I wanted to like this one a lot more than I actually did.

This story follows Tanvi and Venkat, two mortals embroiled in the world of Nagalok. Stolen away from Prithvi (Earth) as children, the two have very different experiences in this mystical world: Tanvi becomes a dream runner — someone who searches for and extracts the dreams of humans on Prithvi — whereas Venkat becomes the apprentice and adoptive son of one of the most powerful naga in Nagalok: Nayan. But what happens when Tanvi's heart begins to stir?

The premise itself was extremely eyecatching. I adore books about mythology, and I was excited to read this.

While I absolutely loved the mythology aspect of it, the worldbuilding was lacking. It wasn't even that the author was relying on knowledge of the mythos — there were aspects in Nagalok that just weren't fleshed out. What was the initiation ritual and why did the hearts of the runners have to be stilled? What is burnout? What was it about Venkat that made him a dream smith?

In addition to the haphazard worldbuilding, there were so many pacing issues. The first half of the book is extremely slow. It was almost a slog to get through. The conflict with the Garuda and Garudi attacking Asha and Tanvi on Prithvi seemingly comes out of nowhere, and the entire end of the novel felt unearned. The prose lends itself to being beautiful at times, but there is so much description, so much telling and not showing, that it almost feels overwhelmint at times.

Then, there's the slow-burn romance between Tanvi and Venkat. Venkat mentions several times in the beginning that he feels like he's the carer of the dream runners, and seemingly sees himself as a pseudo-father figure. Which just makes the relationship that buds between him and Tanvi that much more unnerving.

I don't know. This was something I really wanted to enjoy, and while the end of the book went a lot quicker, the subtance of the novel just felt wildly inconsistent.

I liked the representation of characters and culture in this book. It can be a bit heavy on the lore and the worldbuilding, but overall had great characters.

I am incredibly impressed by the mythology and world building in this book. We're exploring a lot of realms and shifted perspectives. It's quite dense and the pacing is a bit sluggish, so it's not for the casual reader. Still, it's well constructed and carefully written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was a beautiful story. The Lore was fascinating and intriguing. I adored all the characters and their different arcs. There were a few parts that dragged for me but overall it was a beautiful and heartwarming story.

"The Dream Runners" by Shveta Thakrar is an enchanting and immersive fantasy novel that transports readers to a world of dreams, magic, and daring adventure. Thakrar's storytelling prowess shines as she crafts a tale of courage, destiny, and the exploration of hidden realms. The book's richly developed world and well-defined characters create an immersive reading experience that resonates with young adult readers. Thakrar skillfully weaves together elements of fantasy and mythology, leading readers through a journey filled with mysteries and unexpected discoveries. "The Dream Runners" is a captivating read that offers an imaginative escape into a realm where dreams come to life, leaving readers eagerly anticipating each twist and turn. As the characters embark on their quest, readers are left with a sense of wonder and the excitement of unraveling the secrets that lie within the world of dreams.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Thank you Netgalley for the e-ARC of this title. I enjoyed reading this title. Would recommend for my library.

I receive this book from netgalley for an honest review. I left the representation in this book and learning about different cultures through fantasy.

As this title is published by HarperCollins Children's Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, I will be withholding my review of the title in support of the HarperCollins Union strike. I look forward to reviewing this title once HarperCollins has met the union at the bargaining table and agreed to a fair contract.

This was a fun and fast-paced story! I really love how it incorporated Hindu folklore into the story. The world-building is original and complex. The writing is very beautiful and was filled with sumptuous detail. I also loved the characters and thought that they were fleshed out and were very realistic! This, I hope that there will be more books in this series! I recommend this for fans of The Star-Touched Queen, Empire of Sand, and Cast in Firelight!

My second DNF of 2023 and this one I am so sad about because it sounded amazing. Unfortunately this was another one that I just thought was kind of boring and slow. It started off with this girl who was stealing dreams and obsessed with a bracelet. And the writing felt more like high middle grade, low young adult vs. a high ya that I usually read.

That being said I did read somewhat further into this one and it just felt super slow and started getting very repetitive.

Thanks to NetGalley & HarperTeen for the copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I was unable to finish past 20% of the book.

The world was very confusing and unexplained and I looked at other reviews and saw it doesn't get explained later in the book so I figure cut my losses now. It's a shame because it's a really cool story, but the writing is hard to get into.

I really wanted to love this book, but instead I found myself struggling to get through it.

The Dream Runners, by Shveta Thakrar, follows Tanvi, a dream runner, whose job is to harvest mortal dreams for nagas, the immortals who live in the world of Nagalok. When she begins to remember her previous life on Earth, she and Venkat, the dreamsmith's apprentice, must work together to find answers to the questions that arise surrounding their lives in Nagalok.

I don't really know what to say about this book, except that it was lacking in almost every way.

