Snake is a healer--a trained physician who uses snakes and snake venom to treat her patients. However a scared bystander kills her Grass, her Dreamsnake--the rare extraterrestrial snake that takes away pain. This sends Snake on a journey to explain herself to her teachers, which sidetracks into bringing a message to someone who might be able to help her find a new Dreamsnake. And there is apparently a crazy man chasing her across the bomb-blasted wastes of nuclear wars long-past.

Dreamsnake's most remarkable accomplishment is the way that it takes such modern conflicts and adapts them to a setting that feels so foreign. Medical science being undermined by fear and superstition and just plain old arrogance; misuse of pain solutions leading to addiction; even the fragile and infuriating uphill climb that is a rape victim accusing her abuser. All this without ever feeling polemic or simplistic. There's an energy to this story that sometimes feels like it subsumes characters, but overall it's a quick, enjoyable, and smart read, and I'm looking forward to reading McIntyre's The Moon and the Sun sometime soon.