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The Walking Dead: Novels #8
Return to Woodbury
The latest novel in the TV smash hit and New York Times bestselling Walking Dead series from Jay Bonansinga.
To risk everything...
She has weathered over four years of the apocalypse. She has done things that she would not have dreamt of doing in her darkest nightmares. But she has survived. And now, she has staked a claim in the plague-ravaged city of Atlanta. It is a safe haven for her people, rising high above the walker-ridden streets, a place of warmth and comfort.
But for Lilly Caul, something is missing...
She still dreams of her former home—the quaint little village known as Woodbury—a place of heartache as well as hope. For Lilly, Woodbury, Georgia, has become a symbol of the future, of family, of a return to normal life amidst this hell on earth. The call is so powerful that Lilly decides to risk everything in order to go back... to reclaim that little oasis in the wilderness.
Against all odds, against the wishes of her people, Lilly leads a ragtag group of true believers back across the impossible landscape of walker swarms, flooded rivers, psychotic bands of murderers, and dangers the likes of which she has never known. Along the way, she discovers a disturbing truth about herself. She is willing to go to the darkest place in order to survive, in order to save her people, in order to do the one thing she knows she has to do: Return to Woodbury.
To risk everything...
She has weathered over four years of the apocalypse. She has done things that she would not have dreamt of doing in her darkest nightmares. But she has survived. And now, she has staked a claim in the plague-ravaged city of Atlanta. It is a safe haven for her people, rising high above the walker-ridden streets, a place of warmth and comfort.
But for Lilly Caul, something is missing...
She still dreams of her former home—the quaint little village known as Woodbury—a place of heartache as well as hope. For Lilly, Woodbury, Georgia, has become a symbol of the future, of family, of a return to normal life amidst this hell on earth. The call is so powerful that Lilly decides to risk everything in order to go back... to reclaim that little oasis in the wilderness.
Against all odds, against the wishes of her people, Lilly leads a ragtag group of true believers back across the impossible landscape of walker swarms, flooded rivers, psychotic bands of murderers, and dangers the likes of which she has never known. Along the way, she discovers a disturbing truth about herself. She is willing to go to the darkest place in order to survive, in order to save her people, in order to do the one thing she knows she has to do: Return to Woodbury.
276 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2017
46 people are currently reading
1427 people want to read
About the author
Jay Bonansinga
110 books387 followersThe national best-selling author of ten acclaimed books – both fiction and non-fiction -- Jay Bonansinga has been called “one of the most imaginative writers of thrillers” by the Chicago Tribune.
Jay is the holder of a master's degree in film from Columbia College Chicago, and currently resides in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and two sons. He is also a visiting professor at Northwestern University in their Creative Writing for the Media program.
Jay is the holder of a master's degree in film from Columbia College Chicago, and currently resides in Evanston, Illinois, with his wife and two sons. He is also a visiting professor at Northwestern University in their Creative Writing for the Media program.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
November 29, 2017
I love this series ! Picture a certain crazed actor jumping on the couch professing his love, that's how I feel about this series. 
Each book has taken me to my ultimate dark dank putrid happy place. Oh the characters, they are so real, complete and sometimes nuttier than a fruit cake, it's fantastic ! Lilly, sweet little Lilly, what have you turned into ? 
I admit to wishing her dead back in the early books. She was so pitiful, weak and stupid back then. I really am too quick to judge, shame on me. So Lilly is the unexpected MC of this book, she leads several of her groupies from the clean comfort of a Swedish mega store and back to Woodbury. She misses her old sweet home. What ? You'd have to drag my Swedish Meatball Stuffed body out by the ankles. So they leave comfort heaven to head back to the past, and the past is really rancid and mad. 
We have a new ultra level of nutter join or crew of unhappy red shirt travelers. Yup, there are a lot of red shirts, dying all over the place. It's TWD and so much better than the TV show.
The ending was a shocker, I never saw that coming. I cried like a baby, ugly tears, you know scrunched up face, twisted and pained snorts coming from a dark deep pain. 
Now where is the next book ?
Each book has taken me to my ultimate dark dank putrid happy place. Oh the characters, they are so real, complete and sometimes nuttier than a fruit cake, it's fantastic ! Lilly, sweet little Lilly, what have you turned into ? I admit to wishing her dead back in the early books. She was so pitiful, weak and stupid back then. I really am too quick to judge, shame on me. So Lilly is the unexpected MC of this book, she leads several of her groupies from the clean comfort of a Swedish mega store and back to Woodbury. She misses her old sweet home. What ? You'd have to drag my Swedish Meatball Stuffed body out by the ankles. So they leave comfort heaven to head back to the past, and the past is really rancid and mad. We have a new ultra level of nutter join or crew of unhappy red shirt travelers. Yup, there are a lot of red shirts, dying all over the place. It's TWD and so much better than the TV show.
The ending was a shocker, I never saw that coming. I cried like a baby, ugly tears, you know scrunched up face, twisted and pained snorts coming from a dark deep pain. Now where is the next book ?
January 3, 2018
Laaaazy. Lazy writing abounds in this series--I mean it has almost the same plots as the last book--like in the last one, Norma gets swept away to certain doom from the group (last time was sewer, this time zombie infested river), like in the last one they leave a place of almost complete and total safety, filled with supplies to somehow take back a town that has no real pluses just because of some hopeful dream, tons of little children while the adults get picked off defending them, major characters dying off page just like the last one, while in the last one we had religious zealot, this time we have a politician with severe daddy issues (though we never really saw what the hell his deal was other than him crazily wanting perfect families).
Lilly is of course a mess, like in all books. I don't understand why people follow her, and the smartest person in the whole book is the former prostitute who refuses to go with them and stays behind at the well stocked & fortified Ikea, that has electricity and refrigeration. At least they left all the infants with her. I'm just sick of Lilly as a character--after 8 books of her moping and crying and then Mary Sueing out a rescue at the end, I might be done with these.
While the previous books the majority of her angst was romantic, not really in this one, but so many wistful baby thoughts. I gagged over passages like "In those days, a lot of women were talking about the myth of "having it all"--domestic bliss, career success, a flat tummy, and hot sex--but Lilly knew in her deepest heart of hearts that "having it all" meant the love of a child. It dwarfed all other considerations." You'd think that after all the horrible adventures the Woodbury exiles have gone on, you wouldn't be wanting to bring a baby into the world (especially after the last person with medical expertise died like 2 books ago).
Also, in the previous books I thought it was covered that gasoline was no longer good, it being 5 years post apocalypse, and that whole story about making your own ethanol gas etc. In this book though, they are draining rusted out heaps alongside the road and finding caches of oil all over to their glee--and I know, kind of silly to be distracted by stuff like that in zombie thriller, but you almost expect better from the Walking Dead brand.
