I found this second book to be a lot more loosely plotted than the first one. Perhaps because it's missing the structure of the tournament that gave the first book its form. 
 Furthermore, at times the characters would frustrate me to no end. Sometimes I can overlook this, but with Crown of Midnight it detracted from my reading pleasure. 
 I hope that the third book will take the story back to the level of awesomeness present in the first one.