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The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor

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The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor

By: Robert Kirkman, Jay Bonansinga
Narrated by: Fred Berman
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About this listen

Following in the footsteps of the New York Times bestselling graphic novels and the record-breaking new television show, this debut novel in a trilogy of original Walking Dead books chronicles the back story of the comic book series greatest villain, The Governor.

In The Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it's forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople's amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted "Villain of the Year" by Wizard Magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial arc in the history of The Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.

 Genre Fiction Horror Literary Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Scary Zombie

Critic reviews

“Fred Berman's narration is smooth and keeps listeners engaged throughout this audio version. He develops solid, authentic-sounding voices for most of the book's characters, particularly the authoritative Phillip and Brian, whose voice is soft with a hint of weakness…As the narrative moves into more pitched moments, Berman chooses pauses and projection with a great deliberateness, adding to the suspense and making the prose all the more impactful” —Publishers Weekly

“There's a lot of grisly uncomfortable stuff here, and I can't imagine another narrator handling it better. I look forward to hearing [Fred Berman] again soon.” —SFFaudio

“The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor is the perfect Halloween listen full of zombie action, a touch of gore, and some intriguing characters trying to survive in a changed world” —The Guilded Earlobe
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For fans of the Walking dead series, then this is a must. Amazing to learn who the Governor was before he became the Governor. The story has a superb way of starting off very slowly and it feels it, but tends to rise up in tension up until each pinnacle moment which define the behaviour and unleash the true characteristics of the characters! Each characters has faults and moments where they shine and I found I could like a character at first but dislike them later. Very mixed emotions in this story!

Just a warning though, there are a number of "graphic" sexual moments.

Gripping start to finish!

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Loved Fred Berman's narration and the book itself is great. I can not wait for the 2nd book.

A must read or listen!

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A dark and moving tale of how the WD's Governor developed from a kind but weak youngish man to the psychopath we meet in the Walking Dead TV series and later WD audio books.
Briliant because it's believable. The story evolves at a perfect pace. One of those rare stories where you can understand and somewhat empathise with some of the terrible actions he takes, due to the background and current circumstances.
I love the twist at the end and really did not see it coming.
The characters are great. Narration is top notch.

Brilliantly dark and disturbing.

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Loved the book. The description of the governers journey to madness kept me gripped from start to finish. Can not wait to start listening to the next instalment.

very enjoyable

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I love the walking dead its always so well written and full of twists and turns. This book is no different! I expected it to be quite predictable with it being a prequel to the tv series but i couldn't have been more wrong. The most amazing thing that the writer does is to make you feel sorry for a the governer despite him doing some of the most vile things imaginable. Totally amazing can't wait to read the next one.

captivating stuff

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