Richly Descriptive Yet Conversational
If you're lucky, you know someone who has a way with words. You know, that person who, whenever she describes something, you think to yourself, "Yes, that's exactly it." Maybe you're even one of those people yourself. Sarah Rees Brennan definitely is. She uses clever similes throughout The Demon's Lexicon, such as a pipe that groans "like an ancient robot about to fall to pieces" (1.15) or the description of Jamie as someone "who moved gently and apologetically through life, like a hunted animal trying not to stir the leaves as he passed" (7.124).
And yet she manages to keep things moving and keep the narrative conversational. Despite all of the description, which in some books can seem to bog things down, the writing in The Demon's Lexicon moves swiftly. This is in part due to the quick and witty dialogue that peppers every page, but it's also due to Rees Brennan's style, which manages to be richly descriptive without getting too wordy.