Robert Kirkman’s ‘The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor’

Recently, I have been pouring through episodes of The Walking Dead, so I figured it was finally time to pick up a book I have always wondered about: Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor. If you haven’t seen any of season three of the show, you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph, as this description will have very slight spoilers. In the apocalyptic wasteland that Kirkman’s universe is set in, human settlements are incredibly rare. Yet, on outside appearances, the settlement of Woodbury has thrived beyond all expectations. Led by a man referred to only as The Governor, Woodbury seems to be a testament to human perseverance and goodwill. But The Governor has his fair share of skeletons in his closet, and the enigmatic leader may be more dangerous than anyone can imagine. Rise of the Governor is a prologue to the Woodbury events in the show, and depicts The Governor’s struggle for survival and rise to power. Events mentioned in the show are expounded upon, and Kirkman excels at showing just what can push an everyday man into being as much of a monster as the dead that walk the Earth.

Robert Kirkman is one of the creators and writers of The Walking Dead comic series, from which the show is based. As such, I was worried about how successful Kirkman’s venture into conventional authorship would be. From a technical standpoint, this book is nothing special. Kirkman gets the job done in his descriptions, and never hits a point where he seems to fumble for words. True to the pacing of the comics, the book is very blunt in many cases, so the prose will not necessarily wow anyone. Kirkman’s comic style of writing does have one serious advantage: the events that take place feel realistic. People react like real people. People die like real people. With a few exceptions (this being a prequel, after all), nobody is safe, and you feel that throughout the book. The doom and gloom is prevalent, there is no shortage of action, and, of course, the character development is top-notch. Ultimately, this book succeeds in what it sets out to do: give answers about The Governor while maintaining the feel of The Walking Dead comic and show. Series creator Robert Kirkman has proven that he still knows how to hook an audience. If you like The Walking Dead, this is an immensely enjoyable read that will keep you turning pages. I hope fellow fans will enjoy this book as much as I did.