Today on @thefantasyhive.bsky.social I’m reviewing The book of Fallen Leaves by @astamaki.bsky.social out in March from @orbitbooks.bsky.social
“Takami has delivered a masterfully written debut, one that every fantasy reader needs to devour.”
Review Link: fantasy-hive.co.uk/2025/12/the-...
The Book of Fallen Leaves by @astamaki.bsky.social is a masterfully composed, brutally enthralling fantasy epic with notes of Martin, Clavell, and Inoue. Tamaki's debut is already a 2026 Book of the Year contender in my eyes. Bookmark it.
@orbitbooks.bsky.social
What are you all reading? This month, I finished the excellent Babel by @rfkuang.bsky.social and Extremity by @bingewriting.bsky.social, and I just started A Palace Near the Wind by @aijiang.bsky.social and The Book of Fallen Leaves by @astamaki.bsky.social.
My November Reading Wrap-Up!
I had four 5 star reads but my favourite of the month was definitely The Book of Fallen Leaves by @astamaki.bsky.social
I’m starting off December by continuing reading The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi which so far is a whimsical, magical and very fairytale esque!
I’ve been looking at my TBR and deciding which review/arcs I’m most looking forward to reading and hoping to get to before the end of the year and possibly into the new year. I’ll list them below:
The Book of Fallen Leaves by @astamaki.bsky.social — out March 2026
“The most anti-capitalist protest is to care for another and to care for yourself. To take on the historically feminized and therefore invisible practice of nursing, nurturing, caring. To take seriously each other’s vulnerability and fragility and precarity, and to support it, honor it, empower it…
FEAST YOUR EYES 👀🔥 The Green Bone Saga is being reissued with new trade paperback covers with art by Tommy Pocket and THE IMMACULATE VIBES are everything I’ve ever wanted. Thanks to art director Lauren Panepinto @orbitbooks.bsky.social @orbitbooksuk.bsky.social. The new covers hit shelves Sept 9!
I think that our writing improved immeasurably when, instead of asking the question "why are you the right person to tell this story?" AFTER writing something, we instead asked "what story could only we tell?" BEFORE writing. And... that's all. That's it, that's the hack.
Porting this from the evil bird place but…
💥sold debut fantasy trilogy to @orbitbooks
🎉announced it to the world!
✍🏼wrote novella, sent it off to agent @JJBker
⚠️finished writing super secret novel 🤫
⚔️book 1 edits
🌎world rights 👀
🔧finished outlining book 2…
📚book 3 in progress…
2025 here we go!
You can get good in stages. You can get good at one thing & still be struggling with another. So you can work on one or two elements of writing craft at a time & see progress.
Progress is an uneven ladder, not a rocket someone else built & fueled.
Be determined. It will likely take a lot of hard work over time to get good at crafting a better story. That’s part of the challenge, & IMO much of what makes writing worthwhile. If you are able to be persistent & work through the downturns, missteps, & mistakes, you will get better stage by stage.
Write the story that is in you to write. The story you’re passionate about. Writing to trends or writing what you think you ought to write or what others think you ought to write will kill the passion. Unless you’re passionate about writing to trends: that’s cool, too. Be yourself, not someone else.
have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?
As I’ve been saying for over a year:
If your business model doesn’t work without violating the law, you’re not in business — you’re in organized crime.
Great reporting by @elainelow.bsky.social. theankler.com/p/tv-writers...
As the prophets say, “The poet does not avert their eyes.” To make art in these times, we have to see. We have to understand. But understanding is not acceptance. We don’t have to accept that the suffering of others is worth the art we will make. We don’t have to accept that you must be miserable to survive.
The poet does not avert their eyes. Still thinking about this from @dongwon.bsky.social
finally migrating over here a bit . We'll see.
Just a reminder.
This is not the end of history.
More stuff happens after this, and we don’t know what it is yet.
#booksky
"Combining authentic worldbuilding with thrilling action and vicious intrigue, and then adding a dynamic cast of heroes and villains, gods and monsters..."
The Book of Fallen Leaves will publish internationally in April ’26.
www.orbit-books.co.uk/orbit-books-...
PM official, as they say 😍😍
Welcome to a land of lush islands, rice fields, towering mountains—and the border between earth and the realms of gods... www.thebookseller.com/rights/orbit...
