I enjoyed this book. It's a fun read. Not literary genius, but entertaining. I liked Clary, and Simon, and I liked the way she found out about the weird world of the Shadowhunters etc. I thought the characters were pretty likeable, and were fairly unique and well-built.The book travels at a good pace, it has some interesting action scenes, and a fairly interesting plot.Cassandra Clare has a good imagination, and although her writing is not to the standard of many authors, I guess great wording and stuff isn't what her audience is interested in. For people who are looking for a good story, Clare has it.The thing that really bugged me was her techniques in her writing. Every metaphor was either cliched or to the standard of a twelve year old. I know it's written in the voice of Clary, who is sixteen, but she is an artist - surely she could afford to pop some meaty imagery into her descriptions?Clare almost makes up for her simplistic, perhaps even bland, writing with some unexpected plot twists. I know I'm slow, but I didn't see anything coming.Another thing I didn't enjoy was the Werewolf's Tale - a chapter basically telling Luke's story. I guess it was necessary, I guess it added to the plot...but it was so boring. I felt absolutely no attachment to the characters, and I didn't really care what was happening. I skipped half of it. So - yeah. It's a good story. You'll enjoy it if you're not expecting it to be life-changing, inspirational literature.
