**This review is part of the Amazon Vine Program**
So I'm only partially familiar with the Walking Dead universe. I've
seen the first season of the tv show, and that's about it. This was my
first introduction to the Walking Dead in written form. And I have to
say, it was well done. Gruesome, but exciting.
With the Biters
(zombies) taking over the United States, a small band comprised of
Philip, his brother Brian, Nick, Penny (Philip's young daughter) and
another buddy are on their own trying to survive. Hearing about a
safepoint in Atlanta, they begin an excruciating journey to get there
only to find that the city has been taken over by Biters and there are
few normal humans left. And everybody is out for themselves, as things
get worse and worse, sanity gets hard to hold on to.
Philip is a
pretty compelling character. He's smart but neurotic and he has a mean
streak he can't seem to control. His greatest love is for his daughter
and when he gets into a rage, even she disappears from his view
sometimes. You're never sure what's going to happen with him, which is
thrilling and scary at the same time. Brian, his brother, is more of a
wimp. He's the heart of the operation, and he seems to genuinely care
for his family, but as he follows along he doesn't add much to the
group. Even his musings on the cause of the zombies doesn't get far.
And Nick, well in the beginning he's normal, but turns into somewhat of a
religious zealot and becomes nearly as unbalanced as Philip. The
zombies aren't actually described as much aside from their rotting and
want of flesh, but that's to be expected, they aren't exactly human and
capable of emotion anymore.
For a plot I think it was pretty
exciting. They're in danger at every turn and having to carry around a
little girl who's father is unstable adds a whole new element to the
story. I'm not familiar with the character of the Governor, but if this
is his back-story, he must be a pretty warped individual. This book
definitely kept me reading because I wanted to see who would survive and
what would happen to them. And surviving was tough, with all the
blood, gore, and even rape in this book it's a rough read. The TV show
is just as bad, but there is so much violence in this book I had to look
away from it at times and give my head a little break. It's not for
those people who have weak stomachs. My only complaint would be, that
despite being over 300 pages, this book just felt rushed. They were
constantly hurrying around and there wasn't much in the way of
meaningful dialogue because of it. It was mostly just action scenes.
A
good book, and because of this one I'll probably check out the others
in the series. And I might return to the TV show to see what happens
after the first season. As gruesome as it is, it makes you root for
human survival.
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
Copyright 2011
308 pages
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