It may have been a mistake to read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series before this one... The writing itself is much more juvenile here, and I don't think it has anything to do with this being a YA series.

I didn't believe Celaena's motivations for many of her actions and found parts of this story boring. The romance felt forced and rushed, and the competition was a joke. I thought she would be battling these killers and criminals; instead, they're standing around naming poisons, competing in archery, and climbing walls.

I found the Fae/magic components too fleeting and vague to contribute much to the story and instead made the plot more complicated than necessary. I'm hoping that this comes into play later and starts to make more sense as the series continues. I'm also hoping for more worldbuilding and character development in Crown of Midnight because so far everything feels underdeveloped.