I just finished this book the other day. I thought it started out well but really went downhill after the first hundred pages. I didn't find the preacher storyline all that interesting at all (as he just seemed like a quickly thought up idea to replace the madman that was the governor).

I'll continue to get these books as they come out but I have to admit they are really trying to get as much money out of the character of Lilly as they can (considering she is a character that appeared in a total of only about three pages in the comics and seemed to be created simply because Kirkman couldn't decide who he wanted to have kill the Govenor).

I really liked Lilly in The Road to Woodbury and it was fun to see all the behind the scenes stuff in the Fall of the Govenor novels but having four more novels after that based around her seems like a bit much and the more story they try to give her the less interesting she is becoming in my opinion.

Oh well. I am invested in her character enough to at least finish the series and see what her fate ends up being but I'm not sure exactly why they thought her character needed so much development in the first place. I think the first three novels might of sold so well because of the Govenor not so much because of Lilly.

When does the next one come out anyway?

 

are they actually having another one of these? I mean, Lilly is about run her course. I usually finish these books in a day or two. I read half and didn't read for a while, and just now, finished the second half. They are definitely running this thing in to the ground

 

In this book, Lilly did exactly the opposite what Governor did, Governor Would let individual or small group of survivors in, but he was very suspicious about any large and close knit groups, because he knew such a group, if proved to be hostile, could easily destroy Woodbury which was a very small community with 50-60 people, this was the reason when Rick and his friends came to the town, Governor immediately pounced which led a tragic consequence for both Woodbury and the prison. Lilly was a much better person than Governor, she did not have to save the church group, but unlike Governor, instead of seeing the danger a large and close knit group could brought, she saw the help a large group could do for the town, sadly she was wrong too, she failed to put into count that, although was an evil person, Governor’s concern about the threat of large group is very much valid. Lilly simply trusted these outsiders too much, the result was the end of Woodbury and the death of most of her people. I guess she would not be that trustworthy in the next book.

 

ugh. I can't believe I have to read 3 more of these

 

That's how I feel too -- I'm so curious about the storyline -- but I don't want to read a bad book when I could spend that time reading a good book, so I haven't read them. Is there a Coles Notes version?

 

Wow, this book was pretty bad and totally unbelievable. Is this the first book Kirkland didn't help write? Had walking characters but just felt off. The first 4 books were better.

 

I noticed Kirkman had his name on all the previous four books but did not have his name on Descent. So yes it looks like Descent was the first book that did not have any input at all from Kirkman (or at least Kirkman didn't feel it was good enough to put his name on it).

I agree with Neuro in that the first two books were pretty decent and then really went downhill as soon as they got into the comic to book adaptions (first two books took place prior to the Woodbury arc in the comics).

In my opinion I think the problem lies in the fact that it doesn't seem like Bonansinga even read the comics. Maybe Kirkman told him particular arcs he needed to read but it doesn't seem like he read the entire first compendium in its entirety. I can't imagine him reading through the comics as thoroughly as fans do and still not picking up on all the plot holes and inconsistencies there have been since Fall of the Govenor on (he wouldn't have really needed to read the comics in order to write the first two books).

 

Wow, this book was bad. I finished it this weekend and took the opposite approach as you, I read it in bits and pieces over a few weeks because it was so poor.

The other thing that was so funny about the "underground railroad" in this book was that even if we take the leap and pretend that they really DID have tunnels throughout the state, who could believe that such passages built over 150 years previously would still be in such great shape? It would make these crude tunnels better engineered than half of our current national infrastructure.

How funny was the scene where Bob said, SURPRISE, I replaced the cyanide with water in all those bottles!!

It was hilarious too how the cult gathered Woodbury together and didn't realize that 1/4 of the town was missing and in Lilly and Bob's little army. Then Bob from the tunnels figures out the building roof where Lilly and crew are hanging out.

This novel wouldn't have been any worse if they had brought the Governor back from the dead.

The only perfect thing about the book was that it was appropriately titled.

 

I'm hooked on the whole franchise so I've been reading the books. I'm very skeptical of the TV spinoff but will initially watch that too. I will draw the line there though. If it's bad I will stop watching it since it's not connected to the original TWD story in anyway aside from occupying the same universe.

 

LOL

thats the trouble with all this logical thinking that destroys peoples enjoyment of books, comics, tv shows, youre meant to switch your brain off and just enjoy it how its written.
FGS zombies dont exist so a bit rich to add a bit of reality to something thats far from real

Personally speaking ive just finished this book and enjoyed it, and yes without thinking too deeply about the points above

 

Exactly. And anyone who invests in those books would already be a fan of the comics and/or the TV show. It's not about the genre, but the quality of the writing.