This was such a great adventurous read. A fun plot with a lot of twists. If you enjoy books with adventure, myth, and magic then this book is a must.

This story follows Tanvi and Venkat, who are dream runners in a world that is largely based on Hindu mythology. Although initially starting slow, due to the worldbuilding, once the plot begins to pick up, it became an extremely enjoyable read. Tanvi and Venkat's stories converge and both are forced to decide whether they will remain loyal to the systems that govern their world, or if they will choose to fight for their fellow dreamrunners.

As a South Asian, I was excited to see the references to traditional tales that were referenced throughout the novel, and the premise was intriguing. I wish that the world was developed more, and that the magical system and hierarchy was detailed. Overall, it was a solid fantasy with likable characters, and an interesting premise.

ARC provided via NetGalley

This one was harder to get through than Star Daughter. I would say these two books in the series can be read separately, and The Dream Runners is more of a YA Fantasy Romance than Star Daughter was. I liked the lost twin trope used in this one. I wasn't so fond of the fact that this one isn't a continuation of the story from Star Daughter, but I can accept this one as a standalone in a series.

Shveta Thakrar’s The Dream Runners offers a unique glimpse into South Asian mythology, specifically the war between garudas and nagas.

Tanvi is a dream runner. As a human in Nagalok, her role is to return to Prithvi, the human world, and collect dreams from humans for the nagas who are unable to dream themselves. However, Tanvi’s world begins to unravel when she starts to remember her life before her initiation, a rite that stole her memories and feelings. Now Tanvi must turn to Venkat for help. Venkat, also human, cares deeply for the dream runners under his care. As a dreamsmith under the tutelage of Lord Nayan, his adopted father, he works to create objects that have the power to reshape Nagalok. But as Tanvi and Venkat embark on answers, they are thrust into an unexpected conflict, which threatens the distribution of power.

As a reader, I must admit that I don’t know much about the mythology mentioned in this book. The first few chapters felt like dunking my head underwater as I was thrust into this world. Even though I ran to Google a great deal initially, I began to enjoy the world that Thakrar created, even if I didn’t understand every aspect. And the world is certainly interesting, though I felt some aspects were underexplored, such as the Night Market and the gateways that allow travel between Prithvi and Nagalok. This was also true of the magic system. For example, the rules seemed unclear at points and objects of convenience seemed to pop up when needed, such as the glowing fireflies and the communication seeds. Delving more into the world of Nagalok and the Night Market, where many of these items were obtained, may have clarified some of the ways that magic operates.

As for the characters, I found both Tanvi and Venkat irritating in initial chapters. Tanvi was so single-minded that it was difficult to relate and Venkat was incredibly naive. However, as they embarked on their journey throughout the novel, I found myself enjoying my experience getting to know them both and seeing them grow. As Tanvi began to regain her memories, it was easier to empathize with her confusion and pain. Venkat’s loss of his family helped humanize him and it is clear that Lord Nayan and Nagalok offered him the love and connection that he had lost. Finally, supporting characters, like Nitya and Asha were appreciated as they provided friendship and sisterhood to both Tanvi and Venkat.

Overall, though I had the antagonist figured out pretty early, I found the The Dream Runners to be an interesting read. Even though this is my first experience reading Thakrar’s work, I hope to explore more of her novels and learn more about South Asian mythology and culture.

The Dream Runners is for mythology lovers and anyone craving beautiful South Asian representation!

I loved Star Daughter (also by Shveta Thakrar) and could not wait to dive into The Dream Runners. I love mythology, but am embarrassed to say that most of my mythological knowledge is based upon Greek and Roman history. Shveta Thakrar has opened my eyes to the richness of Hindu mythology. She wove a beautiful tale that kept me wanting more.

The story alternates between Tanvi and Venkat's stories and while, at times, I felt the story was moving a little slowly for me, Thakrar's writing is gorgeous even on the sentence level and so the slower parts were still a pleasure to read.

If you love mythical creatures, are interested in expanding your mythology knowledge, and/or are looking for a wonderfully written story with much-needed representation, then I think you will enjoy The Dream Runners and should pick up a copy!

*I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley.

