The Walking Dead: Book Two - The Review

The Walking Dead: Book Two by Robert Kirkman

It’s been a long time since I’ve read “The Walking Dead”. After being informed of the series’ existence a few years back, I read through the first two trade paperbacks, only to be slightly disappointed by what I was seeing: a lot of dialogue, and very little zombie killing action. I don’t want to say I was turned off entirely by this, but I felt many of the characters were flat, and for all the words on the page there was very little being said. This posed a dilemma for me. Should I continue reading a series that was not captivating my attention? In this case, I'm glad I did.


The Walking Dead: Book Two picks up where the first book left off. Rick, and his band of survivors, have just arrived at a prison, where they hope to create a new life for themselves. I don't think it will come as much of a shock when I say things do not go exactly as planned. While the start of this book is plagued with the same writing flaws as the beginning of the series, it quickly shakes off these minor issues and hits a solid stride. For starters, there's more killing. To anyone who was reading these books for some shock value, you'll find plenty in here. The violence is tastefully done and is mostly brought about by the characters hitting their mental breaking points. After all, we are in the middle of a zombie apocalypse here. If some characters didn't start loosing their marbles soon, I was going to give up on this series altogether.

There's also some good character development. Myself, I started to become quite attached to Tyreese, and seeing his story arc progress was very interesting to me. All of the characters start to develop inter-personal relationships, which helps moves the story along at a much quicker pace than before. Without spoiling too much, it really adds some impact when people start dying. I'd imagine this continues through the third book, which I will also promptly be reading at the nearest possible convenience.

I'll end by saying this, if you weren't sold completely on the story by the first book, give the second book a chance. You may find yourself a lot more interested than before. For everyone else, this book is a worthy addition to the series. I highly recommend it to all the zombie fans out there, as well as anyone who loves horror and suspense.