The author spent very little time on worldbuilding, something which I think should definitely have been more of a focus, because it was quite difficult to understand the plot when I didn't even understand the world, society, or magic system, all of which are integral to the events of the story.

Similarly, the characterization was definitely lacking. At no point did I feel like I was reading about real people, or even characters with any sense of depth at all. I could forgive Tanvi's lack of personality considering that she is essentially brainwashed for most of the story, but it was particularly grating during Venkat's POV. This made the romance between the two, which also had very little buildup, particularly frustrating because it's hard to get invested in a romance between two characters when you don't care about either party involved. The minor characters were no better.

The plot was okay, though I definitely feel like it could have been stronger and better-paced. There were long stretches of the book where it felt like nothing was happening, and then the conclusion felt way too rushed and underwhelming. Though I think it conceptually was an okay storyline, the pacing was so off that it's really hard to muster up any enthusiasm about it.

Overall, I can't give this book any higher than 2.5/5 stars. It had potential, but I definitely don't think it lived up to it. If you're really into Hindu mythology then it might be interesting enough for you, but I otherwise just cannot recommend it as being worth anybody's time. There are much better fantasy books, and even much better South Asian-inspired fantasy books (though more of them definitely need to be published), so I'd probably recommend looking elsewhere if you're considering this book.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for providing me with an electronic copy of this book.***

I have to say that I had to start this book more than once and I was still confused at times with what was going on. There is a great deal of world building in the book which I do like and the story is unique. Harvesting dreams to sell them is very interesting. I believe that readers that are familiar with Hindu mythology and love a good fantasy telling will like this book. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of the book in change for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC.

The world Shveta Thakrar created was amazing and I easily could picture Nagalok and the clothes worn by the characters based on her descriptions. It was very nice to read about and be able to reconize South Asian festivals, tales, clothing and food.

I wish I could have seen more of Tanvi's relationship with her sister because that was one of the most intriguing of the book. I had a hard time connecting with the characters and I wish the conflict between Tanvi and Venkat had been more developped. The romance between them happened very quickly and I didn't really understand why they liked each other.

The pace of the book felt slow so I couldn't fully immerse myself in it.

2.5 rounded up.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen publishing for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar is a Standalone fantasy based on Hindu mythology. We follow a dream runner names Tanvi, who like the rest of the runners was brought to Nagalok with their memories wiped in order to serve the naga court by harvesting human dreams for their entertainment. Venkat is a dreamsmith, which means he handles all the dreams the runners bring. After one of Tanvi's harvests goes terribly wrong, Tanvi and Venkat work together to learn the true answers being hidden at the naga court.
The premise of this is so interesting and unique. I've never read anything inspired by Hindu mythology, so the aspects of the nagas and garudas was intriguing. The portrayal of Tanvi's reactions when she starts to remember her former life felt real. The book is split into three sections, and there are little folklore tales at the start of each section that I really enjoyed.
However, over all, this was a pretty big disappointment for me. I know with Standalones, there's less time to flesh out extensive world building and character depth, but I just didn't get enough of those two things from this book to really enjoy it. I was often times confused by how we got from a to b in some scenarios, and some things felt like they weren't explained well enough to fully grasp it. Other than when Tanvi starts to remember her life before the naga court, the characters didn't feel interesting or make me feel for them. I could've done without the romance entirely because there was nothing about the romance I liked.
The first bit felt very repetitive and unnecessary. The middle bit was just boring, and the final third finally picked up and became interesting to me. It was still kind of confusing and I didn't enjoy the romance, but it did give me some entertainment. Overall if just felt more surface level than fully fleshed out.

Tanvi is a dream runner who harvests dreams from humans and brings them to the Naga in exchange for a boon. She has a very specific boon in mind, and she’s almost earned it – but everything changes one night when she is seemingly recognized by a human. And after that, she inexplicably starts having dreams of her own – something which dream runners shouldn’t be able to do.

I loved the idea of dreams being harvested and used as currency, and the styling of this magical world, modeled after India, is gorgeous. There were some really spectacular visual descriptions. There were some aspects of the world building I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around, though. The book seemed to involve a lot of Naga court politics, most of which went over my head. Politics is usually the most uninteresting and hard-to-follow part of world building to me, and when a book goes heavy into fantasy-world politics I get bored quickly. There were also other aspects of the story where I felt like I didn’t quite understand what was going on and why.

It’s an entertaining novel set in a richly imagined world, but something about it doesn’t quite click together, and I’m having a hard time putting my finger on what that is. Other people may have better luck, though, and overall it’s absolutely still worth a read.

Representation: POC main characters and side characters (primarily south Asian)

I heard about this book through Satisfiction. It's a fantasy book with desi protagonists. I love reading about poc characters in a rich fantasy world like this one.It's an absolute delight!

I wanted to love this book so much! But I was disappointed to see it was similar to Thakrar's other release in that we start in the modern world. Still, overall, I enjoyed the characters, the high stakes, and the unique premise.