Review: No, no, no! It can't be!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2011
No, no, no! This can't be the end could it? This review is long overdue. After the 7th installment I got side-tracked with things going on and it was a while before I could get back to some good reading. In my absence of reading I longed to get back to this series and often caught myself wondering about the series and what was going on. Since I had the short absence in reading and all the rest of the series was out, I went back and began at book 1 and read through the entire series. The ones I had already read were just as good the second time around.There is a very, very short list of book I like so much I will read once a year and this is one of them. In fact as I said in past reviews I had reserved "Lights Out" as my favorite apocalyptic read of all time but thought this one might have the ability to trump "Lights Out" but of course wouldn't know until the end. It didn't disappoint at all and "YES" I have a brand new all-time favorite.This series was so good. Mr. Perkins is, in my opinion, a rising talent that will rival all the big named authors once he has been discovered by enough people. He is just down right out slick with his words, ideas and is tops when it comes to his creativity and attention to detail. The way he hammered these installments out proves to me he isn't short at all on coming up with creative ideas and most importantly can put them into writing in vivid detail. It would take me months to come up with a single installment and there is no way I could make everything fit together so well and paint the mental image his words do.I'd really love this series to continue because (a) I enjoyed it more than any other book and don't want it to end (b) as any great author Perkins left us at a point pondering the future of Teeny Town even though I feel he wrapped the story up perfectly (c) I'd like t know if Big Seth ever got married or if his relationship went anywhere with that new girlfriend (d) was the model of Teeny Town able to be expanded to the rest of the county and on and on.To me that's one of the marks of a great book! That is me being able to set around and think about it wondering about the questions I noted above. Its also fun because I can picture in my mind what might have happened after the books ending.Most of us have had a dream that we've woke up from that seemed so real to us that we had to think for a minute, was that real or not. This book does that to me. I've never had a book I dreamed about or thought so much about while I wasn't reading it. Perkins has the ability to NOT make me feel I was reading about it but rather I was there, seeing it all transpire first-hand. That to me is the mark of a great author.Watch out everyone. This author will be going places. Surely we haven't heard the last of him. I think he is one of the best new talents out there. I personally would hope he would consider a sequel to this book at sometime and whether or not he does, I look so forward to his future works.So yes, I have a brand new "all-time" favorite and its the "Renewal" series. Remember, its two stories in one that relate to and compliment each other. Cleverly done like I've never seen or read before.Good luck Jim, thanks for such an outstanding read and I wish you the best of luck!