I was a little generous with my stars. I'd give it more 3.5, but it's one of those books that I look forward to rereading. 
 I took a long time to get into this book, maybe 3/4 of the way. Actually, I know the exact point when I started truly enjoying the book, it was when the flashbacks started. 
 I felt Karou was a bit unbelieveable. Her personality didn't mesh with how people truly are. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy her, but I felt the author took too many bold characteristics of artists and wrapped them all into one person. 
 When we are given the flashbacks, and see Karou as her true form, it feel right. Her quirks work. But not a moment before that. 
 It's been a few weeks since I read this, so the details aren't fresh anymore (I'll rereview once I've reread later in the year), but I feel like this story was missing something very crucial to change it from a decent book to a great book. 
 I was also taken aback at the world of chimera. The only chimera I've ever read about have been completely different from these. The most predominant being those in the Lorien Legacy series. There are similarities, but I never would have spun that chimera to this.