The Dream Runners made the Bank Street College of Education Children’s Book Committee’s The Best Children’s Books of the Year 2023 list!

THE DREAM RUNNERS

Shveta’s Second YA Fantasy Novel, THE DREAM RUNNERS, out now!

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, charged with harvesting mortal dreams for the consumption of the naga court.

Venkat knows a different side of Nagalok. As apprentice to the influential Lord Nayan, he shapes the dream runners’ wares into the kingdom’s most tantalizing commodity. And Nayan has larger plans for these mortal dreams: with a dreamsmith of Venkat’s talent, he believes he can use them to end a war between nagas and their ancient foe, the garudas.

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 can help: Venkat. 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.

“Utterly unique, The Dream Runners uses magnificent world-building to explore how much of our own stories we can change.”

                             —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wish You Were Here

“Shveta Thakrar spirits you away to a richly imagined dream of a fantasy!”

                            —Xiran Jay Zhao, New York Times bestselling author of Iron Widow

"Every reader yearns for something deeper than vivid worldbuilding and skillful character development, and though The Dream Runners offers an abundance of both, I will remember this book for the compassion Shveta Thakrar has decanted into every word. The Dream Runners is a novel greater than the sum of its (already vast and sparkling) parts—an emotionally resonant and supremely satisfying read."

                         —Camille DeAngelis, Alex Award-winning author of Bones & All