In Nagalok, Tanvi has worked as a dream runner for the past seven years. Every night, she travels to earth to collect the dreams of humans for the immortal serpentine Naga court. One of these nights, she is recognized by someone on the street but not by the correct name. As Tanvi tries to figure out how this happened, it's like she's been awoken from her own dream. When she returns to Nagalok, Tanvi seeks out Venkat, the dreamsmith in charge of the dream runners, to help her. Venkat and Tanvi are both human working for the Nagas. When they go searching for an answer to Tanvi's awakening it sends them on a path that could see the destruction of the court and the possible end to the dream runners themselves.

This book was such a fun read. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the dream runners and Tanvi. The only thing I struggled with was the pacing in the first part. As it happens with many fantasies, you are just thrust into the action right on the first page with Tanvi's night of runs. I struggled trying to push myself through the little bits of language I looked up and trying to connect bits of the story together. But I'm glad I did! After the twist at the end of the first part, I found myself speeding through the second part and cruising the third. I loved the storytelling aspects of the book and how each character had their own time to shine with dual perspectives. Venkat might be one of my favorites. He had a lot of decisions to make and hard choices that he struggled with. I would definitely recommend this to lovers of fantasy, those interested in myths and lore of all kinds, and those interested in an adventure of dreams and finding yourself.

Thank you HCC Frenzy for an eARC.

3.5 stars

This was a really intriguing premise. I liked it, but it was already leaving my mind shortly after finishing. I found the beginning was a bit too predictable, but I liked seeing the two different plots intertwine.
This one follows Tanvi who is a dream runner and Venkat who is a dream smith. As a dream runner, Tanvi journeys to Earth and harvests dreams from humans. She then trades them with Venkat who sells fragments to the nagas. The chapters alternated between these two characters, but it remained in 3rd person the whole time. I liked both characters. At first I found Tanvi’s plotline more interesting, and then Venkat’s began to appeal to me more. When they began to work together, and their mysteries became tangled together it was fun to read.
I struggled at times with this one because the pacing seemed a bit off. Some parts would move quickly and things would be happening, and then there would be a few chapters of the same repetitive things happening. I think this contributed to why it didn’t seem to stick in my brain as much. I did really like how the author described the setting. It helped to re-ground me in the story with all of the vibrant colours that were described.
The culture and mythology was fun to read about. I liked the little snippets of myths at the beginning of each part. I also liked how the author described the world and the creatures. I wish that there had been a bit more of the dream runners doing their work because that part was really fascinating to me.
Overall it was a good read. I think it will appeal to mythology fans and to younger YA readers looking for a standalone fantasy.

I was sent an ARC of The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar by HarperCollins Canada after attending the #FrenzyPresents summer catelogue preview event. Thank you! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

The Dream Runners is an intriguing YA fantasy novel about dream runners; people who don't dream for themselves but instead access and collect the dreams of others. Everything was going well for dream runner Tanvi until one day when everything comes undone. She's failing to collect dreams, waking people are seeing her, and she seems to have started dreaming herself.

First of all, let's give major kudos to this talented cover artist (first edition North American cover) and take some time to celebrate yet another great #OwnVoices diverse fantasy novel based on South Asian culture and mythology. I'm absolutely loving the shift to diverse voices and stories in recent years, and although my ARC requests tend to lean SFF and horror first and foremost, I always look for the stories that don't reflect the mythology of my own frozen ancestors. Keep these coming!

Now, while I'd love to continue to train of praises, unfortunately this one wasn't a 5-star read for me. There are two main characters, giving us two POVs, but I didn't ever feel like Venkat added much to the story that Tanvi wasn't already giving us, and the different characters' narrative voices were not distinct enough from one another. This had the odd effect of detatching me from Tanvi even though I felt like I was going to absolutely love her in the beginning, and kind of kept me on the fence in regards to what I think of Venkat. I also felt like some scenes and sequences felt quite rushed, yet the book overall felt too long for what it had to say. I wonder if perhaps this book should have been a duology of companion books, one told entirely from Tanvi's POV and the other from Venkat's. Each book would probably be about 60-75% the length of this one, so it would feel more neat and trimmed, but we would get so much more time and intimate detail with each key character and allowed to really bond with them.

I do think this is a great book for the intended YA audience, and I probably would have been more forgiving with the characters if I were still as young as the target demographic is meant to be. I would absolutely recommend this book to young adult and young-at-heart readers who enjoy fantasy in general, South Asian stories, and mythology-based magical realism.

