4 books I can't wait for in Autumn/Winter '16

Week 6 of 13

I actually originally wanted to do this week's post on the topic of Great British Bake Off, which I have no doubt you know has waltzed into our lives once more in the arms of a delightful quartet of national treasures, to a round of tumultuous, ecstatic applause, and a few quietly sniffed tears of joys

But, you know, I thought it better to do it when I'd watched a few more episodes, and I also quickly needed to do this post before the books I was talking about got released, and then I'd have one less to talk about and this post would look a bit sad and empty...

Sorry, I'll stop now...

So anyway, I know there's only four months left till the end of the year, but that's OK, it's enough time for books I literally cannot wait to read to be released.

1) Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

I did a review for Six of Crows, the first book in this series, read it here if you want, and you'll know (if you did go back and read the review, which I doubt) that I LOVED it. Honestly one of the best books I read this year, and that's because there are only a few really, really memorable ones that stick out for the good reasons, and this was one of them. It had everything I love in a story- strong females, well-written romance, a fast-paced plot, double-crossing, smart-mouthed characters, sexy guys (looking at you, Brekker), intrigue, good world-building (most of the work had been done by the Grisha trilogy, admittedly) all sprinkled with a generous helping of banter.



Six of Crows ended on a hell of a twist and a cliffhanger almost (but not quite) as bad as Mark of Athena, and Crooked Kingdom will follow from that (presumably). After the turn of events of the previous book that even Kaz Brekker, criminal prodigy didn't see coming, he and his crew are not left in the position they expected to be in. With the lodestone of the group gone, the crew, with their already fragile loyalties, will be tested by rivals old and new, as the race and battle for the world-changing drug ensues.

Release date: 27th September 2016

I actually think this is the book I am most excited for. If Bardugo does the same kind of stuff she did in Six of Crows, I know I'm gonna love it. I can't wait to read it.

2) Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

Just a few things I need to say on this one...

I LOVE Rick Riordan. I'm putting that out there, because I honestly do. I was first introduced to him in Year 5, where a boy in my class brought Lightning Thief in, for the teacher to read to everyone, you know, the way they do in primary school. Literally the entire class, who didn't understand and appreciate how amazing Rick Riordan is, literally just messed around, made farting noises, plaited each other's hair, played with their Ben 10 watches etc, etc. - it was just me and one other friend of mine who were sitting at the front, grabbing the teacher's legs, and listening, riveted. When the teacher gave up our class as a lost cause and gave it back to the owner, I went up to him and asked him to borrow it- bearing in mind I didn't really talk to him much before that- I was kind of a bit of a cow to him, really. Thankfully, he didn't have the same stringent book-borrowing rules he does now (we're great friends now, don't worry) and I went home and read it, and my little ten year old mind was blown.



But the thing is, there are some authors, who can carry on developing and expanding and not let go of their original story forever. Like J K Rowling. And there others who, however unfairly it may seem, keep getting told to just let go. Now I'm not saying that Rick Riordan is as tenacious as Cassandra Clare but even a die-hard mythology fan like me, has a part of them (THAT THEY'RE NOT PROUD OF) going



And even though I enjoyed Sword Of Summer, I did remember having a few issues with it, and I vividly remember thinking that Percy and Magnus were carbon copies of each other. Honestly, replace Magnus' name with Percy and you would be none the wiser.

That being said, I really did enjoy Sword of Summer (LOVED Sam) and Loki's character was so intriguing and fascinating, I would LOVE to find out more about him. Think less:



...and more



He's still the silver-tongued god of trickery though, and his appearances in Sword of Summer were really entertaining to read, especially his whole father-daughter dynamic with Sam. I know we will see more of him, especially because he will have something to do with Thor's hammer disappearing. Oh, and I know that Sam is promised to Amir (who I know appears for like, less than a page but I love him regardless) but I really want her and Magnus to at least kiss.

Release date: 4th October

Really can't wait for this. It's gonna be good

3) Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

Hmmm...

