I've avoided reading anything by Vonda McIntyre because I once read The Crystal Star. It's simply the worst Star Wars Expanded Universe book. But Dreamsnake won a Hugo, and I recently found out that the worst bits I remember from The Crystal Star are actually from Barbara Hambly's book Planet of Twilight, so I'll give myself another chance to appreciate Vonda McIntyre.

Dreamsnake is really good.

The main character is named Snake. I don't know if this was intentional, but Snake and all her animals have names with S sounds. Her name is Snake. Her horses are Squirrel and Swift, her snakes are Grass, Sand, and Mist, and her daugher (who she adopts later) is Melissa.