4.5 Stars 
 I grew up watching Wild Wild West, The Avengers, and Sherlock Holmes re-runs, and this book felt like coming home. 
 This one was so much fun to read. I really loved it. Lots of adventure, gadgets, the brassy Eliza Braun with her love of explosives and weaponry, the dapper Wellington Books with his love of order and gadgetry. They are completely mismatched, which means of course that they make absolutely perfect partners. They just don't know it yet. 
 As a punishment for their respective screw ups, the action-driven agent and contemplative librarian find themselves stuck together and quickly get under each others skin. But there are dastardly deeds afoot, cruel inhuman experiments, secret societies, assassins, cover-ups, betrayals, so they need to find a way to work together, for Queen and Country, and just plain survival. 
 I really enjoyed how the POV switched each chapter between Books and Braun. We're getting to know them, just like they are getting to know each other, and I quickly became a fan of both. I also like that they still keep some secrets to themselves. There is still plenty for them, and the reader, to discover. 
 This is book 1 of a series, so we have a lot of set-up. There are many conspiracies still left floating, so there is plenty of fodder for future books. By necessity, since this book was how Books and Braun came together, the focus is mainly on them, but there are many intriguing side characters (especially the Ministry Seven - street urchins worth their weight in gold) and I hope we'll see more of them as the series continues. 
 Great start to series. I'll be waiting for the next one.