4/5 stars

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. My favourite part has to be the world building. Usually with first books in a series, the world can be a bit confusing and not that fleshed out, but Cassandra Clare did an excellent job with the storyline and I honestly couldn't put the book down at parts.

The characters were also so unique and well thought out. I love Simon and Jace's characters the most, especially because they're hilarious and sarcastic and provided the necessary comic relief. I did feel that Isabelle's character development at the end was kind of predictable and the last scene with her and Clary didn't really feel right. Clary on the other hand annoyed me at times. She's definitely a strong, independent character, who's kind of spontaneous and likes to speak her mind, but sometimes she would make the most annoying decisions without thinking anything through.

As for the love story (triangle?), I actually ended up really enjoying it, even though I was spoiled with the ending. I will say that even knowing what was going to eventually happen, I still enjoyed the relationship between Jace and Clary. It felt real and I could totally see why Clary would fall in love with Jace (because I fell in love with him too). There was definitely a lot of foreshadowing about their relationship and I feel that even if I didn't know about the ending, I would have definitely guessed it.

Also I need to mention Luke! He's like a Remus Lupin reincarnated but a bit more "bad ass" and I can't help the fact that I'm into the older men (only in books though, usually), but...I just hope things go well for him and he better not die or something.

Highly recommend this book. It's worth the hype definitely. I have heard some negative things about the rest of the series, so hopefully I'm not too disappointed!