Lilly is of course a mess, like in all books. I don't understand why people follow her, and the smartest person in the whole book is the former prostitute who refuses to go with them and stays behind at the well stocked & fortified Ikea, that has electricity and refrigeration. At least they left all the infants with her. I'm just sick of Lilly as a character--after 8 books of her moping and crying and then Mary Sueing out a rescue at the end, I might be done with these.
While the previous books the majority of her angst was romantic, not really in this one, but so many wistful baby thoughts. I gagged over passages like "In those days, a lot of women were talking about the myth of "having it all"--domestic bliss, career success, a flat tummy, and hot sex--but Lilly knew in her deepest heart of hearts that "having it all" meant the love of a child. It dwarfed all other considerations." You'd think that after all the horrible adventures the Woodbury exiles have gone on, you wouldn't be wanting to bring a baby into the world (especially after the last person with medical expertise died like 2 books ago).
Also, in the previous books I thought it was covered that gasoline was no longer good, it being 5 years post apocalypse, and that whole story about making your own ethanol gas etc. In this book though, they are draining rusted out heaps alongside the road and finding caches of oil all over to their glee--and I know, kind of silly to be distracted by stuff like that in zombie thriller, but you almost expect better from the Walking Dead brand.
December 22, 2024
A fitting end for Lilly. I enjoyed seeing the similarities between the tv series and the novels. Even though the characters were different, you could clearly see who they turned into on the show..sometimes two or three of the book characters melded into one to become a single character on the show. Glad I read the novels! Will I read them again? Probably not. Will I watch the series every fall during spooky season? Absolutely!
November 14, 2017
really difficult getting through this one. The book doesn't flow together well and the characters aren't well developed. The author kills characters off people liked just as soon as you get to know them a little bit.
September 30, 2025
Trochę rozumiem czemu nie przetłumaczono reszty książek z tej serii xd
Fabuła bardzo wymieszana i powtarzająca się przez ostatnie 3 tomy, bohaterowie są zabijani zanim zdążymy ich polubić czy też się przywiązać.
NO I największy gwóźdź do trumny LILY kurde Caul picky me, choose me, kill me
głupia, samolubna, bez charakteru, podejmująca bardzo dziwne decyzje - czemu ludzie uznają ją za liderkę i za nią podążają? nie wiem, do tej pory się zastanawiam.
Gdyby była apokalipsa zombie i miałabym dwa wyjścia 1. żeby przeżyć podążać za lily albo 2. stać się zombie to wolałabym stać się zombie xd
Bardzo się cieszę że ta seria jest już za mną
Fabuła bardzo wymieszana i powtarzająca się przez ostatnie 3 tomy, bohaterowie są zabijani zanim zdążymy ich polubić czy też się przywiązać.
NO I największy gwóźdź do trumny LILY kurde Caul picky me, choose me, kill me
głupia, samolubna, bez charakteru, podejmująca bardzo dziwne decyzje - czemu ludzie uznają ją za liderkę i za nią podążają? nie wiem, do tej pory się zastanawiam.
Gdyby była apokalipsa zombie i miałabym dwa wyjścia 1. żeby przeżyć podążać za lily albo 2. stać się zombie to wolałabym stać się zombie xd
Bardzo się cieszę że ta seria jest już za mną
August 23, 2017
So, confession time.
I don’t read every book in this series. I pick them up based on whether or not the plot interest me. I’ve also gotten a bit away from TWD on TV and find that I’m preferring to sit down and read an epic book.
And I’m happy to say that Return to Woodbury is definitely epic.
Lily Caul is one kickass heroine! If you’ve got to be stuck in a z-poc, this is the woman you want watching her back. Despite my skipping around in the series, I was able to dive right into this one and found myself almost immediately involved in the characters and their struggle for survival.
Yes, you’ve got wonderful chompy things here, but you’ve also got some truly heartbreaking moments. And in true TWD style, no one is safe – especially the characters you love.
This book made me want to go back to some of the others in the series to see what I’ve missed.
5 very well deserved stars.
*ARC Provided via Net Galley
I don’t read every book in this series. I pick them up based on whether or not the plot interest me. I’ve also gotten a bit away from TWD on TV and find that I’m preferring to sit down and read an epic book.
And I’m happy to say that Return to Woodbury is definitely epic.
Lily Caul is one kickass heroine! If you’ve got to be stuck in a z-poc, this is the woman you want watching her back. Despite my skipping around in the series, I was able to dive right into this one and found myself almost immediately involved in the characters and their struggle for survival.
Yes, you’ve got wonderful chompy things here, but you’ve also got some truly heartbreaking moments. And in true TWD style, no one is safe – especially the characters you love.
This book made me want to go back to some of the others in the series to see what I’ve missed.
5 very well deserved stars.
*ARC Provided via Net Galley
December 19, 2021
Well that's a welcome wrap on the worst series of books I've read in my life.
There was absolutely NOTHING redeeming about this series. Honestly, books this bad are usually fun in a silly way. This had such a heavy tone and didn't even TRY to be entertaining. Therefore, I feel no guilt holding it to the standard of other books that have the same tone and finding it wanting.
-This is the best example I've encountered of plot-driven instead of character-driven story. None of the characters were well-developed and nobody's actions or opinions made sense, because the characters were not fleshed out as people but kept as cardboard cutouts for the author to move around however he wanted the plot to go, which means that there was no emotional investment in anything and I never cared who lived or died (beyond cheering on every villain who fought against Lily) and whether anyone achieved their goals.
-The kindest thing I can say is that a few background characters (e.g., Martinez, Austin, Tommy, Norma, Ash) had a few fleeting moments of being promising before further development ruined them. However, most characters were horribly underdeveloped and seemed outright stupid and ill-equipped for survival in a zombie apocalypse. None of these idiots have any recollection of basic elementary-school level scientific ideas and they don't have the necessary understanding of the environment around them to survive. The storyline ends 5 fucking years after the apocalypse and they are still scavenging for petrol, guns, and food. In all that time, none of the characters have figured out how to live off the land, grow and can their own food, hunt or raise their own animals (although they keep/find horses all the time that always end up killed because the author seems to be under the impression that their death is less harsh on the readers than the death of his dumbass characters), or shift to bladed and projectile weapons that don't require gunpowder. Honestly, why would anyone want these idiots to survive in the first place?
