Seven years ago, Tanvi was spirited away to the subterranean realm of Nagalok, where she joined the ranks of the dream runners: human children freed of all memory and emotion, who collect mortal dreams for the entertainment of the serpentine, immortal naga court.
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.
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About the Book
The Dream Runners
by Shveta Thakrar
Published 28 June 2022
HarperTeen
Genre: YA Fantasy
Page Count: 448
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
A lush tapestry of dreams, myth, and magic–perfect for fans of Holly Black, Roshani Chokshi, and Margaret Rogerson.
Seven years ago, Tanvi was spirited away to the subterranean realm of Nagalok, where she joined the ranks of the dream runners: human children freed of all memory and emotion, who collect mortal dreams for the entertainment of the serpentine, immortal naga court.
But when one of Tanvi’s dream harvests goes awry, she begins to remember her life on earth. Panicked and confused, she turns to the one mortal in Nagalok who might be able to help: Venkat, the dreamsmith responsible for collecting the dream runners’ wares and shaping them into the kingdom’s most tantalizing commodity. And as they search for answers, a terrifying truth begins to take shape–one that could turn the nagas’ realm of dreams into a land of waking nightmare.
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From the author of the Indie Next selection and Andre Norton Award finalist Star Daughter, this stand-alone contemporary fantasy, inspired by the nagas and garudas of Hindu mythology, is full of slow-burning romance, haunting intrigue, and shimmering magic.
My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
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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.
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