I'll start off by saying that I've never read a Cassandra Clare book before this so I didn't have any preconceived notions for what to expect with her characters or plots or whatever. But I actually really enjoyed this. I'm a sucker for Fantasy Politics and that's basically all this was. I really liked the characters, especially Kel and Conor and their relationship, and the world was interesting. It was definitely too long and basically just set up for a larger and more explosive sequel, but I didn't really mind that. I was hooked the whole time and will definitely pick up the next one.