Book of the Just

Bohemian Gospel, Book 3

By: Dana Chamblee Carpenter

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

After centuries of searching, Mouse now has everything she's ever wanted within her reach-a normal life, a lover, a brother. What will she risk to keep them?

Cherished by a Father, coveted by a king, loved by an almost-priest; tormented by demons, tortured by a madman, hunted by a cult, hounded by her father. Mouse has survived it all.

Despite Mouse's power, her father always wanted a son - and now, at long last, he has him. And Mouse has a brother, someone else in the world just like her.

Hiding among a tribe of the Martu in the isolation of the Australian outback near the edges of Lake Disappointment, Mouse and Angelo have seemingly evaded at least one of the predators hunting them. Carefully dropping bogus breadcrumbs across Europe, they misdirect the Novus Rishi, a ruthless cult that wants Mouse as the ultimate weapon in their battle against evil. But when unnerving dreams start to plague Angelo, and the ancient beings of the Martu's Dreaming send prophetic warnings that include visions of Mouse at her father's side, the two lovers realize it's time to act. With nowhere left to run, Mouse and Angelo prepare for a last showdown with their enemies.

©2018 Dana Chamblee Carpenter (P)2019 Tantor

Awesome Trilogy

What a great ride! Wonderfully written and told! I can’t recommend it more! Phew! Can’t wait to revisit.

A fantastic conclusion to great trilogy!

Book of the Just by Dana Chamblee Carpenter is the third and final installment in the Bohemian Gospel trilogy. The series follows the life of Mouse an immortal, whose father is the devil.

Reading the final book in this series was a bittersweet experience for me as I both wanted to know how Mouse’s journey ends but was sad that this would be the last time we’d see and read Mouse’s story.

Throughout the series Mouse’s struggle for her humanity, for her soul, has been a driving force in her life. For 700 years she has just survived but in The Devil’s Bible (Book 2) Mouse meets Angelo who with his love and support teaches Mouse how to live and love once again. In the Book of the Just, Mouse’s soul and humanity is tested once again for the final time. The book is broken into four parts and we get an entire part of the book told from Angelo’s perspective. I enjoyed reading his side of the story as we get to see further the parallels between Mouse and Angelo.

I’ve grown very attached to Mouse throughout the series. She’s both human and magical in her characterization. She’s someone who has enormous empathy and carrying but who’s been hurt and who has lashed out because of that hurt. However, she has an inner guiding light that no matter how hard she tries at times to quench it, it always brings her back to the right path. Even as an immortal she’s the epitome of a human.

Her relationship with Angelo is beautiful. Many times, when you have relationships between humans and immortals, immortal tend to have the upper hand. They have more power by virtue of being an immortal and this can become problematic in those relationship. However, the relationship between Mouse and Angelo is mature and equal in as much as it can be. There is mutual love but more importantly respect between the two. It’s really refreshing to see.

The mythology and theology of the series is incredible. While the basis is Judeo-Christian there’s no preachiness to it. It’s part of the world-building of the story and you can enjoy it for that. In fact, some of the worst people in the books hide behind the façade of religion. The author clearly has an excellent command of theology and interweaves it beautifully throughout the series. It was a pleasure to read about it purely from an academic perspective.

I cannot recommend this book or this series highly enough. I cannot wait for what Dana Chamblee Carpenter has in store for us next.

Overall score 5/5

excellent story telling

Great narration, and the 3 part story has it all! Historical fiction, horror, romance, travel, esoteric knowledge, quests, I would listen to another 3 books.

So Good!

So good!!! Read this series! I have so much to say and no idea how to say it.

This book feels like those shows that suck you in for an entire weekend; Wheel of Time, Witcher I'm looking at you.

It is the classic story of good verses evil. The series contains a good deal of religious writing and imagery. Dana Chamblee Carpenter gives beautiful details of the religious items, buildings and locations. It was presented like religious art history and not religion class; I really appreciate that, I love religious art and architecture because of it's beauty. I even added a few new travel destinations.

The writing is superb, Carpenter does an amazing job of setting the scene. More than once I had to take deep breath and remind my self I wasn't actually in the often scary small space.

Though I did not cry; if you are prone to, you will. It's worth it (without spoilers) read it anyway, just avoid crowded areas. If you survived Game of Thrones you can handle this.

Such a wonderful series!

This series was so wonderful to read and then to listen to! The narration is impeccable and enjoyable. I wish this series could be made into a TV show, it would be a hit!

Surprisingly I enjoyed this

I wasn’t sure that I wanted to finish this series because the first book felt so draining. I felt like I was put through the ringer following Mouse’s story. I told myself after the first book I would stop but I couldn’t get Mouse out of my head. So I listened to the next book and when that concluded. I was eager for the Book of the Just. Wow what a ride I went through a gamut of emotions. It stuck the landing. I definitely recommend reading this series.