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Book: “The Book of Fallen Leaves” by A. S. Tamaki
Publishing Info: Orbit, March 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Sen Hoshiakari is an exiled prince of a clan that lost everything in his father’s failed rebellion. Deprived of his birthright, Sen is determined to restore his family’s lands and honor at any cost. Rui is a peasant girl who saved Sen’s life on the night his family were put to the sword. But now, she is adrift and unsure of her place in the world, not knowing that the gods themselves have plans for her …
As civil war throws the empire into chaos, and demons seek vengeance on the living, Sen and Rui must fight for both their clan and their shared future … But vengeance demands a bloody price.
Review: There was a lot to enjoy about this book, especially if you enjoy epic/political fantasy à la Game of Thrones. And I mean that with all the pros and cons that come with that book series. This is a dense, detailed story, packed with a number of POVs, all of whom give brief glimpses behind an ever-expanding array of curtains. Likewise, the plot itself takes time to build, carefully crafting all the moving pieces before beginning to move in the latter half. It’s not a book for the faint of heart or those looking for an action-packed romp, but if you are the right reader for it, you’re going to really enjoy it!
As mentioned, the book doesn’t spare much concern for quick pacing. The story starts off fairly slowly, taking its time to set the political stage. At first, it was fairly overwhelming with the sheer scope of the situation and the parties involved. The reader must place a lot of faith in the fact that things that may not be clear immediately will be revealed through later chapters. And, for the most part, this does work, even if it is a challenge to get through the first half of the book due to the slower pacing.
While I think this pacing and structure is standard for this sort of book, I do think that this one did struggle a bit with including some of the flavor that is necessary to hook readers in through these early chapters. I never felt like I was getting quite enough of the culture behind this world. It’s hard to quite put my finger on what was missing here, but I was often left with the feeling of wanting something more. I will say, I was pleased to see the book take a hard turn from the too-typical approach to sexism in medieval fantasy. Here, the women are often powerful, intimidating warriors and commanders as well, and any sexism shot their way is rightly identified as ridiculous in that light.
While we do have a lot of POV characters, there are two primary ones mentioned in the book description. I enjoyed both of these quite a lot! They each had interesting arcs and growth throughout the story, particularly Rui. I also enjoyed the deep friendship that grew between these two, though I’m not sure the story did quite enough to properly show us this development. All told, we see very few interactions between these two and are more often told that time passes during which their bonds are further solidified. So while I loved the end result, I felt a bit cheated in the manner in which we got there.
Overall, this was a solid start to a series! While there were a few things here and there that held me back from absolutely adoring it (slower pacing and some weaker moments in character work), I’m definitely invested enough to want to see where things go from here! I would recommend this for fans of political fantasy most especially, as the slower pacing and detailed political maneuvering of the first half will likely land best with this subgenre’s fans.
Rating 8: Rich in political detail and morally gray characters, readers should try to stick through the slower pacing of the first half for the payoff in the latter part!
Reader’s Advisory:
“The Book of Fallen Leaves” can be found on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Sci-Fi/Fantasy of 2026
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