Walton’s Lent.

Anatoly Vorobey posted at FB (in Russian) about a novel I’d never heard of; I’ll translate what he wrote: Jo Walton is a contemporary writer of fantasy and science fiction whom I have not read until now. Lent is a book set in Florence at the end of the 15th century, and its protagonist is a Dominican monk. The first part of the book—a pretty substantial chunk—is virtually indistinguishable from a historical novel (and a very good one, to my taste), containing almost nothing “fantastic”; but then, something happens… it would be too much of a spoiler to say more than that. An interesting and original idea, wonderful prose—and, most importantly, in terms of the quality of its historical immersion, the book occasionally reaches the level of Patrick O’Brian (the highest possible praise from me). That said, there are some serious flaws—for instance, […], […], and even […]—but to my mind they didn’t outweigh the charm of this novel. Recommended: 4/5. As you can imagine, that impelled me to…