I was pleased to see that book 2 of the series was just as good as the first book, although I'm not actually sure if I enjoyed it as much. That sounds stupid and contradictory I know, but what I mean is that the storyline in this book was better than the first, it was slightly darker which worked well, it still had the balance of humour which I was glad of but, for large portions of the story I found myself disliking Clary. I'm a Jace fan, I'm not going to hide it and he was wonderful throughout with hints about his abusive upbringing and the dichotomy of the facade he puts up and the way he really feels. Clary has Jace on a string for the whole book, and although events in the first book obviously plays a large part in her actions, I found her needlessly cruel to him at times. It wasn't his fault, yet she acted as though it was and the whole 'I'll punish myself by not talking to Jace' bs because of what happened to Simon was so selfish I was half hoping that Jace wouldn't come running when she snapped her fingers. She calls all the shots and I get it - she's a heartbroken teenage girl who enjoys having two boys at her beck and call and can't see past her own feelings, but I disliked girls like that when I was that age so I really haven't developed a tolerance for them now that I'm older. At least she admits the reason she doesn't have any female friends is because she feels threatened by them (for encroaching on her boys, I guess) so I'm hoping with the nonsense with the now vampiric Simon over with (I mean seriously - it is clearly impossible to have a platonic male/female friendship in modern media nowadays, isn't it?) that Clary will open her eyes and grow up a little. 
 Simon...up until the end of the book I disliked him. He reminded me of Jacob from Twilight, and not in a good way and although no one had a gun to Clary's head to force her to go along with it, he did kinda brow beat her into a relationship out of his jealousy for Jace. The very same jealousy that had him run off in a childish rage and into a room of vampires where he got turned. I think he'll come into his own when he's away from Clary more and he did redeem himself at the end. 
 I know I'm judging him and Clary harshly - they are supposed t just be 16, but in so many ways they don't act 16, or talk 16 so although I get it, they are hormonally driven, angst ridden, selfish teenagers - it's sometimes hard to reconcile how they act sometimes with how they appear most of the time. 
 I enjoyed her power developing though and although I suppose it's a convenient power, the main character in every book generally has to have something extraordinary about them or else there wouldn't be much point of anything. 
 I loved the little homage to Harry Potter with the Dumbledore vs Magnus Bane discussion at the end, and although the Inquisitor reminded me of Dolores Umbridge at first (especially with the handcuffs - oww) I was pleased to find that she had some depth and backstory that made her actions, while not right, at least a little understandable. 
 Regardless of everything I've said, I did really enjoy the book and I can't wait to start the third and see what happens next. I have my suspicions, but we'll see. If nothing else, I know I'll be engrossed in how it develops anyway.