This book reminds me of poetry: beautiful, flowery writing that conveys something powerful... 
 aaaaaaaand it does absolutely nothing for me. This is definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me", because I didn't feel connected to Akiva, Karou, or Madrigal and didn't care what happened to them. I really only liked Brimstone, Issa, and the other minor chimera characters that were part of Karou's family. 
 Other than Karou, who I felt was so perfect she was bland, I liked the first part of the book. What were the teeth for? How did she end up being raised by the chimera? However, once Akiva showed up and the first half of the book ended, I lost interest. I am the queen of the oblivious and I figured out that (view spoiler)[Karou was reincarnated from Madrigal, Akiva's TWU WUV (hide spoiler)]. After that, even though we didn't have any answers to the mysteries of part one, it devolved into some so-called epic love story. And then, to make matters worse, we are thrown out of the present and have to follow Madrigal (who is even more perfect than Karou) around and hear about how she is the most desirable chimera EVER. 
 I felt like the first part and second part should have been reversed, with Madrigal's story first and then Karou second. It took me out of the story hard when we switched to Madrigal, as if Karou and Akiva's instant, epic love needed to be justified through Madrigal's love for Akiva. It felt backwards and I was bored. Honestly, it felt like nothing really happened through the majority of the book and most pages were spent on explaining why Akiva and Karou/Madrigal's love was so amazing. 
 Overall I'm disappointed, because I heard great things about Daughter of Smoke & Bone and for me it was just one big, long poem about soulmates and eternal love.