This is an amazing second book in this incredibly fascinating series. It definitely didn't suffer from middle book syndrome as the plot now heads in a completely different direction than the first book. The story continues with our main heroine Celaena Sardothian. She is no longer trying to win her freedom. Instead, she's now known as the King's assassin and is carrying out his evil deeds as he requests. Celaena remains strong-spirited and powerful in this book. She is the right hand to the King, despite not believing in his cause. She has quite a few tricks up her sleeve. Dorian, the king's son is still ever present in this story, even though he and Celaena's romance has been squelched. Dorian learns a great deal about himself in this novel. Its evident that he will play a much bigger role in future installments. Don't fear, there is still some hot romance present between these pages and this time its between Chaol and Celaena. This is a special romance, not a single shred of instalove present as it takes the whole first book and half of the second for their intimate relationship to begin. All of the old characters, with the exception of those that perished in the last novel are still present in this one. Nehemia, Celaena's best friend remains playing an integral role in the story. My favorite parts of this book were the continuing mystery of the wyrd marks, the action, the ancient history of the characters, the magic and of course the incredible twist revealed at the end. This is a very fast paced read with plenty of mystery and intrigue. A complex political battle is brewing. Its going to be incredibly awesome to finally find out who will prevail. The ending of this book opens up a whole different set of possibilities for Celaena, continuing her story to a completely different setting. I can't wait to see how she handles her new situation. I'm so happy I have the next book ready to read. I strongly recommend this book to fans of book one as I truly think Crown of Midnight is an even BETTER novel than the first one and that's hard to believe.