After finishing City of Bones I was so excited to start reading this. I wanted to know how things would continue after that hell of a cliff hanger in the first book. I waited one whole week tho as I wanted to stay on schedule of the year long read-along for the Shadowhunter series. Therefore I started immediately once the 27th of January arrived!

The second book picked up where we were left in the end of the first book right away. The story progressed in a quite fast pace which I honestly very liked. We were also introduced to quite a few new characters that added a good new flavour to the story. One thing I really like about all the characters in the story so far is that neither is purely good or bad. They seem real and they act accordingly (even when some actions might not be the wisest things to do *smiles*).

Jace was a really interesting character to study in this book. You truly were able to see how the twist form the last book still hurt him. To top all that he feared to even loose the one family he had always known. I was so sad to see him hurting so much. However, I think he grew just as much because of this.

I really liked to see the relationships of the characters grow quite a lot too. Malec is already my favourite and I really really hope we're going to see more of them in the next few books (I grinned so much when I read the scene with the fearless rune! It was a pity that it stopped working so early tho!). I truly believe that they are perfect for each other ^___^
Clary on the other hand got in a relationship with Simon quite in the beginning of the story... I wasn't that found of that to be honest. I do understand that Clary was hoping to fall in love again and forget about Jace... but in a way I don't like seeing her with Simon that way. I was really glad when they ended it again in the last part of the book. They are better off as just being friends in my opinion.
As for Clary and Jace... I still can't believe that they're supposed to be brother and sister!!!! It has to be some kind of mistake! I was hurting so much reading about their desire for each other but weren't able to go further because their siblings. I really hope this was just a trick and none of this is true! It can't be!

I'm really curious how things will continue from now on. What will Valentine try next? I believe this wasn't the last time we've seen him! It sure will stay interesting ^^
Can't wait to read the third book!!!