Now, I had a bit of an issue with these books. To cut things short: liked Book 1, lite-fantasy; pretty, sweet, fluffy stuff; lots of romancing and girly-ness (but not enough bad-ass-ness). LOVED Book 2, the right amounts of everything- there was great romance, (Chaolaena are the OTP) great fantasy aspects, great females ass-kicking, great pace and plot. Book 3 wasn't great- there were loads of new characters who were so boring and unmemorable and it was sooooooooooo sloooooooooooowwwwwwwww. Everytime I started reading it, I was like:



Whenever I put it down, I didn't want to pick it up again, and it was a bit of a struggle to finish it. It was like Deathly Hallows Part 1- it was all setting it up for the next installment, but Heir of Fire didn't do it as well as David Yates did. And Book 4:



Aelin and her Terrasen crew got SO. ANNOYING. Every one just kept going on about how awesome she is and how amazing her powers are and how much they love her, like the sun shines out of her bum crack and her shits smell of roses. All I saw was an irritating, patronising, self-absorbed, superior-feeling cow who thought she was above everyone else because of her surname. She's so determined to get her crown back because she thinks she's so right for her throne, but I bet she'll be crap at it. She'll be like a social justice warrior, and she'll do stupid things that will only help one small group of people, but will piss off and endanger a whole lot more. And for some reason, Maas has turned Chaol (who was my BAE) into a bit of a dick, made Aelin drop him like a hot potato and has introduced bloody Rowan as her love interest!



In Heir of Fire, there was absolutely NO sexual attraction between them at all, and I started enjoying their platonic, bickering relationship, kind of like an indulgent brother and his annoying little sister. Rowan found her annoying and self-absorbed, which she is, and then BAM! All of a sudden, he's having massive internal monologues about how goddamn sexy she is and  it's just so



I actually had quite a lot more issues with that book, so you might wonder why on earth I would be looking forward to Empire of Storms. Well, even though I don't have a lot of hope for Book 5, Maas is a really good author, and I really enjoy her writing. Who knows, she might *tentatively* bring it back, but I highly doubt it. I also just kind of need to see how she finishes the whole thing off, because I loved these characters in the first two books and invested too much into them to just discard them the way Maas did Chaol.

Release date: 6th September

4) A Torch Against The Night by Sabaa Tahir

The first book in this (I think) series was FANTASTIC. It was only afterwards that I came off my reading high and was able to think coherently that I realised that it actually wasn't that original, but for the first time, it didn't matter. It's like in Bake Off, when the contestants get given a challenge and decided instead of jazzing it up and using weird ingredients and trying to be all fancy, they'll keep it simple but just try to do it really, really well. And that's exactly what Tahir did. Her characters are all written so fantastically well, and Elias and especially Laia's developments as characters is really, really good. And the Commandant, man:



She was evil. An actual psycopath. Every scene that Laia had with her, I wanted to scream and put the book down because I was so scared she was gonna get caught, but the writing was so gripping and compelling I was mesmerised. And there were two love triangles, but even they was written so well and there was so much complexity, that even though I was shipping Laia and Elias like crazy, I couldn't help but feel for both Keenan and Helene.

Release date: 30th August 

This is so soon, and I cannot wait to read more of Laia and Elias' story, as well as all the other characters, especially Helene, who is so fascinating that I feel really sorry for her because I know that Laia and Elias will end up together, and I don't want the poor girl, bless her cotton socks, to end up heartbroken.



Any other books that I should be looking forward to or you think I might have missed? Please, please, please don't hesitate to tell me, because I honestly am feeling quite lonely now.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: A review

Week 5 of 13

I've read Bardugo's Grisha trilogy, and I really enjoyed it- some books were better than others, and I did have issues with the characters and stuff (urgh, Mal needed a hard kick in the balls)- overall, it was a solid 4.26 stars. I had actually previously also picked up Six of Crows, but I abandoned it after the prologue or whatever that first bit with Joost was- don't know why, I think I was reading something else at the time, and then forgot to go back to it. It was only when I was looking for something really good to read because what I'd just finished was really crap (A Court of Mist and Fury- it ended up being pretty decent, but I wanted to waterboard Feyre, the moody cow). So when I saw the glowing 5 star reviews on Goodreads, I thought I might as well.

Rating: 4.78 out of 5 stars

Mary, Joseph, donkey, three wise men and sweet little seven pound baby Jesus himself.

WHAT A BOOK, GUYS, WHAT A BOOK.

