The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury is the second installment to a novel trilogy inspired by Robert Kirkman's highly successful graphic novel series and television phenomena by the same title. This sequel to Rise of the Governor follows a fan-favorite character named Lilly Caul, giving her backstory and developing her character up to the point of her infamous actions in the graphic novel series. While Rick and other central characters to the source material are not present, the story does tie in several characters that both fans of the comics and the show will recognize and appreciate.
Woodbury, Georgia is a pleasant, little town amidst an utterly horrific post-apocalyptic world. In fact, it seems nearly untouched by the terror outside its walls. The people are happy and living in peace, led by an apparently kind and wise Philip Baker, who refers to himself as The Governor. There is a constant bounty of supplies and provisions. This is, by all accounts, a sort of Utopia, and it is exactly what Lilly needs after all she's been through. But as she becomes more acquainted with the town, she realizes it may not be as perfect as she first thought. The Governor's ideas of law and order have a bit of a twist to them – a sick twist, that is – and there are dark secrets hidden deep within the town that make it just as much of a nightmare as the outside world. Confronted with these realities, Lilly and a band of rebels set out to bring down The Governor, but will this fix things or only make them worse?
Kirkman is the celebrated author of such graphic novel series as The Walking Dead, Invincible, The Astounding Wolf-Man, and Haunt. He is the founder of Skybound, an imprint of Image Comics, and is an executive producer and co-writer on The Walking Dead television series.
"Another nice read on the background/rise of the Governor. Both the books released so far do a nice job of filling in gaps from the tv show. Not sure how well they mesh with the comics since I haven't read many of those"
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Bob (4 out of 5 stars)