When I heard about Nazima Pathan’s magical debut Dream Hunters takes place in a reimagined India where dreams can be captured and bottled. I was drawn back to my childhood and the love I had for Dahl's BFG – because who doesn’t love the idea of the wonderful dreams we have been given to experience?

Pathan takes the idea of bottled dreams up a notch however, and I loved how they were more than just dreams but something to be used in a form of currency or bargaining chip. With that, they’re also a commodity that can be used against people and that’s what happens in Dream Hunters.

The world-building we do have is wonderful, though I kind of wish there had been more of the almost ethereal beauty of the history of Mumbai etcetera even with the reality of poverty in both the fictional and reality of the city and those around it to show how the street children we encounter survive. Even in fantasy, not everything is perfect and children may not comprehend what Rafi, one of the main characters has endured.

The magical elements are so well done, from the schooling about dreams that we get glimpses of, to the way these dreams are caught, and then used by the populace. It will have many a child wondering if they too may have one of these dreams brought to them – but hopefully not the awful nightmares!

There’s adventure, and enough mystery to keep a reader or perhaps listener if this is a bedtime read. Captivated and eager to find out if Mimi, Rafi and their magical companions can save the day. Additionally, the gorgeous artwork throughout the book weaves this tale together – I always love it when books have sporadic artwork, can they bring it into adult books more, please?

This is a wonderful book and a unique spin on the idea of dreams and I look forward to seeing what else comes from Nazima Pathan’s dreams in their next book.

I really enjoyed this magical fantasy adventure set in an alternative India where dreams can be mixed into powerful potions but due to the inherent dangers of nightmares, dream-trading with the neighbouring kingdom is forbidden. 12 year old Mimi lives with her aunt in the hidden citadel, training to be a dream hunter, trying to forget the disgrace of her parents' plot to kill the king. But all is not as it seems, and when Mimi discovers that some one has been storing nightmares with their potential to inflict harm, rather than the health-giving dream potions, she sets off on a quest to sav the king.
This is an exciting adventure with lots of plot twists set in a gorgeous fantasy world. I particularly loved the dream creatures and the friendship that develops between Mimi and the otter children. The story moves at a good pace with the forces of evil always nipping at their heels.

While I would have liked to see more of the magic and the dream-creatures, as well as some time considering the morality of stealing people's dreams (I wouldn't appreciate mine being stolen!), Dream Hunters remains an exciting, imaginative story, well-worth reading.

Dreams have power, we all know that. They can inspire, motivate, remember, and project our heart’s deepest desires. With nightmares comes the same power to incite fear, negativity, demotivation, and most horrifically, the ability to demolish dreams. So if you had the power to hunt them, would you?
 
Dream Hunters by Nazima Pathan is a new middle grade novel, represented by Chloe Seager at Madeleine Milburn and published by Simon and Schuster Kids on 1st August 2024.
 
Mimi Malou’s parents are traitors. Once captured attempting to poison the King of Ratnagar, Mimi is plagued by the shadow cast over her from their treason, and despite her talent as a Dream Hunter, no one in her cohort likes her. Except for Rafi, a Mumbai street orphan, who aspires to be as good as Mimi.
 
Under the guidance of her Aunt Moyna, Head Librarian at the mystical dream-embedded Citadel, Mimi’s life has revolved around hunting dreams, learning to thread them, and understand their power, all guided by her dream creature Lalu.
 
However, one night, when trying to reassure Rafi’s place in the Citadel (which may have involved breaking into her Aunt’s office), Mimi is audience to a deal between the Crown Prince of Ratnagar’s right hand man, Jamal, and her aunt. Her appears to be offering her money in exchange for a specify brew of dreams for the King of Ratnagar.
 
As Mimi and Rafi go digging, things start to look less than above board, as Mimi begins to find clues suggesting her Aunt’s intentions may depart the realm of dreams and venture into the stuff of nightmares. Nightmares to kill. Armed with this information, Mimi starts to question everything she thought she knew about her aunt, her parents’ crime, life at the citadel and even who she is as a Dream Hunter. The question is, can she answer them all before the King of Ratnagar passes and nightmares are left to rule the Kingdom?
 
Having been someone who, for as long as I can remember, has loved the power of dreams, this concept instantly struck in a chord in me and I knew I had to read Nazima’s debut as soon as possible. My friends forever tell me I have the most vivid, lively, realistic dreams of anyone they’ve ever met and I, honestly, view it as a superpower, especially as a creative. Seeing Nazima’s beautiful ability to apply a lore to dreams (all of which is in an accompanying guide at the afterword of the novel), my heart was sold on Dream Hunters from page one.
 
The family dynamic in this novel is breathtaking too. All we ever want as children and for children, is to be loved, and this novel really explores what love can look like, even in the lesser gracious of the characters. I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of love, as something that can sometimes make good people do bad things and vice versa. Not only with Mimi and her family, but with some of her teachers, Rafi’s fellow orphans and the King himself. It’s a stunning feature to the novel and one that’s made it a highlight of my year so far.
 
The plot and pacing of Dream Hunters is literally the stuff of dreams. Not a single scene goes a second too short or a moment too long, the pacing is maintained perfectly throughout, guiding readers through a wondrous adventure full of vivid imagery, heart, magic, dreams, and every emotion you can just about muster. This is one of those books readers are going to want to finish as soon as they possibly can!
 