The Dream Runners had strong world building and fascinating and delightful characters. The story's premise was so unique and interesting and well-crafted in Hindu lore, which I found fascinating. I do wish that the pacing had been a bit faster, but that didn't take too much away from the story. Overall, it was very enjoyable and I really liked the adventure. Special thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for an ARC of the novel.

Thank you to the publisher, HarperTeen, HCC Frenzy, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ever since she was taken to the realm of Nagalok seven years ago, Tanvi has been one of the dream runners, human children who collect mortal dreams that are greatly prized as entertainment in the naga court. Dream runners are made free of all emotions and memories of their lives on earth, but when one of her harvests goes wrong, she not only runs into someone who seems to recognize her, but also begins to remember flashes of her old life. In a panic, she approaches Venkat, a dreamsmith who collects the dreams brought in by the runners and shapes them to sell to the Nagas, hoping that he will have a solution. Their search for answers however, leads them to uncovering a deadly plot that could lead to the destruction of Nagalok if they can’t stop it in time.

Having enjoyed the author’s previous book, Star Daughter, I was very excited to see that she had a new book and added it to my TBR at once. The concept of dream runners reminded me a little of The BFG, though a more YA version of it. The setting of Nagalok was a fascinating one and I loved the descriptions of the court, culture, food, clothing and more. However, I do have to say that the world building was very surface level and there wasn’t enough focus given to it. In fact, if I didn’t know my Hindu mythology as well as I did, I would have been quite lost with all the references and lack of explanation.

The characters, unfortunately, did not add much to this story in my opinion. Tanvi and Venkat were both likeable but they just didn’t stand out enough to me. We see the entire story from Tanvi’s POV, and the fact that her inner dialogue doesn’t really change too much for most of the book, resulting in the lack of a solid character arc. I suppose a large part of this was also because both of them keep thinking that they should do something to figure things out and fix the situation, but don’t actually get around to doing anything until the last 10-15% of the book which made this a rather frustrating read from a character perspective.

Conceptually, this story had a lot of potential, but I felt the execution was a little weak. For one, with the amount of plot there was, this could have easily been split into two books allowing for some more exploration of the world and characters. There were several points in the story where I finished a chapter and expected the book to be coming to an end, because it would have been such a perfect place stop at, only to realize that I was barely 50% of the way through. And second, while the pacing was pretty good and not slow by any means, the ending was definitely rushed, and it didn’t live up to the depth of the conflict that had been built up throughout the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book but I feel the idea behind the story had a lot more possibilities than were explored. While The Dream Runners didn’t live up to the author’s previous book for me, I did like the writing and narrative style, so I will keep an eye out for future books by this author – it’s so lovely to see this representation in YA, there isn’t nearly enough of it! Readers who have a background in Hindu mythology will probably find this an easier read, but I would still recommend it for fans of the genre.

I loved it and especially the lore from Hindu mythology with the Nagas and Garuda. What did also fascinate me were the dreams and how they’re an object between worlds. And also the MCs were good. Pacing felt okay albeit slow a bit.

A truly fun tale filled with friends, family, and love! The word building was great in this novel so if you like to get sinked into other worldly places, this is for you. The one thing that was not right at least for me was the plot pacing. The first half felt really slow even though I liked the world. The second half was either just right or way too fast. If you are on the fence though certainly give this one a read and you might even find some relatable parables to our work world.

The Dream Runners is my first Hindu mythology-based book and it reminded me of how Rick Riordan uses different mythologies to make his stories so rich and advnenturous. The idea of dream runners, children who are freed from feelings and dreams in order to steal dreams for the naga court, was interesting and captivating, leaving me wanting to know more.

The story is quite slow and doesn't pick up until maybe more than halfway. There is a mix of romance, rediscovery of family and siblings, and personal growth journey interwoven in this story. Tanvi is a strong heroine and I wish we learned more about her and also more about Venkat. Overall, a solid read that I think middle grade readers will enjoy. Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollin's Children's Books for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I really loved the premise of this story and the mythology creatures were so cool. However, I couldn't connect to Tanvi or Venkat, especially Tanvi. I guess that's the problem with having a main characters that has no human emotions for the best part of the book: there's nothing relatable about her, so I lost interest in the story.

I was very excited about this book and it did not disappoint. I was really drawn in by the gorgeous cover and the fact that it’s based on Hindu mythology. One thing to note is that it took me until about chapter 14 or so before the story and characters really grabbed my interest and made me care about what happens next. I’m SO glad I kept reading- the world is so beautifully described and I loved getting a dual POV from the two main characters. This a fantastic story and I’m so glad there will be more to come!

