Invasion

The Walking Dead: Novels #6

by BONANSINGA JAY R.

BRAND NEW, Exactly same ISBN as listed, Please double check ISBN carefully before ordering.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Audiobook, Post Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Apocalyptic

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2015

Reviews

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating is 3.5 stars.

This is part of a series and should be read in order. This is part of The Walking Dead universe but we follow a different set of characters. In this one, Lily and the gang were forced to live underground in a series of tunnels. Meanwhile, the preacher sets forth a plan to get his revenge.

This one might be favorite of the series. The action, the plot, and the characters all worked. It also fits in perfectly within this universe especially the little nods to famous scenes from the original run. While I have enjoyed this series I have not been the biggest fan of the author's style of writing. I have no complaint about his style in this book. In previous books his similes and metaphors were a little over the top. Not so in this book. He also has done a terrific job connecting me with the characters in this book. I have not felt that connection in previous offerings and I was reading this series for the plot and the setting. This book I cared about what happened to the characters and felt when they had triumph or suffered tragedy.

If you haven't lived under a rock you know what you are basically getting from a book set in this universe. A group of people struggling to survive in the zombie apocalypse. This was a fun book in a fun series. It entertained me throughout.

[Sheena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been a good series but I'm kinda hoping that maybe they'll move on from Lilly/Woodbury and start telling a different story like Negan's.

[Kristine (The Writer's Inkwell) · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know, I really enjoyed the Governor series when it came out. It was a great way to get some much needed insight into how Woodbury and the Governor came to be. It even gave more insight into the time Rick, Michonne and the others spent captured by the Governor and his goons. But I feel it’s gone on for far too long.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, but Reverend Jeremiah was too crazy even for me to handle. I suppose this an a positive thing to note for Jay Bonansinga, because it’s truly hard to write such a despicable character. However, usually I feel bad guys can really make the book, in this case, he broke the book. Between flat out murdering and torturing people to whining about his failed rapture, I was just not impressed.

The story of Lily and the other Woodbury survivors was easier to stomach. But it often felt like a side note. After all, they are barely hanging on and they have more children than adults among them. I don’t know how to explain what got under my skin so much, but I just found I had no interest in this book. It was hard to get into and I muddled through the first fifty pages as if I was marching slowly through a bog. The pacing never really picks up until the last few chapters and by that point it’s all too little too late. Shame. I really liked the series before. Not anymore.

[Nao · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mętnam, o niczym i bez wyrazu

Czuję się jakby zmarnowała czas i kompletnie nie wiem co przeczytałam - męczyłam się z nią długo i nie wiem czy to nie będzie gwóźdź do trumny tej serii.

[Yodamom]

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

When we last left our group of Woodbury survivors in “Descent” they had just moved everyone left after the governor’s rampage underground. They made the ancient tunnels and mine shafts habitable and safe. However, they knew they could not stay down there forever because living underground was taking it’s toll on the senior citizens and children in Lilly Caul’s group. Lily wants Woodbury back but it is still infested with the herd of walkers that drove them underground in the first place.

Deep in the “hinterlands” Reverend Gerlitz is very busy rebuilding his group of followers and he has come up with a diabolical new weapon to take revenge on not only the walkers roaming about but on Lilly and her group as well.

Which group will come up victorious is this (reputedly) final confrontation.

I had this audio book on hold at the library and it became available shortly after the “Walking Dead” midseason finale aired, so I could continue to get my “walker fix” for a little while longer. Although not the best book in the series I did enjoy this installment in the series and I think any fan of the television show would enjoy the books as well. Of course, there is no shortage of “gruesome” in these books and I think the only authors who can match George R.R. Martin for his ruthlessness in killing off favorite characters is the team of Kirkman and Bonansinga. What else can I say about this book? I enjoyed it and it is what it is … a book about a zombie apocalypse … that for some strange reason I find entertaining.

If you have read the other books and are a fan of the series then I highly recommend these books. Although there is some overlap between these books and the television series you won’t hear too many familiar names. If you are thinking about reading the books I would highly suggest starting with “The Road to Woodbury”.

[Chris Greensmith · Rating 3 out of 5]

"David thinks about it for a moment, and finally says, "Let's let her sleep." He shares another glance with Barbara, and then turns to Miles. "Everybody deserves a chance to dream."
OK, sad to see Bob go, I thought I was going to hate Tommy but he turned out pretty cool. I liked how they disposed of Jeremiah but I would have rather he lived a bit longer, and how the hell is Lilly still alive? I like where they have gone with this series, and it has created its own world in the Walking Dead universe, very good...3 🌟

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a great series. I could certainly read about the rebuilding of Woodberry. But I would LOVE a Negan background.