-The fucking main character, Lilly Caul, is the worst fucking Mary Sue I've ever encountered. The author tried to portray her as someone with actual character development from coward to badass who suffers many losses and overcomes them to become a reluctant leader, and he failed at every step of the way. The way I see it, she brought pain and misery to every lover and friend she ever had and always had a hand in causing whatever it is they end up dying from. She was irresponsible and reckless as a leader, and betrayed her charges at every step through negligence, poor decision making, or dereliction of duty. "Reluctant leader" doesn't mean you give up the command to the first guy you see. "Brave" and "fearless" don't mean recklessly leading everyone into a swarm of zombies without a prior plan. And then you get the other characters saying that she inspires them and gives them hope! Because the author wanted her to be an inspirational leader like Rick Grimes so he's gonna have people treat her like Rick Grimes even though Rick is a fully-developed character with pathos and history and he's earned his place in the main storyline, while Lilly's character is less elaborate than some of the zombies in the rest of the TWD universe. At one point, my theory became that Lily herself was the cause of the plague: She continuously causes misfortune and misery to everyone around her, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to assume that she was the cause of their main problem, too. And the other characters keep accepting and following her no matter how incompetent she shows herself to be, which means they DESERVE what they got. The best way for these poor bastards to survive would have been to rise up against Lilly Caul and throw her into a fucking volcano or something to break the curse.
-I know you're not supposed to judge the science in a zombie series, but within the established parameters of Robert Kirkman's TWD world, this is the most unrealistic anti-scientific bilge ever. It raises a giant middle finger to all scientific disciplines from physics (including mechanics, electricity, etc...), chemistry, ecology, agricultural sciences, geology, biology, pharmacology, medicine, surgery, immunology, and the softer sciences like economics and psychology. Not only does this dude (and all his characters) not know how basic things work, but he creates cartoonish scenarios like the vaccine studies in the penultimate book being somehow conducted by a chemist (instead of an immunologist or microbiologist or even biochemist) and they seem to be qualitative studies somehow that need only a few test subjects, don't use any in-vitro trials, and don't take into account anything from the previous 200 years of vaccine research. I know the guy turned out to be insane but he was written like a 19th century mad scientist, not like someone operating during the 21st century and having to deal with people with better educations than 19th century villagers. Other simpler examples is the whole debate about whether to plant flowers or not, which seems to want to be about practicality vs pretty things but ended up being about the characters being too fucking stupid to realize that flowers would attract bees to their crops and help them with fertilization. The pseudointellectualism employed to distract from the stupidity somehow makes it even worse. I had a mental image whenever I got to a big word or a specialized concept of the author pushing his reading glasses above his nose ridge and congratulating himself for pulling the wool over our eyes. You can't just use words like "septic shock" willy nilly without looking up what they mean! It doesn't mean someone who is in shock 😱 because they're in the sewers or whatever. It means someone who has such a severe infection that their vessels have dilated and their blood pressure has dropped and they will die soon (like within the hour) unless they receive some serious ER/OR/ICU-level medical treatment that is definitely not available post-zombie apocalypse.
-I've had many more thoughts about this book and this series, but I've already given it too much of my time so fuck it. I'm ending this review and starting on a better book to cleanse my brain.
There was absolutely NOTHING redeeming about this series. Honestly, books this bad are usually fun in a silly way. This had such a heavy tone and didn't even TRY to be entertaining. Therefore, I feel no guilt holding it to the standard of other books that have the same tone and finding it wanting.
-This is the best example I've encountered of plot-driven instead of character-driven story. None of the characters were well-developed and nobody's actions or opinions made sense, because the characters were not fleshed out as people but kept as cardboard cutouts for the author to move around however he wanted the plot to go, which means that there was no emotional investment in anything and I never cared who lived or died (beyond cheering on every villain who fought against Lily) and whether anyone achieved their goals.
-The kindest thing I can say is that a few background characters (e.g., Martinez, Austin, Tommy, Norma, Ash) had a few fleeting moments of being promising before further development ruined them. However, most characters were horribly underdeveloped and seemed outright stupid and ill-equipped for survival in a zombie apocalypse. None of these idiots have any recollection of basic elementary-school level scientific ideas and they don't have the necessary understanding of the environment around them to survive. The storyline ends 5 fucking years after the apocalypse and they are still scavenging for petrol, guns, and food. In all that time, none of the characters have figured out how to live off the land, grow and can their own food, hunt or raise their own animals (although they keep/find horses all the time that always end up killed because the author seems to be under the impression that their death is less harsh on the readers than the death of his dumbass characters), or shift to bladed and projectile weapons that don't require gunpowder. Honestly, why would anyone want these idiots to survive in the first place?
-The fucking main character, Lilly Caul, is the worst fucking Mary Sue I've ever encountered. The author tried to portray her as someone with actual character development from coward to badass who suffers many losses and overcomes them to become a reluctant leader, and he failed at every step of the way. The way I see it, she brought pain and misery to every lover and friend she ever had and always had a hand in causing whatever it is they end up dying from. She was irresponsible and reckless as a leader, and betrayed her charges at every step through negligence, poor decision making, or dereliction of duty. "Reluctant leader" doesn't mean you give up the command to the first guy you see. "Brave" and "fearless" don't mean recklessly leading everyone into a swarm of zombies without a prior plan. And then you get the other characters saying that she inspires them and gives them hope! Because the author wanted her to be an inspirational leader like Rick Grimes so he's gonna have people treat her like Rick Grimes even though Rick is a fully-developed character with pathos and history and he's earned his place in the main storyline, while Lilly's character is less elaborate than some of the zombies in the rest of the TWD universe. At one point, my theory became that Lily herself was the cause of the plague: She continuously causes misfortune and misery to everyone around her, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to assume that she was the cause of their main problem, too. And the other characters keep accepting and following her no matter how incompetent she shows herself to be, which means they DESERVE what they got. The best way for these poor bastards to survive would have been to rise up against Lilly Caul and throw her into a fucking volcano or something to break the curse.
-I know you're not supposed to judge the science in a zombie series, but within the established parameters of Robert Kirkman's TWD world, this is the most unrealistic anti-scientific bilge ever. It raises a giant middle finger to all scientific disciplines from physics (including mechanics, electricity, etc...), chemistry, ecology, agricultural sciences, geology, biology, pharmacology, medicine, surgery, immunology, and the softer sciences like economics and psychology. Not only does this dude (and all his characters) not know how basic things work, but he creates cartoonish scenarios like the vaccine studies in the penultimate book being somehow conducted by a chemist (instead of an immunologist or microbiologist or even biochemist) and they seem to be qualitative studies somehow that need only a few test subjects, don't use any in-vitro trials, and don't take into account anything from the previous 200 years of vaccine research. I know the guy turned out to be insane but he was written like a 19th century mad scientist, not like someone operating during the 21st century and having to deal with people with better educations than 19th century villagers. Other simpler examples is the whole debate about whether to plant flowers or not, which seems to want to be about practicality vs pretty things but ended up being about the characters being too fucking stupid to realize that flowers would attract bees to their crops and help them with fertilization. The pseudointellectualism employed to distract from the stupidity somehow makes it even worse. I had a mental image whenever I got to a big word or a specialized concept of the author pushing his reading glasses above his nose ridge and congratulating himself for pulling the wool over our eyes. You can't just use words like "septic shock" willy nilly without looking up what they mean! It doesn't mean someone who is in shock 😱 because they're in the sewers or whatever. It means someone who has such a severe infection that their vessels have dilated and their blood pressure has dropped and they will die soon (like within the hour) unless they receive some serious ER/OR/ICU-level medical treatment that is definitely not available post-zombie apocalypse.