Dreams are a pretty big part of my creative and spiritual inner life, so I am always excited to explore a new story involving dreams! I love the concept behind The Dream Runners, so I'm sad to report that this book is just not for me and I ended up stopping at around 20%.

The idea of capturing a person’s dreams inside a crystal vial is SO COOL. I loved all the visual imagery of the different vials made from various crystals in different colors, and I was curious to learn if the different crystals had different functions for the dreams they held inside. I was delighted to see so many scenes describing either the capture of these dreams or just the kinds of dreams held inside various vials. The troublesome part for me was that the dreams did not feel like dreams to me. Granted, we all experience dreams differently, but I still suspect that there are some quintessential aspects of dreams that most people experience, and a lot of that was missing here. The dreams seemed way too coherent and read more like fantastical imaginings rather than dreams. (Compared to my own personal dreams, it almost felt like these dreams were being described by someone who has never actually had a dream and was trying to imagine what they must be like.)

The society full of nagas, jinns, goddesses, and other creatures not-of-this-earth was a setting I was excited to experience. I was super curious about the actual dream runners who had to collect the dreams, the people who were tasking them with this job, and what they were eventually going to be used for. The first 20% of the book gives you a glimpse into the lives of a couple dream runners as well as some of the people in charge. Unfortunately for me, I just couldn’t get invested in any of their stories. I really could not understand why the dream runners cared so much about whatever prize they were working toward and how it was such a strong impetus for them. (Why the heck does Tanvi spend literally all of her free time pining for a charm bracelet? Why does she think her life will be complete once she gets it?) This was ultimately what made me lost interest in reading any more of the book. If I was more connected with the characters, I probably would have held out longer to sate my curiosity about all the dream collection stuff. Sigh.

So, this book will probably be great for a lot of readers, and I wish I could be one of them. But it’s just not working out with my current brainspace, I guess.

The Dream Runners is the story of Tanvi, a girl taken from the human world to be a dream runner for a group of the Naga mythical beings who lost the ability to dream. The Naga are also in conflict with the Garuda, another group of Eagle-ish creatures
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While a background in Hindu mythology may be helpful, it is not necessary as the author engaged in enough world-building.

I found the story to be adequate, but only because I did not find myself to be rooting for any one particular character enough. Our sympathies are a bit too divided across multiple characters, and at some point, the story shifted to a romance from a sibling story and self-discovery, which was a bit unexpected and felt a bit clunky.

The story reminded me a bit of The Marrow Thieves due to the plotline of a people used for their capabilities to interact with dreams, but with a Rick Riordan-esque feel.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This author creates such beautiful stories and doesn't get enough notice! This book is fabulous and has some amazing mythical connections. This book is really for all fantasy readers!

As a child, Tanvi voluntarily (in so far as like an 8 year old can voluntarily sign up for anything) chose to give up her life and memories to become a dream runner for the Naga - half-snake folks who lives in a celestial sort of realm. Naga can't dream, so dream runners collect human dreams in exchange for "boons" that allow them to collect treasures. One day, on a dream run, Tanvi is mistaken for someone who apparently looks just like her...and Tanvi has to find out why.

Yeah, so clearly there's a lot of worldbuilding here, but it was VERY cool, and for the most part, organically done (like occasionally, long after you had figured something out - like Prithvi = earth, got it - that would get explained at ~page 200). I was familiar with Naga from somewhere, but most of the rest of the Hindu mythology was new to me, and I live for learning about mythology via fun fantasy reads, and that's definitely what this is. There are fourish main characters, although the book primarily follows Tanvi and Venkat, who molds the collected dreams into something coherent that he then sells to the Naga. It's a standalone fantasy, so character development isn't necessarily the aim, but the characters are developed enough that their motivations and actions make sense and are consistent.

TLDR: A fast-paced read with relatable characaters based on Hindu mythology that most readers in US are likely unfamiliar with - hand this one to older Rick Riordan fans. 4 stars.

Thank you HarperCollin's Children's Book and NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I chose this book because of the beautiful cover. It started slow that I almost DNFed the book but I'm glad I pushed through. The pace picked up and the story got more interesting.

This is a book perfect for all my fellow fantasy lovers out there!

3.5 stars!