Although as we have seen, his story isn't done.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

The series of "The Walking Dead" novels (this most recent one--"Invasion"--penned by Jay Bonansinga)...which follows the story of "The Walking Dead" comics and NOT the TV show (though the plotlines do cross over sometimes)...is slowly losing steam.

This series of novels began telling the story of "The Governor," arguably the worst villain in "The Walking Dead" pantheon of horrible creeps. Once the Governor was gone, these novels followed Lily Caul, the new leader of Woodbury. Now she's a leader in exile and the batshit crazy Reverend Jeremiah Garlitz (whom she drove away in the last novel) is back for revenge against the few remaining survivors of Woodbury. Those survivors are now tunnel dwellers because the super-herd of walkers that Garlitz brought down on Woodbury--he thinks that the undead are destined to consume all humans--in the previous novel.

As before, I have some fundamental problems with Bonansinga's writing style. He does willfully ignore the basic "show, don't tell" rule for writing. And he makes some repeated odd word and phrase choices that draw attention to themselves--like "foot-feed," "spume," and "succor."

Also, a lot of the Woodbury survivors are just not interesting or three-dimensional enough to tell one from the other. Besides Lily and Bob and Tommy Dupree, it's difficult to distinguish them as separate people.

And let's say that from chapter 23 onward, the suspension of disbelief takes a major hit. The clumsy nature of the anti-foreshadowing the author does is just plain bad. And the final battle between Lily and Garlitz is filled with many incidents of bad writing. I'll just say that the last few chapters needed some major revision and didn't get it.

I do like some of the characters, or I wouldn't bother with reading this series. But each book has proved to be less and less interesting.

I'm sure there will be more of these books, as they are a license to print money. But I certainly hope the quality improves.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep reading these books because I love the show, but I can't say that they bring me much enjoyment.

Lilly Caul is supposed to be the protagonist in these books, but she constantly makes bad choices and does stupid things. You forget about how much fuel you have because you're having such a great time talking with your companion? Seriously?

I'm to the point where I wish they'd just kill her off. You don't get to be that careless and stupid in the Zombie Apocalypse, not if you want to survive.

[Kristofer Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jay Keeps Woodbury Alive

You would think that a story that centers around one location through six books would be stale, but that could not be farther from the truth. Jay Bonansinga keeps the town of Woodbury alive and kicking like a walker that has taken a bullet in every part of its body except the head. Lilly Caul is a heroine to be celebrated, and one as full of flaws and weaknesses as she is strength of will and character. Good job on this one, and I look forward to the next two.

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinda loved the religious direction this book took. Bit different to the previous tales of stereotypical bad guys. Beginning to enjoy Lilly again as she's more consistent in this book.

[Matt Heaton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its been roughly 2 years since the out break of the walking dead and this story continues after the decent.
After losing Woodbury to the mass herd and the events with Reverend Garlitz, Lilly Caul, Bob Stookey and the remaining residents of Woodbury have moved into the mining tunnels under Woodbury. They regather and make the tunnels livable for the time being, while eventually Lilly wants to take Woodbury back from the herd.
While they are living in the tunnels they are unaware that Reverend Jeremiah Garlitz is on a revenge mission after ecasping the clutches of the herd. Jeremiah is on the war path to kill Lilly and Co which has lasting effects and serious consequences and come down to a battle of two Human groups to the death all the while surrounded by the mass herd of thousands upon thousands of the living dead

[David Przybylinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

So not sure why it's still referenced as the Governor series, it would've better to call it The Woodbury Series.

This is a continuation of sorts with many returning characters from stories past. It was well worth reading a it puts another chapter in the Woodbury series post Governor.

I look forward to the next installment which I assume won't be until next October. I would recommend reading the books starting with the first and watch the characters develop over the series.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lily and her ragtag fellow survivors story continues in this novel. Unfortunately, the crazy preacher survived the horde and Woodbury disaster and is looking to extend his flock and seek revenge. I have liked the progression of Lily's character throughout the series. It was a fast paced, action filled book that reminds you of watching a marathon of The Walking Dead.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit my bias for the graphic novels and the tv show.Hence the 5 star rating but ill stand by it because i have really enjoyed the series.Seeing characters that i am already fond of plus the new characters introduced have all blended very well and the overall story works.The wheel isnt being reinvented here but if your a fan of the Walking Dead its a must read series.

[Diane Huettemann Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know why everyone is so upset about the name of the book. It doesn't really matter to me what they call it, I still enjoy reading them! And I will read the next one, whatever it is called!

[Trent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have more and more fun with each one of these books. Super great fun!

[Renato · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Felt too short an uneventful

TWD is a series that generally can go on forever...but it should move with purpose.

I feel that this book should have been glomped together with the previous one

[Tracy Schillemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cliff hanger!

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are getting boring, so why do I keep reading them?

[Diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could give negative stars. The only reason I'm still reading this shit series is because I am too much of a control freak to stop and my therapist charges too much to waste an entire hour talking about books.
This book had all the usual bullshit we've come to know and detest:
-An EXTREMELY obvious con-man who SOMEHOW fools people into following him, because apparently no one has survived the zombie plague except village idiots
-dozens of fakeouts that don't add one iota to the suspense and don't serve the main plot or the character development/world building but does add a shitload to the wordcount and the amount of effort required to get through the ordeal of reading it
-melodramatic reactions to reminders of stupid things that happened stupidly in the stupid previous books and didn't make sense then either
-characters that fall in love in 5 seconds and then their love interest IMMEDIATELY dies and they act like they've just been widowed after 20 years together
-people too fucking stupid to use (or to remember the existence of) weapons other than guns and vehicles that don't require fuel, because the history of human beings started somewhere in the 19th century for these people
-protagonists that would have won the Darwin award 10 times over even in non-zombie times somehow surviving just because the plot wants them to

[David Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a slow start to the book as following Jeremiah as the lead character was a bit boring. I don’t like him at all (not that you’re supposed to), and don’t find him interesting as an antagonist. The parts dealing with the main group was better and seeing them live underground and how they survived that way was much more interesting. Final battle was cool, RIP Bob.

[Rene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well the Walking Dead are my weak spot, my only entertainment vice with splatter and gore. I simply like the concept of a post apocalyptic world where all the cards get reshuffled. New groups form, new leaders form, a new way for survival forms. There are some who turn into heroes like the main character Lilly, some into villains like the evil preacher Jeremy, black and white, we all know this is not how the world usually works. But this is the attraction of the walking dead series, on TV and on books. You can identify with the characters, ask yourself if you would have done the same thing. For most of the time it stays plausible, but entertaining und gory. The writing language is very powerful, even virtuous, gives a very strong emotional experience and leaves out no details.
I did not like the ending though. It was quite a bit over the top, and I kept saying to myself, how could you be that stupid. Just to raise suspense in the author's favor maybe? Just a guess. The main characters have near death brushes in the dozens, survive the most hopeless situations in the last second, and do the next reckless thing without hesitation. Someone in their right mind just would not, even acknowledging the horrific scenario.
I will keep reading and watching the walking dead. Hey, I made it that far.

[Fangs for the Fantasy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woodbury was left in ruins forcing Lilly Caul and the rest of her allies to flee underground. For now, they have a safe place to live and plenty of supplies but living underground isn't good for the children or the elderly. Lilly dreams of a day when they can take over Woodbury again but to Bob, and all the rest, it seems like a pipe dream because Woodbury is overrun with walkers. The reverend managed to escape the slew of walkers he unleashed on Woodbury but with only two followers left in his flock, the odds of survival don't look great for him. The reverend is however still bent upon his apocalyptic vision, certain that he is living through the rapture. No matter how many miles he drives away from Woodbury, and the catastrophe he unleashed, all he can think about is returning there some day and dealing with Lilly, who had the nerve to throw a wrench in his plans.

I am so over the Governor series. Yes, Bonansinga is covering new ground by writing about Lilly and her group but it's not particularly compelling, even with the threat of zombies looming. It's hard to have any sympathy for Lilly, and her desire to return to Woodbury, given how easily she handed over the running of the town to the preacher in the first place. This is a problem entirely of Lilly's creation and a responsibility she refuses to own, even as she tries to encourage the group to think about the benefits of living above ground. You would think that having already made an epic mistake losing Woodbury that Lilly would be more on the ball but you'd be wrong. After repeatedly telling herself to be aware of the point of no return, she promptly runs out of gas, thus risking her life and that of her travelling companion. Lilly actually gets so caught up in conversation that she doesn't notice the gas gauge. This is the woman btw who thinks she should be in a leadership position. Clearly, Lilly needs all the plot armor she can get because she's too stupid to live.

The antagonist in this book is the Reverend Jeremiah and as villains go, he might as well have been twirling a mustache and laughing maniacally. Even if it makes sense for Jeremiah to think that he was living through the rapture, the fact is, the evil preacher thing has been done to death. His supposed divine revelations adding nothing to the story and segues into his abusive childhood didn't add any nuance to the character. It's clear that Bonansinga tried to make Jeremiah three dimensional but he greatly missed the mark. I can only be thankful that with Jeremiah dead, we'll have a new antagonist in the next book. Even though this series is well past its expiry date.


Read More

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Governor is long-gone but The Governor series, which should really be titled The Lilly Caul series, continues.

Lilly and her fellow survivors of Woodbury are stuck underground as the town is now overrun with walkers. She's desperate to get it back. Meanwhile the preacher Jeremiah has also survived the swarm and when he discovers Lilly and co have survived he decides to wipe them out once and for all.

