_I have created a new section attached to this series called 'The Walking Dead: Spoilers'. Why? Well, we've now reached 15 volumes of this awesome series, but as things go, it's really very difficult to review them without spoiling a lot of the earlier material. So, for all the confusion and chaos, I've provided a link to the section where you can go and see exactly, and bluntly, what has happened to whom in which volume, and if the characters are still alive, what's going on with them now... But it is a page BUILT to spoil things, so NO COMPLAINING if you click the link! Do so ONLY if you wanna know what's going on up to this point with who!

Note: The page is still very basic so far, and is a work in progress for the time being, so certain info may not be displayed yet.

This volume continues with the groups' new home, a small suburban town with a tall, surrounding steel wall. Their efforts to get life back to normal within these walls seem short lived after Andrea, the group's best sniper, gets stationed in a bell tower a small distance outside of the walls, and eventually something draws the attention of a massive hoard of zombies, trapping her up there. Meanwhile, the wall now has a weak point, threatening a zombie invasion of the town, and a small group consisting of Glenn, and newcomers to the story Heath and Spencer, attempt to get supplies to Andrea as efficiently as possible. This volume starts out with a lot of recapping of the last volume, and shows us how life is changing for some of the characters, including some new blossoming romances. In a way, it almost drags a bit until you reach about the half-way point when things just kind of go 180 degrees. Its the first time in a while we see our characters with a complete loss of hope, and it makes you wonder how much longer some will last. There's even a certain event that happens in the volume's, seemingly so tragic, it nearly brought tears to my eyes. It ends on both a very positive and negative note when an epiphany is realized about the zombies, but at the cost of what could be a great character loss. As it stands, its a cliff-hanger, so we don't know if this character has survived or not yet. I greatly look forward to the next issue to find out!
Final Rating: 4.5/5 

Well, the group has found a new place to live. This is finally a place they can call home. A nice looking neighborhood, surrounded by a solid concrete wall and iron gate. Upon their arrival in the previous issue, everyone was assigned various jobs, and Rick even gets to be a cop again! But when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Rick ends up fixing his eye upon a guy named Pete who he believes to be an abusive husband and father, eventually something that causes him to snap. Meanwhile, the "runners" of the community, consisting of Glenn and one of the new characters, Heath, come across a new group of savages on one of their supply runs; savages of the living sort who may or may not be as dangerous as the people of Woodbury. This volume goes to show that its not gonna matter where people in a zombie-infested world go. No matter how safe it seems, or how welcoming, problems will arise inside and outside the confines of the walls. It also clearly shows what primal nature we would gain in such a situation, and that eventually finding a new home, even a place that reminds you of your old home isn't gonna help you find your inner peace again; hence the title "Too Far Gone". Overall, this one ends up on the average side of things. There's not really anything new to it, nothing shocking, nothing amazing. There are a few deaths in this issue, but all of people we've only just been introduced to so its hard to care, but at the same time its a breath of fresh air after so many of the initial group's deaths.
Final Rating: 3.5/5

The last volume ends with Carl confessing something to Rick, something very important. This volume opens up with a very shocked Rick, but it seemingly gets almost shrugged off throughout the rest of the volume. However, something really big ends up happening after Rick and his group are discovered by a man named Aaron. On first instincts, based on the whole Woodbury fiasco, strangers, let alone Aaron cannot be trusted. However Aaron ends up making them an offer they can't refuse; a livable community behind solid concrete walls, running on solar power, with electricity and running water! According to this issue, we're approximately 14 months into the apocalypse now. Needless to say, about half way through, the group makes it into the town. Suddenly its as if life is just about normal again, but a few people can't really take it after everything they've already been though. Things seem too good to be true. To be honest, I can start to get a little nit-picky about this particular volume. For starters, the title is completely misleading. Other than a handful of flesh-eaters in a couple of scenes, this leads more toward a new life for our group of protagonists. This whole "life among them" thing? That was the last 11 issues. I also don't really get why Carl's crime seems to get shrugged off so easily. It was starting to make for some great character development on who was starting to become almost the most intriguing character of the series based on the last few volumes. Carl was really coming into his own, but now in this new community he's seemingly forced back into just being a kid. Although I have to say, you can see that it bothers him. It is, however, nice to see that the whole trust issue of these new found friends still hangs in the balance. Plus its good to know that certain characters are realistic about their situation, and the whole "too good to be true" aspect plays into things very well. Overall, despite my criticisms, this ends up being one of the more intriguing reads of the series. Everything is almost teetering and waiting to fall apart... or is it?
Final Rating: 4/5

So here we have a volume that ends up being a kind of one-parter. It does end up bridging into volume 12 at the end, but it really is an adventure all its own. Our heroes end up being followed by another group of people with bad intentions, yet "doing what they have to in order to survive". The book starts out with the group still heading up to Washington, but when they stop to rest a murder within the group occurs, and its something very unexpected. This is followed by another completely unexpected murder within the group as well (meaning a group member is killing another group member). While trying to solve this mystery, the group encounters a priest who takes them into his church for shelter, trying to do good by them after cowardly hiding on his old group and allowing them to die in the havoc. All the while they are being stalked by this other group, who actually manage to take one of them away. The same person who gets taken also gets bitten, and we eventually lose another major player in the series by the end of this volume. There's also a pretty major reveal in the end that suggests that perhaps going to Washington isn't what the group really wants to do. As always, it was entertaining enough to hold up on its own, and the surprises in the series just seem to keep getting more and more entertaining as they add for some really unexpected twists. They manage to touch on a subject matter in this one as well that makes a lot of sense during a zombie apocalypse. I really dug this one, it was different in quite a few ways from previous volumes.
Final Rating: 4.5/5