Another key shout out I want to give to Nazima’s writing is the well-defined balance between the serious and the lighthearted. Every time something appears dire, or the adventure has taken a darkened turn, it’s contrasted with a lovely comedic moment, or reminder of the heart of the novel. My personal favourite was the vivid depiction of a monkey and an old lady doing tug of war over a silver scarf! I found myself chuckling as I read the scene, and it juxtaposed the drama splendidly.
 
Overall, this a marvellous release from Nazima Pathan and Dream Hunters is the ideal summer read for anyone middle grade or over. Whilst I wait for Dream Hunters 2 I’m off to go have some dreams of my own, hoping somewhere they’re captured by Mimi’s dream hook.

“Open your eyes, For this world is only a dream.” ~ Rumi.

Fans of Vashti Hardy’s epic traveling adventures will be swept away by Dream Hunters. In a complex world of stunning settings, bottled dreams and apprentices who learn to retrieve them in the night, Mimi and Rafi strive to prevent treason and bring true villains to light.

In the vibrant Citadel, Mimi is a grade two dream hunter – only two more levels until she can apply to be an apprentice at the Library of Forgotten Dreams. Ever since her parents were imprisoned for treason, she has been under the care of her Aunt Moyna. Training to be a dream hunter alongside her friend Rafi, a former street child who is somewhat of a magnet for trouble and danger, life is full of magic (and a bit of mischief). This all changes when Mimi discovers her aunt’s partnership with Prince Sakim of Ratnager – a city to the north. It appears more treason is afoot and everything is not as it seems. Plans to auction off powerful nightmares and a plot to kill the king leave Mimi and Rafi with no choice but to set off on a quest to reveal the truth.

Along the way, Mimi and Rafi are supported by a strong, tenacious group of street children who demonstrate the power of friendship, loyalty and using your wits. This delightful band of characters highlight that every dream has a value and the importance of a community you can trust.

“May your dreams shine ever brightly.“

Set in a fantasy world, we hear Mimi’s story and how she tries to rescue parents.
Told from her POV. Mimi and her friends unravel important truths and go on adventures.
They have only each other to trust.
The font, the length, the overall design, the map of the citadel and the illustrations are perfect.
The mood is reminiscent of 1001 Nights and a bit of the Harry Potter universe.
The world and the characterisation are 5/5
The prose and the plot 4/5
Overall, this is a fantastic KS2-3, and mid grade/juniour read.

Properly loved this! Action, magic, dreams, companions, enemies, unexpected friends. A reimagined India where dreams are a thing to be caught and sold… and abused. Loved the characters and their story. This is a total page turner and I can’t wait for people to get to experience this.

Nazima Pathan's remarkably assured debut, Dream Hunters, tells the story of 12 year-old Mimi Malou as she battles to save the king and rescue her parents.

I highly-recommend this story! Set in a magically re-imagined India, with citadels and narrow alleys, bustling streets (and a magnificent train sequence), Mimi's world is brought vividly to life with wonderfully observed sensory details (I NEED that freshly-baked bread). Mimi herself is brave and clever and strong and her sidekick, Rafi, is the bestfriend every kid dreams of: loyal and funny and not exactly well-behaved. Both children's sense of love and loss and longing is so well portrayed and the author creates a dreamlike uncertainty as they risk everything they know to take on a host of wickedly imagined adversaries and learn eventually, not only who they can and cannot trust, but also of the importance and power of dreaming.

Oh, and did I mention the dream creatures? Little Lalu...

Nazima Pathan’s Dream Hunters is a fantasy, set in a reimagined India where dreams can be captured, bottled, used as currency or as a political weapon…We follow the story of Mimi Malou as she begins to uncover a dark secret and plot that involves nightmares, her incarcerated parents, and the failing health of a King…

I thought this book was really well written! It was fun, engaging, witty, and had a great amount of depth to the characters and plot too. I liked that we had a large group of characters (although sometimes it did get a bit confusing with the friends and the teachers, some of the personalities blended at times). I think the plot was really well done and the pacing was excellent, the reveals were timely and I liked how everything unfolded. It was great.

What I really loved were the little illustrations in some of the chapters! They were so pretty and added such a nice extra to the story, getting to see places like the library and the places imagined was brilliant and damn, this book would be a beautiful masterpiece if fully illustrated in colour.

I have to shoutout the dream creatures because I thought they were cool.

I think this was a fantastic read, I know that I really enjoyed it, and I think for children (the audience it was written for haha) this is fabulous! Kids deserve stories like this and I’ll definitely be recommending this to the kids I work/volunteer with.

Lovely colourful story which l will recommend that my school library buys. I enjoyed reading about the characters and their imaginary world.

this was a reasonably enjoyable book. I never felt totally grabbed by the story, though I did like the setting and the world created was interesting, but i feel like not enough was done with the actual dream hunting and the dream creatures, it was more just a political murder plot that the kids had to try and stop. Dont get me wrong, the storyline was interesting, but I feel like more could have been done with the world that was created.
I would still recommend giving it a read, as the characters are fun and the setting is really interesting. though I did find it a tad predictable.