Well, at least Clary has grown up a bit at the end of the book, and, overall, the characters are better. And the writing was better, too. The expressions that were repeated over and over and over again in the first book are not used at all in this book or they are used wisely. 
 Even so, I have a couple of complaints: 
 -The ending was kind of weak. Not very gripping. (But I liked the whole chat between Clary and Lucian, and between Clary and Jace. It was bound to happen.) 
 -Even when I say the writing is better, it is still not that good. I sometimes felt like there were comments on the part of the characteres that were really forced, jokes out of place, and things missing in some dialogues. 
 -Valentine is such a kid. He thinks himself a criminal mastermind but is actually super predictable and childish in his way of thinking. He should try to keep his world-cleansing priorities straight.