This was most definitely one of the more intriguing reads of the 'Walking Dead' series. Some new characters have come into play now. Eugene, the man who claims he knows what started this mess and wants to get to Washington, Abraham, a muscle-bound gun toting zombie expert, and Rosita, a girl we don't know much about who seems to just be along for the ride with the other two. Our regular gang isn't quite sure if they trust everyone yet, but when they get closer to Rick's old neighborhood, things start to take a turn. Rick makes mention that there are plenty of weapons and probably supplies at his old police station, which we haven't seen since vol. 1. Rick, Abraham and Carl all head into town, leaving the others at a gas station area to camp for a couple of nights until they return with supplies. On this trip, however, a brilliant character study takes place when Abraham confesses what has happened to him and the things he's done. This is followed by both Rick and Carl fessing up themselves, and it's there that you pretty much get where the title of this volume comes from. This is most certainly one of the best volumes, if not the best volume, to pack so much into its pages. Even aside from that characters study bit, we start to see one of our most trusted characters starting to turn his back on Rick's leadership, and we have a returning character who we haven't seen in quite some time. It manages to pack an incredibly wide range of emotions into itself. I like it for different reasons than volume 8, but it parallels its intensity very well.
Final Rating: 5.5/5

Well, this is gonna be hard to review without major spoilers, but I'll give it a shot. In the previous volume, there's no way around it, really... The prison gets taken over by the people from Woodbury, and our heroes lose a pretty epic battle. During this, Rick and Carl get separated from Lori, the new baby Judith, and everyone else in some way, shape or form. Some died, some went off on their own before the fight, but I won't specify who did what. The book opens with Rick and Carl on their own, fending for themselves. It manages to bring Carl out and make him an essential character when Rick ends up having to tend to his gunshot wound he received previously. It's pretty clearly illustrated that Carl is gonna end up being essential to the storyline now instead of just that kid in the background. Eventually, they catch up with a few of the characters they were separated from that include Glenn and Maggie, Michonne, Dale and Andrea, and little Sophia. Now, you're probably thinking "okay, obviously the rest of them died" right? Well, who's to say no one went off in their own direction? And how easy do you think it would be for a newborn baby to get killed off in a story? There are some pretty big names left, but... did they die? or run off on their own? Anyway, near the end, there comes a group of three new characters who are trying to make their way up to Washington, claiming that it's a safe zone and that they have classified information on what caused the whole zombie apocalypse. Once again, the book serves as a kind of segway into volume 10, however this time around I genuinely enjoyed the concept of bringing young Carl out into the open. You start to get the impression that he's gonna be meant for big things sooner or later. I definitely look forward to the next volumes to see what they are gonna do with him!
Final Rating: 4/5

Holy shit! Just when you're making your way through these books and you start telling yourself that no one significant can die, this volume comes along and throws that concept into your face! It opens up with The Governor (the man who runs Woodbury) and what he has been doing while the previous volume played out. About the first quarter of this book parallels the last. It consists of the town of Woodbury preparing to fight in order to obtain the prison sanctuary, and leads into a new chapter of all out war! After the first assault by the townsfolk of Woodbury, fueled by lies, some characters end up leaving knowing full well that they can't properly prepare for a second wave. Others stay behind with their shadow of a hope of surviving. I won't go into detail, but let me tell you, this volume really slapped me in the face with complete and utter unexpectedness. As soon as you're going "wow!" you're already saying "holy shit" followed by "GOD DAMN!" I was predicting the outcome of this whole thing to be something like 'Heroes' where no one very significant actually ever dies, but the way the book delivers it is so in your face and upfront its actually pretty shocking! The intensity for whoever survives is... well, its pretty much gone through the roof now!
Final Rating: 5.5/5

The intensity really builds up right from the get-go of this issue, beginning with a flashback reminding us who the actual father of Lori's baby might be. Glenn ends up marrying Maggie, with Maggie's father performing the ceremony. Michonne is clearly still a little messed up from the torture she had to undergo in the town of Woodbury along with Glenn and Rick, but reluctantly goes with Glenn, Tyreese and some others to a weapons facility they learned exists nearby Woodbury. Before we know it, we get three emergency situations piling on top of each other that the new nurse, Alice, has to try to take care of with help from a few others. Lori goes into labour, one of the others who left gets shot, and one of the main characters ends up getting a bite. Half of the volume consists of eagerly turning the page to see what happens next, but eventually the excitement fades as everyone is coping with whatever. The whole time, there is worry that the town of Woodbury, where Rick, Glenn and Michonne ended up previously, is going to come after them, raid them, and steal their prison safe-house. The volume takes place in the span of about a month and a half, over the course of that summer. Its draggy at parts, but the intensity in the beginning is well worth it, and it balances pretty nicely. Plus, the end makes you wanna whip open the next volume pretty quickly!
Final Rating: 4.5/5