How good is this book? Four big fat stars is how good. Wow! I received this book from #LibraryThing and was expecting a decent little steampunk story. I was wrong in all the right ways; this book was awesome! Sophronia wants to be a serious journalist and instead is given stories such as reporting on a self-improvement lecture for the society pages. What a dull assignment-until it morphs into something sinister. Soph and fellow reporter Reuben have stumbled upon a dastardly scheme that involves the “Elder Gods” and the “Farthest Depths of Space”. The alluring Isadora Blank is hiding something-can Soph and her friends figure it out before all is lost. Well, of course they can; otherwise why write the book. The way it’s done, though, is so good and so well written; my mind is blown. It’s not quite steampunk but it treads the line of parallel/alternate world. This is a great story, the characters are very well written with dialogue that is real and makes sense. The details of the world building bring out the story instead of overshadowing it, the ending is perfect. There is danger, romance, magic and there are cats. Suffice it to say, the cats are excellent. The prose, don’t get me started- the prose itself is sublime. I am a huge fan of a book with a great vocabulary and I had so much fun looking up the words Mr. Di Filippo used; and the way he can turn a phrase is beyond talented. I am mortified to realize this is the first book of his that I have read-shocking and soon rectified. As I said, four big fat stars. Grab this one, you will not be disappointed