-I've had many more thoughts about this book and this series, but I've already given it too much of my time so fuck it. I'm ending this review and starting on a better book to cleanse my brain.
October 11, 2018
eh. that about sums it up. Just seemed like a very lackluster sequel. I remember in the 1st couple of books getting really into due to the very fun descriptions of everything (sights, sounds, smells, etc) now it seems like it was not as thought out. Still fun to read, but not as fun as the 1st couple.
December 10, 2012
Don't watch the show -- too many gross noises -- like squelching and oozing etc. Loved the first one (Rise of the Governor) and waited for this one to come out -- didn't disappoint. LIke the characters and the story line. There's an expected 3rd ... and I'm waiting.
January 20, 2023
Very suspensful!! What these characters go through and survive is so insane!!! Limits are literally pushed by all. Lots of details and a peak into what our world would really be if it fell. I also like how it references back to all the people throughout the years: they're never forgotten and nothing was ever in vain.
May 11, 2024
This book was very good but the ending was pretty disappointing. I also didn't like the meaningless deaths. I had high expectations for this since it was the last book in the series but overall it was still pretty good. It could have been better.
April 2, 2019
Ich hoffe, es war der letzte Band. Zumindest für mich.
Es ist, wieder mal, absolut nichts passiert und am Ende kam alles auf einmal.
Ich bin einfach kein Fan dieses Schreibstils.
Es ist, wieder mal, absolut nichts passiert und am Ende kam alles auf einmal.
Ich bin einfach kein Fan dieses Schreibstils.
March 4, 2020
Simply, ”meh.” Not bad, just “meh.”
January 26, 2021
Amazing end to an amazing series! Loved it. Was wrapped up nicely too.
March 11, 2018
This book picks up where the previous book ended. Lilly is trying to return her chat of characters back to woodberry.
Mr. Kirkman and Bonansinga have created quite the character that I have become quite attached to. When a certain incident happenes, I had to close the book and breath for a few minutes. (were talking when you think Harry is killed in deathly hallows type of "holy crap" moment.)
Once again I am left wanting more and feel like if this is the end, I'm missing out on someone they have cause me to care for.
As for the writing and storyline, it continues to be as it has been. If you have made it this far, you will enjoy it.
RIP to a special character who will be missed and went out as a hero.
Mr. Kirkman and Bonansinga have created quite the character that I have become quite attached to. When a certain incident happenes, I had to close the book and breath for a few minutes. (were talking when you think Harry is killed in deathly hallows type of "holy crap" moment.)
Once again I am left wanting more and feel like if this is the end, I'm missing out on someone they have cause me to care for.
As for the writing and storyline, it continues to be as it has been. If you have made it this far, you will enjoy it.
RIP to a special character who will be missed and went out as a hero.
December 3, 2019
I am an utter wreck after finishing this, but I'll try to write a coherent review.
I was ready to give this a two or three star rating as it seemed that Bonansinga had grown bored and was just throwing something together (horrible human vs Lily and her band of survivors) without really trying to make it worth actually paying attention to, but by the end, I went with four.
The beginning confused me and I had to go and check to see if I had missed a book between Search & Destroy and this one, but I hadn't. There were three competing storylines that slightly turned into four and somehow by the end they had all joined together and made enough sense that I understood, but still feel like there were so many missed opportunities with each one.
There are deaths of characters that seemed out of nowhere and were just killed off to add to the growing casualty of the end of the world. There were character deaths that I didn't see coming and mourned.
I hope that Bonansinga plans on at least one more book about Woodbury & Lily Caul. I've said this with each book and I will say it again with this last book - Lily Caul is my FAVORITE canon character. I wish that they'd put her in the TV show and let her be the badass she deserved to be and not the watered down version that they foisted upon us.
Just another reason why Gimple did the TWD universe a disservice.
Fred Berman was the perfect candidate to read this series and I'm not quite sure any other narrator will ever live up to the way he narrates a story; the pride he feels of being given a story to tell is evident in each book.
...now that I am done with this series, what am I supposed to listen to?! There are no more TWD books! :( lol
I was ready to give this a two or three star rating as it seemed that Bonansinga had grown bored and was just throwing something together (horrible human vs Lily and her band of survivors) without really trying to make it worth actually paying attention to, but by the end, I went with four.
The beginning confused me and I had to go and check to see if I had missed a book between Search & Destroy and this one, but I hadn't. There were three competing storylines that slightly turned into four and somehow by the end they had all joined together and made enough sense that I understood, but still feel like there were so many missed opportunities with each one.
There are deaths of characters that seemed out of nowhere and were just killed off to add to the growing casualty of the end of the world. There were character deaths that I didn't see coming and mourned.
I hope that Bonansinga plans on at least one more book about Woodbury & Lily Caul. I've said this with each book and I will say it again with this last book - Lily Caul is my FAVORITE canon character. I wish that they'd put her in the TV show and let her be the badass she deserved to be and not the watered down version that they foisted upon us.
Just another reason why Gimple did the TWD universe a disservice.
Fred Berman was the perfect candidate to read this series and I'm not quite sure any other narrator will ever live up to the way he narrates a story; the pride he feels of being given a story to tell is evident in each book.
...now that I am done with this series, what am I supposed to listen to?! There are no more TWD books! :( lol
December 19, 2017
I didn't enjoy this one as much as I hoped; it felt somewhat formulaic, in that events proceeded in much the same fashion as the previous few novels, revolving around a nutjob of one flavour or another working to destroy the survivors for reasons (TM). As with the previous books, Lily's obsessed with going back to Woodbury, the survivors with her have managed to obtain some good things/a degree of safety, and the nutjob kills a bunch of people and destroys most of what they had.
I think my expectations were possibly a bit high for this one, and I'm disappointed that the character we meet in the prologue wasn't used more - although I struggled a little to believe the plot in the introductory chapter, because helicopters are delicate machines looking for an excuse to fall out of the sky or explode, and one left out to the elements without being serviced for four years is really unlikely to be flightworthy - combined with a fair number of character deaths that felt... well, not undeserved, and arbitrary is a difficult word to use in the zombie genre, where random shocking deaths are a consistent them... but possibly pointless, in that they failed to evoke an emotional response in a number of cases.
