The Dream Hotel by Layla Lalami, This is yet another book I looked so forward to reading and then 1/10 of the way through I knew I wasn’t going to like it. It seems the author had a few tricks in her bag especially when it came to social commentary that kept playing out time and time again I found Most of the premise boring especially the first half I really thought this book could’ve been done way better because it’s a great summary just a disappointing read. Especially when you get to the end and realize the whole point of everything. I also didn’t get how they kept trying to make her out to be a victim because at first she had 21 days and she kept Getting more time put on her and I believe we were supposed to feel sorry for Sarah because of all the time she kept getting but she would get it for dumb stuff like one time the guard told her to move away from the desk and she just ignored him and he told her more than once and it kept going on and on like that. I have been in a big reading slump and I really hope my next book is a good one I’m sure someone will like this book but again I did not. #NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview,# LaylaLalami, #TheDreamHotel,

4 / 5 ⭐
Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for my advanced reader copy.

While this book did not initially grab me, once the story picked up I could not put it down.
Sara gave permissions to a dream app to help people sleep. Then the RAA is formed and the app permissions allow the government to detain people for crimes they were thinking of committing and not crimes they actually committed. Sara is accused of intent to kill her husband which she would never do.

This story is original and engaging, and unfortunately a little too close to home right now. We are living in times where innocent people are now being detained as an alternative to arrest and detainment centers are essentially prison. We are simultaneously living in times where the online agreements we sign to download an app can be predatory and dangerous.

I enjoyed each of the detained women in this story. Particularly with Sara, I felt so much connection. A woman who is never allowed to be angry or have strong emotional responses without being seen as a threat.

I really enjoyed Lalami’s writing style, it was engaging and dynamic. This story explores intersectional feminism, relationships, governmental control, and harassment. I found that the structure of this novel kept my interest. I loved the flashbacks and how they coincided with the themes of Sara’s dreams.

I enjoyed the social and political commentary of this book as well as the story. It was a difficult topic but I cared for the characters enough to stick around. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys speculative and literary fiction.

This book just wasn't for me. I'm still exploring and finding what I enjoy reading and it's not the book or authors fault. Thank you for giving me an advance copy to read. I chose 3 stars as I feel that is a neutral rating.

This was a bleak one but SO well written by Lalami. I was captivated by the world she builds here (a near future dystopia in which people are sent to prison simply based on dreams and ‘risk’), it definitely reads like a Black Mirror episode, and i really felt for Sara.

This book started off so strong that I really thought I was in for a 4- or 5-star read. The concept is absolutely chilling — dystopian in a way that feels uncomfortably close to reality, with strong Black Mirror vibes. The first 25% had me completely hooked. I was tense, intrigued, and ready to be blown away.

But the deeper I got, the more the momentum fizzled out.

The pacing is where this book really lost me. The middle dragged a lot, and it felt like the same scenarios kept playing out in slightly different ways — without really moving the plot forward. I kept waiting for something to shift or evolve, but it never quite happened. And then, almost abruptly, we hit the ending… which felt rushed, under-explained, and oddly too neat.

Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say the resolution left me unsatisfied. The emotional payoff I expected never came. I also didn’t feel deeply connected to any of the characters, and the dynamic with the husband felt inconsistent — we’re set up to view him in a certain light for most of the book, only for that to shift without any real closure.

It honestly read more like a draft than a finished novel. The ideas are there — important, urgent ones — but the execution didn’t land for me. I wanted more depth, more development, and more emotional weight to match the power of the premise.

I seem to be in a minority in my reaction to The Dream Hotel. Several friends who have read it either did not finish, found it too dark, or praise it to the skies. (It was longlisted for 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction.) I was intrigued right up to the final chapter where the plot fell apart for me. I am not sure where it might have gone. i'm going to call this a "it's not you, it's me" book.

I don't know how I feel reading this right now I feel like I was not ready for what I was about to read. This is about of how we give our data to the government and how it can be used against us which makes an interesting read the narrative itself kept me engaged the writing style had a good flow that carried on.

