A pleasant .... prequel and dispensable! (Spoilers on the comic)

As the zombies of his creation, Robert Kirkman never seems to tire. After a hundred episodes of The Walking Dead Comics release, supervision and some scenarios for the TV series, here's our writer tackles a prequel version of the novel.

This is to describe the transformation of Philip Blake brave in ultimate bastard father everything TWD reader has learned to hate. I must say that its appearance in the 3 volumes of TWD will leave traces (blood) and its excessive sadism has decimated 3/4 of the distribution of the series.
Even today, our hero Rick Grimes bears the scars of his meeting with the governor responsible for the amputation and death of his family.
The company telling the story of this swelling was therefore quite well for even if the risk of Kirkman talent scatter is real.
For this novel 350 pages shows that a good writer of the caliber of Kirkman is not necessarily a good novelist.

We find everything that makes the charm of the series: readily identifiable characters with strong features, good dialogues and great cliffhangers including a barely believable dramatic turn at the end.

The parallel between Philip and Rick, his future victim is interesting to ascertain. These have much in common finally: men of incredible moral force desperate to protect their child from the horror of a world where the dead come back to life. The surprise is great in this respect. Here's our villain appears in a favorable light: brave, loving father, attentive to his friends and incredibly gifted for survival and that of his community. Throughout the progression of the story, the reader wonders what could have happened to Philip switch to the dark side. This is the great strength of the series that Kirkman to ordinary characters in extraordinary situations where their choices will determine the development of their personality. In this, the quote from Nietzsche
to pla page 133 is perfectly appropriate in the light of that through our characters, "He who fights against monsters must take care not to become a monster himself."

And the descent into hell of Philip Blake is mercilessly well described even if the TWD reader guess it necessarily be a link with the little Penny.
Kirkman also recognize an incomparable talent as a storyteller because once again, despite the fact that evolve more familiar territory, we get caught up in this guide to survival in hostile environment: perilous search foodstuffs, ammunition, fresh water or shelter: once again Kirkman's characters are not at the party.

Despite all these qualities I happened to be bored by reading this book. First, I visualized curiously most scenes like they could have been drawn by Charlie Adlard. And the choice of Kirkman wonder: where it is now a demigod in the world of comics and therefore it can afford the best designers in the world, why undertake this work where novelist, even assisted by Jay Bonansinga, he struggles with the task ?.

For it is evident that we are dealing here with a very detailed script but do not remain in literary memoirs. Written entirely in this narrative it beating down the advance of the story, the vocabulary used is often very poor and clumsy figures of style. Example page 28 about the death of a zombie, "the tip of the peak falls on the head of the monster smashing the skull like a coconut and sending up a black squirt in a noise that celery stalks breaks ". Kirkman Where is he gone for metaphors as its stinking zombies?
I admit I had also to validate the final coup de theater that challenges not only the whole book in question but the subsequent acts of the governor. It seems that this volume is the first volume of a trilogy. We'll see how Kirkman fall back on its feet.

While the appearance of Philip Blake is scheduled for season 3 of TWD, the fan of the series will spend a great time reading the ascent of the governor. Those who are not interested in the extended universe may very well s' without it.