I've marked it up to 3 stars though, because there were things I genuinely enjoyed; it was nice to see Ash return, the relationship between Tommy and Lily was a big part of this, and the sequences involving the Chatanooga River and Norma's journey were well-written and interesting. I actually felt this novel was strongest when it was nature making life horrible for those living in the world, rather than the nutjob.
I think my expectations were possibly a bit high for this one, and I'm disappointed that the character we meet in the prologue wasn't used more - although I struggled a little to believe the plot in the introductory chapter, because helicopters are delicate machines looking for an excuse to fall out of the sky or explode, and one left out to the elements without being serviced for four years is really unlikely to be flightworthy - combined with a fair number of character deaths that felt... well, not undeserved, and arbitrary is a difficult word to use in the zombie genre, where random shocking deaths are a consistent them... but possibly pointless, in that they failed to evoke an emotional response in a number of cases.
I've marked it up to 3 stars though, because there were things I genuinely enjoyed; it was nice to see Ash return, the relationship between Tommy and Lily was a big part of this, and the sequences involving the Chatanooga River and Norma's journey were well-written and interesting. I actually felt this novel was strongest when it was nature making life horrible for those living in the world, rather than the nutjob.
September 21, 2023
This… My goodness, where to start… It took me a while to get through this one. I had to keep putting it down.
It seems like for this title Bonansinga just kind of gave up and wrote whatever, just to get it finished.
The main villain should not have been the main villain. He would have died from the extensive wounds he received from Ash’s road flare down the throat. For the amount of time the flare was in his mouth, to the amount of damage described, he should have been dead. If not dead, then very close to it. Unable to breath. Unable to speak. You know? The normal type of wounds when someone gets their throat melted by a road flare being crammed down it.
I still have issues with Norma. Probably one of the more stupid characters in the series. By all accounts, she should be dead, with falling down a man hole in the last title and then baking in the sun while floating down Walker River for days. It’s just not feasible. And definitely not over weight, as she is so often described. They have a food shortage. How is she so big? Did they not stop to think that maybe she was hoarding food off on her own somewhere or at least sneaking into their food stores every chance she got?
I don’t want to complain too much but there were so many stupid decisions made by the characters in this title and so many unnecessary deaths. Just a lot of unbelievable things happening in this title. Robert Kirkman built the world of TWD, aside from reanimated corpses, with a level of believability. But not any more. Not in this novel.
It seems like for this title Bonansinga just kind of gave up and wrote whatever, just to get it finished.
The main villain should not have been the main villain. He would have died from the extensive wounds he received from Ash’s road flare down the throat. For the amount of time the flare was in his mouth, to the amount of damage described, he should have been dead. If not dead, then very close to it. Unable to breath. Unable to speak. You know? The normal type of wounds when someone gets their throat melted by a road flare being crammed down it.
I still have issues with Norma. Probably one of the more stupid characters in the series. By all accounts, she should be dead, with falling down a man hole in the last title and then baking in the sun while floating down Walker River for days. It’s just not feasible. And definitely not over weight, as she is so often described. They have a food shortage. How is she so big? Did they not stop to think that maybe she was hoarding food off on her own somewhere or at least sneaking into their food stores every chance she got?
I don’t want to complain too much but there were so many stupid decisions made by the characters in this title and so many unnecessary deaths. Just a lot of unbelievable things happening in this title. Robert Kirkman built the world of TWD, aside from reanimated corpses, with a level of believability. But not any more. Not in this novel.
September 28, 2018
I'm not sure how much of it was this book and how much of it was my fatigue with this series, but this was my least fav. I think I'm tired of the author's (and Kirkman's) obsession with leaders and cults of personality. I think I'm most sick of rank and file people blindly following the suicidal whims of these leaders for no other logical reason than it makes for easier story telling.
Despite their strong initial reservations (which are never mentioned again), the characters all decide to blindly follow Lilly to retake a destroyed husk of town that has repeatedly proven itself to be undefendable. Most of them die doing this, yet, in the end it's somehow portrayed as a victory because Lilly is happy to be "home".
Despite their strong initial reservations (which are never mentioned again), the characters all decide to blindly follow Lilly to retake a destroyed husk of town that has repeatedly proven itself to be undefendable. Most of them die doing this, yet, in the end it's somehow portrayed as a victory because Lilly is happy to be "home".
August 8, 2018
If this series continues, it may be time to move away from Lily Caul as the main character. I mean, HOW many people die after they leave their comfy confines just so she can return to a place that's been burned to the ground just because it was a nice place to live for a very short while? And how many new characters can we introduce and then QUICKLY kill off?
This book also reads off like the author saw Mad Max: Fury Road and thought "Hey, I could turn this into a Walking Dead book!"
And the villain's motivations were what again?
This book also reads off like the author saw Mad Max: Fury Road and thought "Hey, I could turn this into a Walking Dead book!"
And the villain's motivations were what again?
April 7, 2021
My heart feels heavy now.
Though definitely flawed, filled with deus-ex-machinas and conveniences, repetitive villains and lazy resolutions, being done with Jay Bonansinga's The Walking Dead feels heavy.
Maybe it's because I've been reading it for years now, or maybe because the past month I've been reading this and nothing else, but I do believe, that in the end, it's because I did like these books.
Lilly Caul, a character that I read many people hate and find unbearable, I actually have grown attached to. I actually felt her struggles, her heartbreaks, her tumultous love life, her jokes and grins and obssessiveness. She and all the other characters, be they of minor or major importance, made the story so immersive and such a page-turner.
What also made it a page-turner is that these were simply action books. I realised this while reading and thought that I was actually okay with this. I longed for character development and drama, about which I'll talk in a bit, but the pulpy aspect of these books is something I've accepted and affirmed, because, after all, these are zombie books. Obviously, that doesn't mean that they're supposed to be unambitious, not at all, it's just that holding them to the same standards as The Godfather is being just a tad unrealistic, and frankly, a bit of a whininh killjoy behaviour. Come on, it's zombies! And in my opinion, they were handled quite well.
It's because the action elements - all these bloody chases and gunfights and explosions and rescue missions were written well enough for the reader to fully be into it - as I were, suddenly realising that I'm thirty pages further and enjoying myself immensely.
I found great joy in nitpicking details and plotholes that I discovered along the way, but they never were things that would take out the fun or make me angry or bored or whatever. In my little notes that I took on this amazing website, I made some legitimate concerns, which would ultimately be my only ever problems with these series, and with Return to Woodbury really.