If you're a tech junky I highly recommend for you!


thank you netgalley and publisher for this ARC!

Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel is a razor-sharp dive into a near-future America where your most private thoughts can land you behind locked doors. I’m awarding it four stars for its haunting premise, fierce empathy, and the way it turns a cold, clinical setting into a crucible for hope and rebellion. From the moment Sara Hussein an accomplished museum archivist and new mother—wakes up inside Madison, a repurposed detention center run by the algorithmic behemoth Safe-X, you feel the weight of every glance, every recorded dream. Sara’s transformation is quietly powerful: at first she’s stunned anger, then a steely determination to reclaim her agency. Alongside her, a cast of detainees—Emily the former firefighter, Marcela the indie-band guitarist, Lucy the grieving widow emerge as vivid portraits of resistance. Each woman’s backstory unfolds in flashbacks and whispered confessions, layering the narrative with emotional stakes that feel all too real. The plot moves with deliberate tension. As Madison’s devices map and monetize the detainees’ sleep, rules tighten, privileges vanish, and trust becomes as precious as a good night’s rest. Lalami paces the story to mirror the claustrophobia of the center short, urgent chapters that end on questions rather than answers. The biggest twist isn’t a single bombshell reveal but the way collective solidarity blossoms under surveillance: scraps of contraband rhyme schemes, coded power outages, and a plan hatched in dreams. When Sara finally sees the system’s true profit-driven cruelty, the novel shifts from cold procedure to a pulse-quickening fight for freedom. My only quibble is that the novel’s closing could linger a touch longer on the aftermath of Sara’s daring stand. Still, The Dream Hotel stands out for its moral clarity and emotional depth. It’s a must-read for anyone captivated by speculative fiction that doesn’t just warn of dystopia but reminds us how fiercely we can fight to stay human.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This was so eerie, prescient, infuriating and smart… the prose was such a joy to read. Truly great writing demonstrated here. Very timely read right now too with the current state of our political and social climate. Would make for excellent book club discussion. Oscillating between 4-5 stars. Either way, highly recommend!

I wanted to like this so much. It slogged on. I couldn't stand the characters they were distant and one dimensional. This just wasn't for me.

While returning home from a conference abroad, Sara is detained by the Risk Assessment Administration. By using information from her dreams, the RAA's algorithm determined that she is considered to be a threat to her husband. As such, she must be kept for observation at a retention center with others. Months pass and Sara, along with the other inmates, have yet to prove their innocence. Over the course of the dystopian novel, we follow Sara and the others as they question the authority and consider the role technology has in both their and our lives.

Oh this novel was far too real in the most bone-chilling way. It felt like a Black Mirror episode, mixed with satire of our declining democracy and the nature of the surveillance state–and the cherry on top of what it means to be a Muslim woman in America, in name or practice or visage (or all of the above). This book reminded me a lot of School for Good Mothers, in the way that it isn’t our world but could be. It was just one step away from feeling exactly how we are living now. I felt so much sympathy for the characters, so much stress about what they were doing and when they were getting out of their retention. The last 15% of the novel in particular were really strong, but then again, I’m always a slut for a ‘fuck the system’ moment. I give this 3.5⭐️, rounded to 4 on Goodreads

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Right upon landing at LAX, archivist-historian Sara Hussein is yanked away, her Dreamsaver implant flagged by the Risk Assessment Administration as predictive evidence that she might one day harm her beloved husband. From there, Lalami doesn’t just spin a thriller—she sets the stage for a Black Mirror style universe, with a bureaucratic machine so well-oiled it can keep you captive for months over infractions like an unapproved hairstyle. There was definitely an element of absurdist despair that had me wanting to know more about the world and how the main character was going to navigate it from one of its darkest corners.

