Hey, let's face it, there are only so many "epic" fantasy series out there by today's top fantasy authors. So sometimes, to feed that starving monster inside you, you check out some of the YA books in the bookstore. You never know, there could be gold somewhere in there, ala Harry Potter. So you check out the covers and you have to admit that some look interesting. Heck, even some back covers put up a good blurb.

Why not? YA books are usually short and cost under $10. Its a small risk you're taking. If its not good, well, maybe it can make a pretty coaster for your ice-cold beer. Lord knows my copy of Ranger's Apprentice is already starting to grow mildew. So you carefully pick the most interesting sounding book and perhaps read the first few pages. Not bad...what the hell, you fork over your $8 and head on home.

You turn on your TV for some background noise and settle in to read what you hope is a fairly interesting story. And wouldn't you know it? It didn't take long to already regret the $8 you spent that would have been better off on a nice, fat chili-cheese hamburger from Sonic, with chili-cheese fries and chili-cheese coke...uh negative on that last one. Because only a few pages in you read stuff like this:

"...the flavor of the medicine lingering on the back of his tongue. It tasted somehow of old sorrows, old regrets."

You slap you hand against your forehead. Really? Old sorrows? I never tasted that before. I wonder if it tastes anything like chicken...Suddenly you lose the desire to read the book. Instead, you grab The Name of the Wind,pages falling out and all, and begin another re-read. You promise yourself to stay away from that area of the bookstore...