It was a shame that, while the action-packed sequences were awesome, they took up much of the space that could've been given to expanding and actually developing this walker-infested world and the characters. Some of the themes introduced in Search and Destroy that brought a promise of freshness, such as big cities, vaccines, community politics and railroad building, were never really explored as we rushed to face off another madman that lacked depth and humanity in him. I wanted to see some gray - as I sincerely believe that nothing in this world is black or white. It wasn't jarring that the plot was a bit repetitive, it's just that the plotpoints that could've been explored and shown Jay's creativity in how he handles the developing pandemic and its impact on the world were barely touched, giving us descriptions of cracked streets and kudzu vines again and again.
I also felt that Lilly's character and her dynamics with the group never reached their full potential. I feel like her mother-son relationship with Tommy was an amazing premise, something I teared up about in the last book during the goodbye scene, and here at the very end felt again, but knowing what it could've been breaks my heart, because I know Jay has the abilities to write something meaningful and emotional, but he went on to describe some other stuff that could never be of this impact as what that relationship might've been. I found myself rewriting the story at certain times, thinking over how great it would've been for the emotional aspect and the conflict and morality, wishing it was Jay who thought of it. Wishing that Jay would've stirred some drama in our group of survivors, who, whilst naturally loyal to Lilly, never really had any doubts or minds of their own. I wanted their strained psyches to turn up and sow doubt and frustration. I wanted Lilly's obsession with Woodbury to go the next level, to make her delusional, others to differ and see through that. I wanted some mystery. I wanted some depression and hopelessness and existential crisis. I wanted Lilly to actually unconsciously turn into the Governor, with her and the reader slowly realising it and feeling the terror and marveling at how this world plays with people.
And whilst I got none of that, and it did cause me disappointment, I will still stand by my three stars. Because it wasn't a pain to go through, quite the opposite. It was a pleasure to get through and I feel sad about leaving these series, though I do feel like it's a much deserved departure. Eight books in this setting and this format is enough. In a good way. I loved the characters. I loved the entertainment. I loved my tearing up. It was a wild ride. A good adventure.
Jay, I know I had fun nitpicking every plot inconsistency that you committed, and every logical fallacy, and every time I wanted something to turn out differently, I made sure to write about it with some f-words. But no hard feelings, man. Your books were the first books that I read in English. I loved your writing and metaphors, though you have to admit, you do find a few new favourite words before writing a new books and make sure to use them quite often. And your cliffhangers have driven some people mad. But not me. Thank you. Eight books is quite a score. I won't forget them. And Lilly Caul. And Woodbury.
Though definitely flawed, filled with deus-ex-machinas and conveniences, repetitive villains and lazy resolutions, being done with Jay Bonansinga's The Walking Dead feels heavy.
Maybe it's because I've been reading it for years now, or maybe because the past month I've been reading this and nothing else, but I do believe, that in the end, it's because I did like these books.
Lilly Caul, a character that I read many people hate and find unbearable, I actually have grown attached to. I actually felt her struggles, her heartbreaks, her tumultous love life, her jokes and grins and obssessiveness. She and all the other characters, be they of minor or major importance, made the story so immersive and such a page-turner.
What also made it a page-turner is that these were simply action books. I realised this while reading and thought that I was actually okay with this. I longed for character development and drama, about which I'll talk in a bit, but the pulpy aspect of these books is something I've accepted and affirmed, because, after all, these are zombie books. Obviously, that doesn't mean that they're supposed to be unambitious, not at all, it's just that holding them to the same standards as The Godfather is being just a tad unrealistic, and frankly, a bit of a whininh killjoy behaviour. Come on, it's zombies! And in my opinion, they were handled quite well.
It's because the action elements - all these bloody chases and gunfights and explosions and rescue missions were written well enough for the reader to fully be into it - as I were, suddenly realising that I'm thirty pages further and enjoying myself immensely.
I found great joy in nitpicking details and plotholes that I discovered along the way, but they never were things that would take out the fun or make me angry or bored or whatever. In my little notes that I took on this amazing website, I made some legitimate concerns, which would ultimately be my only ever problems with these series, and with Return to Woodbury really.
It was a shame that, while the action-packed sequences were awesome, they took up much of the space that could've been given to expanding and actually developing this walker-infested world and the characters. Some of the themes introduced in Search and Destroy that brought a promise of freshness, such as big cities, vaccines, community politics and railroad building, were never really explored as we rushed to face off another madman that lacked depth and humanity in him. I wanted to see some gray - as I sincerely believe that nothing in this world is black or white. It wasn't jarring that the plot was a bit repetitive, it's just that the plotpoints that could've been explored and shown Jay's creativity in how he handles the developing pandemic and its impact on the world were barely touched, giving us descriptions of cracked streets and kudzu vines again and again.
I also felt that Lilly's character and her dynamics with the group never reached their full potential. I feel like her mother-son relationship with Tommy was an amazing premise, something I teared up about in the last book during the goodbye scene, and here at the very end felt again, but knowing what it could've been breaks my heart, because I know Jay has the abilities to write something meaningful and emotional, but he went on to describe some other stuff that could never be of this impact as what that relationship might've been. I found myself rewriting the story at certain times, thinking over how great it would've been for the emotional aspect and the conflict and morality, wishing it was Jay who thought of it. Wishing that Jay would've stirred some drama in our group of survivors, who, whilst naturally loyal to Lilly, never really had any doubts or minds of their own. I wanted their strained psyches to turn up and sow doubt and frustration. I wanted Lilly's obsession with Woodbury to go the next level, to make her delusional, others to differ and see through that. I wanted some mystery. I wanted some depression and hopelessness and existential crisis. I wanted Lilly to actually unconsciously turn into the Governor, with her and the reader slowly realising it and feeling the terror and marveling at how this world plays with people.
And whilst I got none of that, and it did cause me disappointment, I will still stand by my three stars. Because it wasn't a pain to go through, quite the opposite. It was a pleasure to get through and I feel sad about leaving these series, though I do feel like it's a much deserved departure. Eight books in this setting and this format is enough. In a good way. I loved the characters. I loved the entertainment. I loved my tearing up. It was a wild ride. A good adventure.
Jay, I know I had fun nitpicking every plot inconsistency that you committed, and every logical fallacy, and every time I wanted something to turn out differently, I made sure to write about it with some f-words. But no hard feelings, man. Your books were the first books that I read in English. I loved your writing and metaphors, though you have to admit, you do find a few new favourite words before writing a new books and make sure to use them quite often. And your cliffhangers have driven some people mad. But not me. Thank you. Eight books is quite a score. I won't forget them. And Lilly Caul. And Woodbury.
October 16, 2019
"This time, maybe, just maybe, Woodbury will live on...
