of Melissa.
The thing with the sugar at the end was weird.
I'd forgotten about how Snake helps the teenaged boy with his sex issues. That is, I remember that part of the plot, and the stuff about biofeedback and birth control, but I'd forgotten he was a teenager. I read it when I was about thirteen or fourteen myself.
What I do remember going WTAF???!!! about at the time was when Snake discovers that Melissa's guardian is raping her, and tells Melissa (who's, I can't remember how old, but not yet at puberty) that sex doesn't have to like that, here, let me show you! And Melissa is like WHAT? NO! and Snake respects that, but even at the time I was disturbed that Snake made that offer in the first place, and I'm more upset now, as an adult looking back.
The Seventies.
no subject
Date: 2015-03-27 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-27 09:18 pm (UTC)Re: child sexual abuse cw
Date: 2015-03-27 09:22 pm (UTC)Yeah, he's, like, seventeen or so, I think? Not Melissa-young, but still quite young! THE SEVENTIES. (I had actually totally forgotten that Snake makes Melissa that offer. @__@ Maybe I blanked it out! Though Melissa is I think at puberty, she just looks younger, BUT STILL.)
no subject
Date: 2015-03-27 10:19 pm (UTC)(I nearly replied to this with an RP journal. Good job, me.)
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Date: 2015-03-27 11:07 pm (UTC)And, also, how many books do you get that have post-apocalyptic polyamory and ALSO people covered in snakes?
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Date: 2015-03-28 03:51 pm (UTC)(However many it is, CLEARLY THERE SHOULD ALWAYS BE MORE.)
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Date: 2015-03-29 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-30 09:00 pm (UTC)Melissa is clearly the best, because the Melissa-Snake relationship is made of awesomeness, but I have always been a big fan of Snake/Arevin, because a) I don't think I've ever read another book where the guy is keeping himself pure for her, while the woman has sex with various people because, you know, a woman's got needs, and everyone is totally cool with that, and b) like you said, Snake and Melissa do the hard work of saving themselves, and Arevin, when he finally gets on the scene, gets... to hold a bowl of water.
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Date: 2015-03-30 10:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-30 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-30 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-03-31 12:11 am (UTC)