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A review by silky_octopus
Return to Woodbury by Jay Bonansinga, Robert Kirkman
3.0
I didn't enjoy this one as much as I hoped; it felt somewhat formulaic, in that events proceeded in much the same fashion as the previous few novels, revolving around a nutjob of one flavour or another working to destroy the survivors for reasons (TM). As with the previous books, Lily's obsessed with going back to Woodbury, the survivors with her have managed to obtain some good things/a degree of safety, and the nutjob kills a bunch of people and destroys most of what they had.
I think my expectations were possibly a bit high for this one, and I'm disappointed that the character we meet in the prologue wasn't used more - although I struggled a little to believe the plot in the introductory chapter, because helicopters are delicate machines looking for an excuse to fall out of the sky or explode, and one left out to the elements without being serviced for four years is really unlikely to be flightworthy - combined with a fair number of character deaths that felt... well, not undeserved, and arbitrary is a difficult word to use in the zombie genre, where random shocking deaths are a consistent them... but possibly pointless, in that they failed to evoke an emotional response in a number of cases.
I've marked it up to 3 stars though, because there were things I genuinely enjoyed; it was nice to see Ash return, the relationship between Tommy and Lily was a big part of this, and the sequences involving the Chatanooga River and Norma's journey were well-written and interesting. I actually felt this novel was strongest when it was nature making life horrible for those living in the world, rather than the nutjob.
I think my expectations were possibly a bit high for this one, and I'm disappointed that the character we meet in the prologue wasn't used more - although I struggled a little to believe the plot in the introductory chapter, because helicopters are delicate machines looking for an excuse to fall out of the sky or explode, and one left out to the elements without being serviced for four years is really unlikely to be flightworthy - combined with a fair number of character deaths that felt... well, not undeserved, and arbitrary is a difficult word to use in the zombie genre, where random shocking deaths are a consistent them... but possibly pointless, in that they failed to evoke an emotional response in a number of cases.
I've marked it up to 3 stars though, because there were things I genuinely enjoyed; it was nice to see Ash return, the relationship between Tommy and Lily was a big part of this, and the sequences involving the Chatanooga River and Norma's journey were well-written and interesting. I actually felt this novel was strongest when it was nature making life horrible for those living in the world, rather than the nutjob.