...this stubborn, beautiful throwback, this place that I will forever, from this day forward, call home." This was such an underwhelming ending, if it wasn't the final book I wouldn't have bothered reading on. I wish Lilly died...1 🌟
...this stubborn, beautiful throwback, this place that I will forever, from this day forward, call home." This was such an underwhelming ending, if it wasn't the final book I wouldn't have bothered reading on. I wish Lilly died...1 🌟
November 22, 2017
OMG. Not the greatest writing, but the BEST storytelling. Love the characters,
October 31, 2017
It is four years into the zombie apocalypse and Lilly Caul has a group of survivors staying at an Ikea in Atlanta. Although this seems like the perfect place to be, Lilly is restless and dreams of Woodbury. Using the argument that the Ikea is a giant target for those wanting to stay, Lilly is pushing to return to Woodbury. Not wanting to split up, most everyone decides to pack up and head out. The problem is there are in the middle of one heck of a monsoon and will have to fight rains and rising waters.
But this is not the only problem. Ash, who has gone missing a while ago, is still alive along with several others. They are the victims of a crazy man that wants to create the perfect family. You also have another man that is intend on finding his missing wife. He finds a new friend from a prison in Cuba but they both have a lot of trouble ahead of them.
This is a great story that started out with a bang and a prisoner in Cuba making a dash for a helicopter to try and get to America just as a hurricane is hitting land. From there you hit the ground running as Lilly is nipping at the bit to get to Woodbury. You also have Ash who is about to escape a crazy man that is trying to make a perfect family and is willing to kill Ash to save her kids.
I have not read a lot of the books in the Walking Dead book series although I love the television series. I live how we are getting a glimpse of the world outside of what we see in the television series. I admit that Lilly left a perfect location with the Ikea store. If you have everything I would think you would want to build up your fortress then run off to a town that might not even be there.
Overall I really like this story. Fred Berman does a great job narrating this story. I had no trouble keeping up and figuring out which character was speaking. I love how clear his narration was, I didn’t have to turn up the volume really high just to understand what was being said. This is one to check out.
I received Return to Woodbury from MacMillan Audio for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.
But this is not the only problem. Ash, who has gone missing a while ago, is still alive along with several others. They are the victims of a crazy man that wants to create the perfect family. You also have another man that is intend on finding his missing wife. He finds a new friend from a prison in Cuba but they both have a lot of trouble ahead of them.
This is a great story that started out with a bang and a prisoner in Cuba making a dash for a helicopter to try and get to America just as a hurricane is hitting land. From there you hit the ground running as Lilly is nipping at the bit to get to Woodbury. You also have Ash who is about to escape a crazy man that is trying to make a perfect family and is willing to kill Ash to save her kids.
I have not read a lot of the books in the Walking Dead book series although I love the television series. I live how we are getting a glimpse of the world outside of what we see in the television series. I admit that Lilly left a perfect location with the Ikea store. If you have everything I would think you would want to build up your fortress then run off to a town that might not even be there.
Overall I really like this story. Fred Berman does a great job narrating this story. I had no trouble keeping up and figuring out which character was speaking. I love how clear his narration was, I didn’t have to turn up the volume really high just to understand what was being said. This is one to check out.
I received Return to Woodbury from MacMillan Audio for free. This has in no way influenced my opinion of this book.
April 14, 2025
É... acabou.
Eu estou emotiva haha. Quis chorar já na dedicatória do Jay Bonansinga "Para os caçadores de errantes por toda parte". Fofo.
Eu gostei, de maneira geral, desse livro. Temos aqui uma Lilly Caul mais madura, forte, dona dela mesma, mas que ao mesmo tempo, não deixa de ser humana. Acredito que essa era a melhor forma de encerrar o ciclo dessa personagem, demonstrar que apesar de ser sanguinária quando precisa, ela não se assemelha em nada com o Governador.
Fiquei triste pelo David, ele sofreu demais nesses dois últimos livros da série. Aliás, as mortes desse livro são inaceitáveis pra mim, apesar de fazerem sentido de certa e forma e, querendo ou não, o Jay precisava seguir o ritmo que o Robert Kirkman criou para o universo The Walking Dead: um personagem condenado a morte sobrevive, mas um que já estava praticamente salvo morre por um motivo besta. Acontece.
As cenas nesse livro são MUITO descritivas, e apesar de serem boas, parecem intermináveis algumas vezes. Foi um dos livros que eu mais demorei para terminar, mas só por conta da quantidade de sangue, vísceras e destruição mesmo. Segue o mesmo ritmo do último livro, onde uma coisa acontece atrás da outra e todas as pontas que ficaram soltas são amarradas no final.
Outra coisa que vale a pena mencionar é a "participação" do personagem brasileiro. Claro que segue aquela coisa estereotipada do latino que trafica drogas e que tem um extinto de sobrevivência... mas é algo que eu consigo imaginar acontecendo na série de TV, facilmente.
Foi uma longa jornada, mas valeu a pena! Vou sentir falta de reclamar dessa série por aqui. Não é perfeita, aliás, está longe de ser, mas é uma história que acrescenta para quem é fã desse universo, já que depois da morte do Governador, Woodbury fica esquecida na série.
Ouvi boatos de que teria uma continuação, mas não acredito que seja o caso... Woodbury precisa descansar um pouco, é mais curioso deixar no imaginário do leitor o que pode acontecer ou o que teria acontecido. Sou fã do universo que o Kirkman criou, mas acho que não tem nada de inovador para trazer em relação a zumbis, e prolongar esse fim só mancha a incrível trajetória que ele criou para os personagens que são tão marcantes.
É isso, walkers! Nem acredito que depois de anos eu consegui terminar essa série.
Eu estou emotiva haha. Quis chorar já na dedicatória do Jay Bonansinga "Para os caçadores de errantes por toda parte". Fofo.
Eu gostei, de maneira geral, desse livro. Temos aqui uma Lilly Caul mais madura, forte, dona dela mesma, mas que ao mesmo tempo, não deixa de ser humana. Acredito que essa era a melhor forma de encerrar o ciclo dessa personagem, demonstrar que apesar de ser sanguinária quando precisa, ela não se assemelha em nada com o Governador.
Fiquei triste pelo David, ele sofreu demais nesses dois últimos livros da série. Aliás, as mortes desse livro são inaceitáveis pra mim, apesar de fazerem sentido de certa e forma e, querendo ou não, o Jay precisava seguir o ritmo que o Robert Kirkman criou para o universo The Walking Dead: um personagem condenado a morte sobrevive, mas um que já estava praticamente salvo morre por um motivo besta. Acontece.
As cenas nesse livro são MUITO descritivas, e apesar de serem boas, parecem intermináveis algumas vezes. Foi um dos livros que eu mais demorei para terminar, mas só por conta da quantidade de sangue, vísceras e destruição mesmo. Segue o mesmo ritmo do último livro, onde uma coisa acontece atrás da outra e todas as pontas que ficaram soltas são amarradas no final.
