Book Review: The Walking Dead: Return to Woodsbury

Jay Bonansinga's latest (and eighth) entry into The Walking Dead novel series, Return to Woodsbury, continues the saga of Lilly Caul, the long-suffering saviour of one of the most unforgettable towns in Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic and television series, Woodsbury.

Although there were a number of problems I had with this novel (including the introduction and casual killing of a character for little reason past shock value), I've got to admit that I find Lilly compelling as a protagonist and the work Bonansinga puts in to her drive, her planning, and her grace under pressure keep these books moving along at a nice pace.

Certainly not a good place to start for newcomers to the series or the genre, the book is still a fun read, but I'd say the series largely falls to the law of diminishing returns.

Genre Character of the Week: Lilly Caul

This week's character is a little tricky.  You see, as a pretty big fan of The Walking Dead,  I've enjoyed the story as both a television and comic book series, and as of late, I've enjoyed the back-story novels written by creator Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga.

Last week I read the second of these two back-story novels, The Walking Dead: The Road to Woodbury, which features the back-story of Lilly Caul (pictured right), perhaps one of the most infamous characters in the comics - without giving away spoilers, let's just say she sits pretty darn close to The Governor in terms of how much she affected the lives of Rick Grimes and crew.

What I can say about the novel, is that it does a good job of portraying the character in a sympathetic manner, and although I can't say it makes me like the character any more than I did before, I do feel like I understand her better.

Overall, the book is worth the read, and for those of you who like the type of stories that further examine secondary characters in the main story, it is a pretty good example of how to do this type of story correctly.