I think I shall get pretty quickly onto the big problem here. This series worked reasonably well as an alternate perspective of the Governor storyline in the comics series. But now it's moved on from that and it doesn't really justify it's existence.

One of the big strengths of The Walking Dead is the wonderful characters, especially the villains. Unfortunately almost all of Kirkman's original characters no longer exist in this series meaning we get a book starring Bonansinga characters which is just not as good. Jeremiah is not a great villain. The crazy vicar thing is over-used in American horror as it is and here Jeremiah seems to lose all parts of his character over than the insane lunatic bit without any particular reason why. Most of the other characters in the book are so bland that it's hard to distinguish them from each other, let alone care about them.

Don't get me wrong though, this book does have it's good moments. Bonansinga may be a bit rubbish at characters but he is great at over-the-top zombie action so we get everything from a railroad cart escape to a combine harvester killing zombies to a dramatic character death. It's certainly dramatic and is the sort of madness we've come to go and love of the franchise.

I suspect there will be at least one more book in this series to finish off the second trilogy but I hope we see a new series of Walking Dead books. There's a lot of potential in the next part of The Walking Dead what with Negan and the saviours that I really hope we see Bonansinga get to write for him.

[Angieleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not looking forward to the Novel Series being over. It will be weird not having Berman read another book to me, to not listen to another TWD novel, to not follow Lilly's story any longer.

Damn you, Bonansinga!

My biggest pet peeve with this book is that Bonansinga made Lilly act like someone who hadn't been through hell and back; she had come too far to make such foolish mistakes!

Garlitz, in my opinion, was just an extension of the Governor. & at times I'm pretty sure that he was actually CHANNELING TG, as if he had learned enough about him from the townspeople before hightailing it out of Woodbury after his failed mass suicide, and decided to hand his cross off to someone so he could prove he was the absolute worst of the worst.

Again, I am mesmerized by Berman's voice, by his ability to quote scripture in one breath, and voice Satan himself to a psychotic Garlitz. I mean, that dude HAD to realize that the person speaking to him was SATAN.

Ugh. Excuse me while I shudder a time or ten remembering those particular exchanges...

I adore Lilly, even when she made stupid error after stupid error. I absolutely adore Novel Bob over TV Bob. I'm also quite curious as to why they made TV Bob black, though, to be fair, Berman actually had me believing that the Bob he was voicing wasn't the weird looking white man that the comics made him out to be.

Such an interesting and great story being told in this latest installment. I highly suggest LISTENING rather than READING. Berman's voice is just amazing.

[Kirk Macleod · Rating 3 out of 5]

As it's the fifth tie-in novel to Robert Kirkman's comic book series, The Walking Dead, Invasion continues to follow the character of Lily Caul as she attempts to (spoiler for fans of tie-in novels) rebuild the pieces of the recently destroyed Woodbury during the events of The Walking Dead: Fall of the Governor and The Walking Dead: Descent.

Unfortunately for me, the book brings forth one of the staples of American Southern Horror novels - the evil priest. Now I'm not against a story in which an authority figure abuses his or her power to the point where they need to get what's coming to them, but this specific trope is so common in Southern horror, that I would love to read a novel about a kind-hearted Southern priest who does the decent thing because that's what would be most surprising to me in a horror novel these days.

Overall the story moves at a nice pace, and moves between four separate story lines allowing for a good narrative buildup throughout, the tension is very high, and, ignoring the overused evil-priest stereotype, it was a pretty solid read.

[Xondra Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book a higher rating, but it wasn't good. I said before that I can't get into the author's style of writing, and this time around was no different. It was a dry read with lots of gory scenes, but that alone cannot make a good book. The characters were one dimensional, and even after reading about Lily so many times I still feel like I don't know much about her or her motivation for making the choices she does. And Jeremiah is so sadistic that it doesn't make sense why a man of God would be like this even with all that events that have happened in his life. I didn't like reading about him at all. I actually liked some of the secondary characters more and found them far more interesting than him.

I feel this book series is dying and this book was an effort to catch a last breath. It's really too bad since I am a fan of The Walking Dead comics and TV series. In fact, I think they are wonderful, but this series of novels not so much.

[Meg McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story just keeps you riveted! I know I would not want to live in a zombie apocalypse but living in a community with people like Bob and Lily would be my preference! They know how to get things done!

As is usually the case, the walkers are the least of Lilly's problems. An insane Reverend, who tried to destroy Woodbury before, is back for vengeance and bringing literally hundreds of the undead with him!

The story is kind of left with a cliffhanger; I wonder if another book will be written! I hope so!!

My one complaint is still there, though. Way too much cursing! I know, I know... it is the apocalypse but every other word for some people, hint... Miles.

.... Oh, I just did some research and there is another book! I have already reserved it at the library!