Book Review: The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar

  • Source: I received an advance copy of this book on NetGalley

  • My Rating: No Rating - DNF at 20% (see my review on Goodreads)

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.

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