Outra coisa que vale a pena mencionar é a "participação" do personagem brasileiro. Claro que segue aquela coisa estereotipada do latino que trafica drogas e que tem um extinto de sobrevivência... mas é algo que eu consigo imaginar acontecendo na série de TV, facilmente.
Foi uma longa jornada, mas valeu a pena! Vou sentir falta de reclamar dessa série por aqui. Não é perfeita, aliás, está longe de ser, mas é uma história que acrescenta para quem é fã desse universo, já que depois da morte do Governador, Woodbury fica esquecida na série.
Ouvi boatos de que teria uma continuação, mas não acredito que seja o caso... Woodbury precisa descansar um pouco, é mais curioso deixar no imaginário do leitor o que pode acontecer ou o que teria acontecido. Sou fã do universo que o Kirkman criou, mas acho que não tem nada de inovador para trazer em relação a zumbis, e prolongar esse fim só mancha a incrível trajetória que ele criou para os personagens que são tão marcantes.
É isso, walkers! Nem acredito que depois de anos eu consegui terminar essa série.
October 8, 2017
You know those books that you can't put down? Yep. This is one of them. I never read book 1 so I have no clue if it is about The Walking Dead characters we know and love from the television show. This is a whole new bunch of people. Not even of the Fear of the Walking Dead bunch. I loved the characters right away. The slip of Rick Grimes's name near the end lets you know it is a part of the same series.
And who wouldn't want to live in an IKEA? What a great place to ride out the apocalypse? But our fearless leader has other plans, against this reader shouting to stay put.
I don't like reading books out of order but it was available on NetGalley and I couldn't resist. I'm glad I got to read it. Especially since the new season doesn't start until, what, the 18th or something. And I had just finished another binge of all the seasons on, I think, Netflix. Yeah, including Negan's bad behavior. So I was jonesing for more TWD. This book filled the sudden void.
If you are going to read it, block out a space in the daytime so you don't have to stay awake until the sun comes up in the morning. It is THAT good!
And who wouldn't want to live in an IKEA? What a great place to ride out the apocalypse? But our fearless leader has other plans, against this reader shouting to stay put.
I don't like reading books out of order but it was available on NetGalley and I couldn't resist. I'm glad I got to read it. Especially since the new season doesn't start until, what, the 18th or something. And I had just finished another binge of all the seasons on, I think, Netflix. Yeah, including Negan's bad behavior. So I was jonesing for more TWD. This book filled the sudden void.
If you are going to read it, block out a space in the daytime so you don't have to stay awake until the sun comes up in the morning. It is THAT good!
October 18, 2017
This is the first book I have read in this series. Additionally, I have yet to watch a single episode of the Walking Dead on television. Although, I know a good zombie book when I read one. This book is such a book. It is great. Despite having never read any of the other books in this series, I was able to jump right into this book.
There was a brief point in the story where I was trying to figure out the dynamics of all of the characters to one another but it was not significant. The zombies in this book are not the slow dimwitted ones. No, the zombies in this book are fast and vicious. Blood and guts will be spilled. As if worrying about zombies was not enough, Lilly has to watch her back from humans as well. Yet, I have faith in Lilly as she can kick ass.
Everyone that I met in this book were great. I did not find a weak character. Instantly, I was transported into the story as if I was right there with the survivors. Now that I have had a taste for what this series is about, I plan to go back and check out the prior novels. Zombies for life.
There was a brief point in the story where I was trying to figure out the dynamics of all of the characters to one another but it was not significant. The zombies in this book are not the slow dimwitted ones. No, the zombies in this book are fast and vicious. Blood and guts will be spilled. As if worrying about zombies was not enough, Lilly has to watch her back from humans as well. Yet, I have faith in Lilly as she can kick ass.
Everyone that I met in this book were great. I did not find a weak character. Instantly, I was transported into the story as if I was right there with the survivors. Now that I have had a taste for what this series is about, I plan to go back and check out the prior novels. Zombies for life.
September 16, 2021
Honestly I hated the person Lilly became in the end. I mean she starts off with killing two desperate people who had already surrendered. That's called murder woman. Plus a lot of people died, just like in the last book, because she made stupid and selfish choices and they made the dumb decision to go along with it. Why? She wanted to go back to Woodbury so badly even though it was so dangerous, so many bad things have happened there, and half the place had burned down. Oh and in the end Tommy, her adopted son, died because of a plan that SHE came up with. Was it worth it dummy? I actually kind of hoped she'd die at the end so that a better leader could take over but nope, she just lost a foot. I would've traded Tommy's life for hers. I rooted for Lilly for so long but in the end I didn't like her very much. Her story was so good at the beginning and it ended like that. Very disappointing. I see the next book in the series is by a different author and about different characters. Hopefully better than Lilly. I'm pretty much over her now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2017
Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read Return to Woodbury for review.
To start with I am a fan of both The Walking Dead comics and The Walking Dead tv series. I have not however read any of the books in this spin off series before.
There was a lot that I did like about the book and a few things I didn't. I do think having read the previous books will make it a more fullfilling experience having more background on characters that survive and those that didn't. However, I was able to dive right in and enjoy the story without that background. The characters are mostly fully realized, you know what they are about right away. It was fun to read something in the walking dead world while waiting for the new season.
My main problem was that the action was almost literally non stop. One of the things I like about the main series, books and tv, is the moments of stillness in between.
To start with I am a fan of both The Walking Dead comics and The Walking Dead tv series. I have not however read any of the books in this spin off series before.
There was a lot that I did like about the book and a few things I didn't. I do think having read the previous books will make it a more fullfilling experience having more background on characters that survive and those that didn't. However, I was able to dive right in and enjoy the story without that background. The characters are mostly fully realized, you know what they are about right away. It was fun to read something in the walking dead world while waiting for the new season.
My main problem was that the action was almost literally non stop. One of the things I like about the main series, books and tv, is the moments of stillness in between.
May 27, 2018
So, I skipped the last book in this series because I needed a break from Bonansinga’s writing style. After finishing Return to Woodbury, I just might need to read it. I still don’t care for his habitual chapter ending “so-and-so thought everything was peachy and life was good until they noticed (*or* except they didn’t notice) everything going south quick.” I enjoyed the strengths and weaknesses being more balanced and realistic in this storyline. The villain was a nice twist too. There were some deaths I wasn’t expecting (no spoilers). My favourite part, as ridiculous as this will sound, involves dandelion greens. That’s all I’ll say. If an author wants to write a realistic post ZA plotline that includes the characters needing to keep up their calorie count, they’ll need to start writing in more hunting, gathering, and wildcrafting. Canned peaches do not last decades, y’all.
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