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Bohemian Gospel

First of all, Bohemian Gospel needs to come with a trigger warning for EVERYTHING: rape and attempted rape, domestic violence, scenes of torture, and violence to animals and children. The last one was especially hard for me and I had to skim some scenes. A lot of historical fiction can get pretty gritty (history is not pretty, ya’ll), but this book was just goddamned depressing.

Bohemian Gospel takes place in 13th century Bohemia (obvs) and follows Mouse, a young woman who was brought to an abbey as an infant. Mouse has no real name, no idea who her parents were, and some kickass supernatural abilities. She’s an adept healer and heals quickly herself. She can see people’s souls (kind of like an aura) but is troubled that she cannot see her own. She has the ability to command others into doing exactly what she wants, to the extent that when she demands a dead, half eviscerated squirrel live, it starts coming back to life. She hides these powers though as they frighten others and herself.

One day Ottakar, the future Gold and Iron King of Bohemia, shows up at the abbey injured and Mouse heals him. She’s taken with him back to court which leads to a series of events in which Mouse influences history. There’s a forbidden love between Ottakar and Mouse as well.

So this book pissed me off because Mouse is incredibly powerful. When we get the big reveal as to why, it’s a Big Reveal. This book could easily have been Mouse coming into her power, wrecking shit, and finding her agency.

It wasn’t.

Mouse largely refuses to use her power because clearly this kind of power is evil and she wants to be good and for God to love her. The theme of God abandoning Mouse and her powers being bad came up over and over and over again. I’m so sick of the trope of Woman Has Incredible Power But Must Suppress It Because Powerful Women = Evil.

Fuck. That.

I wanted Mouse to reach her breaking point at some point and just destroy stuff and be powerful and magical and awesome. Instead she remains a victim up to the last page. I’m not sure if she was supposed to be a tragic character but it was so exhausting. There’s a scene where a man rapes Mouse and she lets him because using her power would be evil. I would have vastly preferred she turn him inside out.

The reason this book didn’t get a F was that I did find the time period and history of 13th century Bohemia interesting and something that I hadn’t read much about, but that didn’t make up for all the awful in the story.

– Elyse

Set against the historical reign of the Golden and Iron King, Bohemian Gospel is the remarkable tale of a bold and unusual girl on a quest to uncover her past and define her destiny.
Thirteenth-century Bohemia is a dangerous place for a girl, especially one as odd as Mouse, born with unnatural senses and an uncanny intellect. Some call her a witch. Others call her an angel. Even Mouse doesn’t know who—or what—she is. But she means to find out.
When young King Ottakar shows up at the Abbey wounded by a traitor’s arrow, Mouse breaks church law to save him and then agrees to accompany him back to Prague as his personal healer. Caught in the undertow of court politics at the castle, Ottakar and Mouse find themselves drawn to each other as they work to uncover the threat against him and to unravel the mystery of her past. But when Mouse’s unusual gifts give rise to a violence and strength that surprise everyone—especially herself—she is forced to ask herself: Will she be prepared for the future that awaits her?
A heart-thumping, highly original tale in the vein of Elizabeth Kostova’sThe Historian, Bohemian Gospel heralds the arrival of a fresh new voice for historical fiction.