I didn't read it when I was younger, and I think I am more attached to the DWJ I read as a kid. But I did like it a lot! As you say, it's confusing in the beginning, but it makes sense to me in retrospect.

Unlike Fire and Hemlock which did not make sense to me (though of course it's very possible that it does actually make sense and I just don't understand it). And I was put off by the romance in that book, so there's that too.