Sara - or detainee M-7493002 - is a complex main character. She is not only a scholar, but also a mother to twins she is anxious to return to. Her fellow detainees - the slightly hopeful Lucy, the defiant Toya, the cryptic newcomer Eisley - bring even more texture to bleak setting. And then there’s Hinton, the guard who seems to embody both the sexualized gaze and institutional cruelty. Somehow (and I don’t know how because I couldn’t STAND him) Sara seems both to resist him and be drawn to him in an inexplicable way. Over the course of the novel, these characters transform the detention center into a small, aching world of micro-power plays and fragile alliances.

Suspended in the limbo of Madison, former school turned retention center, Sara’s incarceration expands grotesquely. From a promised 21 days to nearly an entire year thanks to rules that seem to warp on a whim and a system that literally profits the longer you stay. Detainees are forced to participate in jobs, labor in the laundry, buy access to news, food, and snacks, and can be tased for the most innocuous actions. There are plots to escape, plans to revolt, human science experiments… But I was left wanting more. Be prepared, the focus in this book seems to be more of commentary on incarceration rather than on the government’s overreach into collecting personal data and what that might lead to.

For me, the ending felt abrupt. I was left with questions that made me feel as if things hadn’t been fully fleshed out in the way they could have been. A few extra pages or chapters could have made things much more satisfying. That being said, I’ll definitely read more from this author, and I do recommend this book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon for providing me with a DRC!

What a book! This one really made me think about our future with technology! How quickly something that is advertised as helping you sleep better turns on you and upends your entire life. As a woman and a mother this book was so relatable I felt deeply for Sara and the other women sent to be monitored for a dream they had. This book makes you think about how much our government should be involved in our personal lives and how much permission we give them to be there! These women lost time with families and their careers, treated as prisoners that hadn’t committed a crime just the potential! This would make a great book club read! I highly recommend.

I finished this book on 2/7/25, but am just now posting the review in an attempt to get my NetGalley ratio up. :) Anyway, I loved it!

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami is an eerily plausible near-future dystopian thriller that kept me gripped with its chilling premise of dream-based surveillance and bureaucratic oppression. The premise feels hauntingly close to reality, and Sara’s emotional struggle is vivid - though I would have loved a little more nuance in the ending’s resolution.

The Dream Hotel has a fascinating premise, a near future where even dreams are mined for data and used to predict crimes.

The world-building is unsettlingly believable, and the concept of a “retention centre” for people flagged as potential threats is chilling in its plausibility. The themes of privacy, freedom, and state overreach are timely and compelling.

That said, the pacing is uneven. The early tension of Sara’s sudden detention is gripping, but the middle section drifts at times, repeating certain beats without pushing the plot forward.

Still, the novel raises important questions about surveillance and personal autonomy, and it lingers in the mind after finishing, even if the storytelling doesn’t always match the strength of its ideas.

I think I cringed my way through this one as I pictured it actually happening in real life. It had a major ick factor with women being held captive against their will. Wasn't a fan.

This book pulls out all the stops and explores the most terrifying form of surveillance - your subconscious, your dreams being used against you. And even more terrifying, the American public let corporations and big government right in their brains.

In this speculative future, if your dreams get you in trouble, you get detained. And of course detention is another way for you to be exploited for your labor. If you remember the 2002 Movie Minority Report, it gives similar vibes.

As a society, we’ve given a lot of control over to the devices and services we utilize for fun and convenience. Lalami takes it to the next level… and you know what? She probably isn’t wrong as to what would happen.

I LOVE books that explore themes like this and I know that there are plenty of other readers out there who do, too. This sharp novel explores more than just surveillance and control. It looks at motherhood, childhood trauma and racism. These factors all make up one incredible story and warning. This one is perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale, Chain Gang All-Stars and a throwback here - 1984!

This was a slower read for me but very good. I think its themes of a heavy surveillance state and dystopia made it hard for me to want to keep reading at times. It also wasn’t quite what I expected, but still very good. This was the first book by the author I’ve read but I definitely liked the style and I’ll check out more of their books!

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor in exchange for my honest review.