Six of Crows is set in the same universe as the Grisha trilogy, I think two years after the event of the final book. We don't see any of the old characters, although Zoya and Prince (now King) Nikolai are mentioned, especially the former. It's not set in Ravka, although one of the characters is from there, but Ravka also crops up fairly often.

Kaz Brekker is a ruthless, crook, criminal mastermind, and (practically) the leader of a crew in a city called Ketterdam, that is fast making a name for itself as one to watch out for. When a man makes Kaz an offer that try as he might, he can't refuse, he gathers a motley, six-people-strong crew, to break into one the most notorious and secure prisons in the world. 

Aargh, I don't know where to begin! I honestly was NOT in any way expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. I sped through this book, so caught up in the characters, the plot twists and turns, the engaging dialogue, and then I finished it and was like

At its centre, this story is a heist story. I've read quite a lot of those type of heist or con stories, like Heist Society and Con Academy, but I never really got into those. The heist/con was always so complicated and far fetched that I never understood what was actually going on, and the authors tried so hard to craft their protagonists into aloof, tough, quick-thinking, don't-need-anyone-but-myself characters that they didn't spend enough time giving their characters enough depth and personality to REALLY make us root for them. But MAN, Bardugo did it, and she did it well.

The characterisation in this book is PHENOMENAL. We are presented with six main characters, and each and every single one is crafted with such SKILL. Not a single one is left out, and trust me, it's no mean feat to develop all your characters so superbly. I loved how funny and bubbly and teasing and sarcastic Nina was, with her smart dialogue and the way she teased Matthias. I wasn't too sure about Matthias as first, but as his story went on, Bardugo developed him so well, showing his own personal journey, from hating Grisha to feeling sympathy, then grudging respect, then eventually acceptance. Jesper, poor guy, I really felt for, because the writer showed his personal struggles and turmoils so well, and I really thought he fancied Kaz. Wylan, the spineless, useless fool, who turned out to have some uses and suddenly grew a spine. Inej, the loyal, stealthy Wraith, who was the lodestone of the group in a way, who had her own dreams, her own desires. And Mr Kaz Brekker himself.

I LOVED Kaz. He reminded me of Skulduggery, (if Skulduggery was more ruthless and had less of a conscience) with his comebacks for all situations, him always being ten steps ahead of everybody else in the game, and of course, always being immaculately, formally dressed. Not that I've read many books with anti-heroes (except for Marie Lu's Adelina, and I seem to be the only person in the world who REALLY disliked her) but I've always wanted to read a book with a really good one, someone to rival Loki-

                                               

-which is nigh on impossible, because no mere mortal will be able to match that level of perfection, and finally, Kaz Brekker has come close.

“You'll get what's coming to you some day, Brekker."

"I will," said Kaz, "if there's any justice in the world. And we all know how likely that is.”

Despite EVERYTHING, despite how utterly without mercy Kaz is, despite the fact that his moral compass broke a long, long time ago, despite how he pushes people away and doesn't let anyone close to him, both literally and figuiratively, whenever we read a chapter from Kaz's point of view, we are given an insight into his mind, and he is humanised for us. His backstory with Jordie was so sad, and the way he felt about Inej was just, urgh. There were so many romances in this book to be invested in.

I say that, but another thing I really liked was the way Bardugo did the romance, in that it was fantastically done. We had two straight couples and almost definitely a soon-to-be gay couple (looking forward to seeing how that plays out) and every single one of them I was emotionally invested in. Matthias and Nina's history, which was revealed though flashbacks and memories, was so realistically developed, full of quips and taunts and banter and teasing, and I loved it. Wylan and Jesper and almost definitely going to end up together, but I'm glad Bardugo only teased it, because it's too much to expect that they would get together straight away, while previously not being able to be together without sniping at each other. And Kaz and Inej:

IT WAS ALMOST INFURIATING HOW THEY WERE SO HESITANT AND DANCED AROUND THEIR FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER! Poor Kaz, who's been wearing his armour for so long he doesn't know how to begin taking it off, and poor Inej, who's heart is in so much turmoil she has no idea what she really wants. What was one of the best things about it was no matter how badly I wanted them to just kiss and go off to make babies, it was a very realistic portrayal of how that kind of romance would progress. That's what I liked about all of the romances actually. I may have wanted Matthias to burst into tears and confess his love to Nina, or for Jesper to compose an epic love ballad to woo Wylan, or for Inej to grab Kaz by his beautifully starched collar and snog his face off, but it wouldn't realistically happen. For the first time, THERE WAS NO INSTA-LOVE IN A YOUNG ADULT FANTASY NOVEL!

