Currently Reading: Cress by Marissa Meyer (of Foreshadowing and Plot Developments, Oh My!)

Soooooo I kind of stayed awake until 7am for the past couple of days, reading Cress in the wee hours of the morning whilst struggling to put the damn book down and go to sleep, like a normal human being. This means that, for the past few days (even when reading Scarlet) I have been waking up in the afternoon. Oh dear...

Yeah, I ain't no good role model for my little niece right now!

Throws on some tunes, stops watching Buffy and actually continues writing this piece.

I'm not even kidding, I have been hooked on Cress since I started reading it. Already I'm up to Chapter 41, and with only 60 or so chapters in this book, I've pretty much sped through this in just two days. Two. Days. I'm beyond halfway through, and if I'm not careful with how much I read tonight, I could have it finished by dawn, because I literally can't put this bloody thing down. I really like it.

I really enjoy where Cress is going and with how the plot is developing thus far. I find that some of the developments have happened at a pace that was achingly slow for me, however no matter what, this book has had me on edge since I began it. It's taken a different turn to both Cinder and Scarlet, and whilst a romance does indeed blossom here (which I had hoped would not happen, I do admit) the focus is more-so on the characters coming together, their growth as people, and discoveries as well as the rise of a war.

It's gripping, there have been unexpected advancements in the novel and, clearly, maturity - you can sense Meyer's maturity as a writer in Cress, and how we have almost broken away from the Fairy Tales, but not completely. There was one especially shocking plot point in the book that really set me on edge as a reader that I had in no way anticipated, but found me in a fit of discomfort and rage for one of the characters. It was a powerful and rather emotional point in the book, reading the turmoil of this character. I was a tad distraught.

There are still elements of it that can be seen as a little clichéd or obvious in ways, and as I read Cress in the early hours of the morrow, I definitely picked up on the inspiration from Sailor Moon - I've noticed it in smatterings between all three books, actually, however it's most prevalent here, almost glaringly obvious (especially Artemisia; I snorted at that, I won't lie) but it's elements like this, the familiarity of something like Sailor Moon, which I watched during my own childhood, that is nice about the book. It does not borrow from this so heavily however, that it loses its true identity. Throughout, the Lunar World is still the Lunar World, and it is completely its own - Meyer doesn't engulf it in fanfiction fantasies or pre-existing characters. Really, there are only small parallels between the Lunar World and Sailor Moon that I can see in the books, but not so many that it becomes a problem or a headache as a reader.

Also, when reading Cress - and this is no issue, more a discovery - I finally seemed to latch on to some foreshadowing that, stupidly so, I did not see in Scarlet, where said foreshadowing began. The Rampion. For crying out loud, the bloody ship Carswell Thorne loves so damn much is a bloody foreshadowing device for the character Cress and himself, and how they are tied together in a way.
 Took me long enough, aye?

Getting back on track...

Cress is, by far, the best of the three books that have come out already - Cinder of course started it all, and Scarlet continued with the threat and beginnings of a war, however Cress is the story that brings forth the edge and emotion, I believe. It doesn't follow a similar pattern to its predecessors at all, and whilst it does hold that familiar romantic story we've come to know in the past two books, Cress truly comes into its own as a novel. It's gripping, leaves you on edge and begs that you read more. It's a book that I have had a difficult time putting down, and you can be sure that tonight, when I get ready for bed and sit down to read, I will have a hard time falling asleep once again.

I may rub my eyes as the light of a new morning drizzles through my curtains, and I may ache with want of sleep, but I know that no matter what, I won't put this story down until I am satisfied, and honestly? I won't be completely sated until it has all finished, and even then, I will be left wanting more.

Really, I worry for those long months when I have to wait for Winter to come out. That will truly ache...

Until next time, Happy Reading and Writing!

Be sure to sleep, because I won't with all this anticipation building up...
~ Kelly