This is the story of a blue haired art student living in Prague named Karou, who was raised by the Chimaera, and really has no idea who she really is. She always feels like she is missing something in her life. While she helps the only family she's ever known with their trade, she starts to discover things that she never knew, about her family, her world, and herself. 
 Just reading the summary here on Goodreads, or even on the book it's self, you are totally unprepared for what the book is really about. Laini Taylor's writing is beautiful, her detail and just the flow of her words is amazing. She takes something that we think we all know, something that you think has been written about so many times in the past few years- and changes it perfectly. 
 Character wise, Karou is easily a likable character, and I was able to understand how she was feeling throughout most of the book. Akiva becomes more likable much later in the book and I hope that he plays more into the next book also. Zuzana, too. All of the main characters become more likable as the book goes on and Karou's 'wishes' are one of the must relatable thing, in my opinion. (I've dyed my hair blue before and if I would keep it that way forever, I would.) 
 My pros and cons for this book; as for pros, it was a very unique story, with lots of twist and turns. I really enjoyed the characters more than half the times, and the story moves quickly but not too fast. Taylor was able to make Karou a strong character, someone who could fend for herself, but at time she was also just a teenage girl. We see her talk about how she feels alone and wants to have a boyfriend, to have love. 
 As for the cons, there were really only a few things that bugged me. First was the love interest. It bothered me at first because it seemed to be happening so fast, but once you get farther into the book, you see why, so I started to understand why it moved as quickly as it did. The other thing that bothered me (and it was probably only me) was that I was able to predict really what was going to happen for some of the book, despite never reading a review for this book, or hearing anything about it. Some of it was just really too predictable to me and I hope that the next book has more surprises and twists in it. 
 When I first started this book, I read about 3 chapters and then put it down for about a week. It really didn't catch my interest at all. When I finally picked it back up, I didn't want to put it down. I brought it to school, to work, I read it as much as I could. I finished the last 30 chapters (the chapters are usually no more than a few pages) just tonight and I haven't been able to pick up any of the other books I have started. I plan on picking up the next book tomorrow morning and I'm excited to start reading tomorrow on my break.