One thing that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed as much if there was more of it out there, was Nina and Inej's relationship. It is so rare to have a good female friendship in a book, with no bitchiness or irrational jealousy between them, and it's so sad that we don't get it enough in books. I genuinely don't understand why it's not more common, because do authors think it's that hard for the readers to believe, that there are females who are friends with each other and have a strong, honest relationship? And if so, what does that say about us women? 

Sorry, went a bit too deep there.



And man, that opening chapter, when Kaz goes to meet with Geels was SO GOOD. Like, I felt like I was actually watching it or something, because there were actual shivers going down my spine, and I kept chickening out and putting the book down because I was so sure that something bad was going to happen. It was just one more of the many parallels between Kaz and Skulduggery Pleasant, and Kaz just pulled it off so well.

Another comparison to Skulduggery Pleasant (sorry) is the funny banter and camaraderie between the characters. Okay, maybe not camaraderie, because they hardly all have a good enough relationship with each other to have that, but all the piss-taking, dry remarks and witty taunts were all so fun to read.

Jesper knocking his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. "Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I'm going to get Wylan's ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost."

Brekker's lips quirked. "I'll just hire Matthias' ghost to kick your ghost's ass."

"My ghost won't associate with your ghost," said Matthias primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain

If there is some lonely soul out there who by chance happened to stumble across this review, I urge you to give it a try, it's a fantastic book. The sequel is coming out on the 27th September and I cannot even contain my excitement, it's going to fantastic, especially with the way the last one ended.

4 of the most underrated book series ever

Week 4 of 13

The minds of hoi polloi across the world work in strange, unexplainable ways that I cannot even begin to fathom, especially in regards to likes and dislikes. You have things like The Great British Bake Off (which is returning on BBC1 on Wednesday 24th at 8pm and I am indecently exhilarated about it, almost as much as Maz Bez)

- which on paper, seems to be the oddest, most boring thing ever and you cannot understand why anybody would want to watch it. But it's a British cultural phenomenon, raking in the most viewers out of everything on TV last year, and has the nation hooked.

And then you have things like Twilight which are literally hundred year old cowpats that have been cleverly and ingeniously disguised to look like books, which mindless tweens and their mums the world over seem to adore. AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY. The lead actor has also been quite passive aggressive towards it as well, which is hilarious. Sometimes he's not so subtle, though.



So some mad crazes are completely understandable, while others, well



But what legitimately makes me really, really sad, is that there are such GEMS out there, especially when it comes to books, and people don't know about them! They go to the library, peruse the shelves, their fingers dancing over the spines. They perhaps pause on a copy of Last Stand of the Dead Men, and their hand almost seems to hesitate, before they move on and pick up some fucking crap like Evermore or something equally as rubbish. And you're just left in the corner going



These are the books that I am the only person who seems to have read, because no one else has heard of them. These books are so fabulous, that people should be reading them everyday and naming their babies after the protagonists. These books should be celebrated and turned into Oscar-winning, box-office-smashing, movies. People should be crying with how fantastically epic they are.

It's a bit of a tricky situation though. On the one hand, I'm kind of glad. This way, it won't make mainstream media and be ruined by airheads who have never picked up a book in their lives, walking the school corridors with copies clutched under their arms, gushing over it and pretending they were there from the beginning. I don't want them to reach a wide audience, otherwise they will be ruined by idiots who don't appreciate the depth to them and only read it because the movie came out. It will stay my book, y'know?

But at the same time, I want to celebrate them with everyone and weep over their incomparable beauty with the world because they're so beautiful. I want the whole world to acknowledge how good they are and how amazing the author is. Because it genuinely is their loss if they don't read it- they don't know what they're missing out on. You know how you have that one friend who you keep telling to watch some TV series or read a book because it's amazing and you know they will love it, and they just won't? It's the same kind of feeling, just on a more massive scale. I'm having this problem with a guy friend of mine who is just REFUSING to read Skulduggery Pleasant. And it's so sad because I know he'd LOVE them.


