Lent
First edition cover
First edition cover
AuthorJo Walton
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fantasy
PublisherTor Books
Publication date
28 May 2019
Media typePrint
Pages384 (hardcover)
ISBN978-0-7653-7906-1

Lent is a 2019 fantasy novel by Jo Walton, about Girolamo Savonarola. It was first published by Tor Books, and was nominated for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.

Synopsis

In Renaissance Florence, Girolamo Savonarola is a Dominican friar with the gift of prophecy and the ability to see and banish demons. After Lorenzo di Medici dies in 1492, Girolamo gradually becomes more and more involved in politics, eventually culminating in his execution in 1498, and subsequent damnation to Hell.

He then finds himself in 1492 Florence again, and begins trying to change history.

Reception

In the Los Angeles Times, Cory Doctorow called it a "beautifully rendered retelling" of Savonarola's life, commending the "ringing verisimilitude of well-researched, real historical personages" who appeared in the novel, and noting that Walton portrays the basic concept of repeating historical events with "a new, rich ambiguity".[1] At National Public Radio, Amal el-Mohtar praised Walton's application of "mythographical playfulness" to Christian theology, her presentation of Savonarola as "a man wrestling with pride and its just causes", her depiction of Florence as a setting, and the book's overall narrative structure, but ultimately faulted the ending as "rushed" and "impatient".[2] In Locus, conversely, Gary K. Wolfe found the ending to "ingeniously satisf(y) both the terms of its 15th-century Florentine worldview and the SF-like machinery that makes it work."[3]

James Nicoll noted that the first half of the book can be considered "fairly straightforward historical fantasy: Italian history as it is known, but seasoned with demons and miracles", and lauded Walton's prose as "good to superlative".[4] The Globe and Mail proposed that it may bring Walton to the attention of "an even wider readership, crossing, as it does, the proverbial Arno into literary fiction territory."[5] The Winnipeg Free Press described it as "slow-moving but ultimately interesting", and – albeit "unique and thoughtful" – "(n)ot as revolutionary as Walton's other works."[6]

Lent was nominated for the 2020 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Doctorow, Cory (16 May 2019). "Like 'Groundhog Day' in hell, 'Lent' traces the recurring lives of a heretic monk". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  2. ↑ El-Mohtar, Amal (1 June 2019). "A Renaissance Fanatic Is Reborn — Again And Again — In 'Lent'". National Public Radio. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  3. ↑ Wolfe, Gary K. (23 July 2019). "Gary K. Wolfe Reviews Lent by Jo Walton". Locus Magazine. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  4. ↑ Nicoll, James Davis (23 August 2019). "A Long, Long Way to Heaven". James Nicoll Reviews. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  5. ↑ Donaldson, Emily (18 June 2019). "Review: Jo Walton's story of a demon-fighting monk is a clever and original romp". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  6. ↑ Boyce, Joel (1 June 2019). "'Mad monk' novel melds sci-fi, spiritual". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "Jo Walton Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
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