This book had me,,,, up until the last quarter of the book, then it kind of fell flat. 
 The writing was beautiful, and I loved the descriptions of all of the unique chimaera, and was really digging the mystery of the story - particularly about "who" or "what" Karou is! The development of Karou's character was very well done, as was Akiva's - although we only got peeks into who he is. It was when I got to the party where Madrigal and Akiva meet that I felt the book lost something. In fact, I know what it lost,,, it lost its momentum. The story was going on in a high arc, with lots of action and mystery and then all of the sudden.... it slowed down and we learned about Madrigal and how she and Akiva got to "know" each other. I have to say that up until that time, I was sure this book would get 5 stars, but the flow of the book was totally thrown off which is so disapointing. I am still looking forward to the next installment, to find out what happened and what will happen to all of my favorite characters.