It was okay. Very Java specific at times, and the way it is laid out is kind of odd; the authors wait until the very end of the book to actually define what a design pattern is, and then impress upon the reader that they don't actually need design patterns a lot of times. I think it would have made more sense to start with a few patterns of each category (categories it doesn't define to the end of the book), then talk about when to use them and when not to, then expand with more advanced patterns.

I did appreciate the quirkiness of the book though; it kept a very dry topic from being too dry to read about.