So, I'm going to do you all a favour here, guys. I will introduce you to some of these wonders. Don't all thank me at once.

1) Skulduggery Pleasant, by Derek Landy

These books are my fourth favourite book series ever. If the top three weren't so fabulous, it would be Number 1. And the worst thing is that the author turned away just the thing that would get it some more attention- a movie adaptation. I mean, it was most definitely going to be crap, but it would be SO EXCITING TO SEE!

The books follow this girl called Stephanie Edgley, who is introduced to world of magic after the death of her uncle, and becomes the protegee of... wait for it... a walking, talking skeleton.

Skulduggery Pleasant is an undead detective who works for the Sanctuary, sort of like the Ministry of Magic, who solves crime, shoots things, blows things up with fireballs, and drives a Bentley. And I know I'm probably not selling it well, but it is SO FABULOUS! The first three books start off a little slow, but then they all start fitting together to form an amazing storyline that will damage you emotionally.

There's action, there's fantasy, there's murder, there's violence, there's crime, there's horror, there's romance... and there is banter.

Skulduggery is the actual Archbishop of Banterbury. Him and Valkyrie (Stephanie's taken name) have such gr8 bantz it will actually leave you crying with laughter. Seriously, looks up their quotes on Goodreads. I would show you some, but there's so many.

It's not just that though. There are amazing characters, with amazing development, and some characters you will hate with your guts, others will actually leave you crying when they die and they are all so fantastic and hilarious that I wouldn't be able to pick just five to hang out with or something. I would need to hang out with ALL of them.

And the plot twists. Oh my dear God. Don't even get me started on them. There's that thing at the end of Dark Days, as well as Skulduggery's revelation in Death Bringer:

and the revelation of the Man-With-The-Golden-Eyes.

But seriously guys. If you only pick one of these five series to read, let it be this. Please.

2) Gone, by Michael Grant

I haven't read Lord of the Flies, but I know what it's about, because the whole world refers to it all the time. I'm sure you do too, so I'm selling you these books like this- this is Lord of the Flies in twenty-first century America and there is fantasy too.

One day, when the world is mid-action, all the adults in Perdido Beach disappear. Gone. Poof. Vanished. Everybody under the age of fifteen is left behind. To make things worse, a barrier has appeared, cutting off the town from the rest of the world. Can it get worse? Oh yes. People are developing strange, magical powers, and they're not always willing to use them for good. Cue the entrance of a group of spoilt psychopaths who decide they'd be better off running everything.

The best thing about it is what a realistic scenario it creates. If we take out the fantasy aspect, everything that happens in the FAYZ (the new name for Perdido Beach) is what would be likely to happen if this actually occured. Michael Grant really goes for it. There's the typical "NO ADULTS WE CAN DO WHAT WE WANT YEAH!" situation, but then everybody sobers up as the food supplies start running out. Arson and murder is committed. Little kids find the alcohol, drug stashes, and firearms. Psychos decide they need to be in charge of everything. The noble leader who is doing everything for the people's own good gets turned on by the stupid public who don't realise he is helping them. Segregation comes about between the normal people, and the "mutants", those with magic abilities. He really doesn't miss a thing.

The characters are great too. They're all developed so well. There are the characters who are the good guys, the ones you're always rooting for, like Sam, the kid who once saved a bus load of kids and can shoot light from his hands, and ends up running everything, and Edilio, the grounded, illegal immigrant who keep his cool at all times. Some people can be a little irritating at times, like Astrid the Genius, Sam's religious girlfriend who is basically the Annabeth of the FAYZ. There are the idiots who you wish would just die, like Zil, the twat who begins the divide between mutants and normal people. There's the Loki-style villain- the one who everyone is supposed to hate vehemently but backfires because the audience loves them- Caine, the charismatic, handsome, wannabe dictator. And then there's the cold-blooded, murderous psychopaths who deserve to be cut up and stewed alive in their own blood. Like Drake.

It's AMAZING. I was amazed at how seamlessly Grant incorporated everything. Be warned though, it can get a bit gruesome. When everyone begins to run out of food, Grant says that he considered making some people eat themselves and then getting someone to heal them.

Too far, mate. Even Joffrey says so.

3) Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

See, I'm not actually too sure how popular these books are. Because no one I know personally has actually heard of them, but there IS  a TV show, and it might be big in the States, I wouldn't know.
BUT HONESTLY GUYS- SUCH GOOD BOOKS!!!

Claire Randall is a nurse in 20th century England, who when on a honeymoon with her husband Frank in Scotland, finds herself transported back in time through a circle of standing-stones, to 18th century Scotland. There she finds herself entangled with all the politics of the Scottish clans, and the Jacobite rising, meets handsome Highlander Jamie Fraser, and all the while battles with herself about where she belongs, and more importantly, who to.

The first book actually came out in 1991, so I think the main reason for its obscurity is that young people nowadays just can't be bothered to go that far back, looking for books. They are also pretty damn huge- I'm only on Book 3, and I read fast.

Gabaldon is a great writer, she portrays all the feelings and emotion so well, and the characters are GREAT. Claire is so cool- she's not like one of those crappy, pathetic, D-grade females who just hides behind her man and only survives because some hot dude takes mercy on her for unknown reasons. She is strong, independent, intelligent, brave, and acclimatises amazingly well to such an alien environment. I'm not gonna lie, much as I'd like to pretend otherwise, I would probably go find a corner and hide somewhere if it happened to me.



I may be firmly on Team Jamie, but Frank is so lovable and caring that I can't bring myself to hate him. And Jamie, ohmygod. Every female's dream. His sexy accent, his masculinity, his humour, his strength. Not to mention his face, of course. Sam Heughan, man. You got girls everywhere trying to look up your kilt in Outlander.



There are now two gingers in the world who I find attractive. Prince Harry and Jamie Fraser.

The only teensy weensy problem that I have with this series though, is it kind of drags. There is almost excessive detail, because Gabaldon describes EVERYTHING. Sometimes it's nice, but most of the time, I can't help thinking that if they took out all the paragraphs detailing each location they visit, the series would be over by now.

4) Dustlands, by Moira Young

Man, I read these books quite some time back, before the third one had come out, and they were SO GOOD.

This is a post-apocalyptic series, and I KNOW what you're thinking, been there, done that, read all the crap ones, but these are FANTASTIC. I wouldn't say that they're terribly original, not in the sense that it's been done before, more that fact that the whole setting isn't wildly imaginative. There is the whole "overthrowing the oppressive, unjust government " thing though.

Saba's mother and father are both dead. It's just her, her twin brother Lugh, and her annoying little sister Emmi, eking out a miserable existence in the middle of a barren wasteland. Well, it was, until a band of horsemen kidnapped Lugh. Now Saba is determined to go after them to rescue her brother, making new friends along the way, and in the process, finding herself caught up in the thick of a plot to overthrow the big men in charge.

These books are refreshing. They almost literally felt like a breath of fresh air. The first book wasn't massively overcrowded with characters and settings and motives and all that stuff that gets pretty stifling if it's not done just right. It introduces the characters gently, in just the right way, and the whole trilogy doesn't have a massive amount of cast members. The series as a whole isn't enormously complicated, there's one big storyline, with a few subplots dealing with the characters' relationships with each other, and while some people thought it ought to have been developed more, I disagree. I think it was done perfectly.

And the characters are really, really good as well. Saba can be prickly and quite mean sometimes, but her brusque character didn't make me get irritated with her the way Katniss' did. I actually really liked her, which is uncommon for me with female leads. She's a strong woman, she sets out with one objective in mind, and it's to rescue her brother, and she does it. Okay, she gets a little sidelined, ends up in cage fights, falls in love, overthrows the evil over lord etc. etc. , but it's good. All the characters are fantastically fleshed out: Saba, Lugh, Emmi, Molly, Ike, the Pinches, DeMalo... JACK. Man, I loved Jack. Saba is one lucky girl.

I ought to point out that Young does do the whole "get the dialect across literally" thing. And not how Rowling did, when it's just when Hagrid speaks... here it's the whole damn book. It was SO annoying at first, because I hate stuff like that (Will Grayson, Will Grayson drove me MAD) but it's a sign of how good Young is that I didn't mind terribly.

So, that's it guys. Please, please, give some of these a go. I promise you, you won't regret it. And if you do... well that will just be awkward.