The Walking Dead Books in Order

An epidemic brings the dead back to life and destroys the institutions that once sustained society. Those who survive must find food, shelter, and protection while adjusting to a world where everyday comforts have become memories.

With society collapsing beneath an epidemic of the undead, the survivors continue their struggle to stay alive. Ordinary routines give way to urgent responsibilities as they face a world where safety and the resources to endure are uncertain.

Life inside the prison changes as relationships among Rick Grimes’s survivors intensify, falter, and shift. Their refuge provides room for personal conflicts to develop, reshaping the bonds that hold the group together in an increasingly dangerous world.

Rick’s group begins settling into the prison, hoping its walls will provide lasting protection. When something draws them beyond that sanctuary, their search for security takes a turn that threatens the fragile life they have begun to build.

Lori’s pregnancy nears its end as Rick and the other survivors prepare for the birth. After enduring the collapse of their world, the group faces another turning point that challenges what they thought they were ready to handle.

Trapped in a town controlled by dangerous men, Rick searches for a way to escape. Back at the prison, the remaining survivors confront the possibility that he is dead while struggling to decide how to carry on.

The prison’s survivors believe their walls have made them safe, until a human threat arrives at their doorstep. Rick’s group must confront an enemy whose violence makes their shelter as dangerous as the world beyond it.

Rick and Carl must continue after devastating losses have shattered their lives. As the survivors try to pick up the pieces and move forward, the dangers of their changed world leave little room for safety or recovery.

Rick and the other survivors press on toward Washington, D.C., following the possibility of a different future. The road brings fresh dangers, forcing the group to navigate an increasingly uncertain journey through a world overrun by the dead.

The survivors continue their dangerous journey toward Washington, D.C. New threats along the road test the group's ability to stay together and keep moving when the promise of a destination offers little protection from what lies ahead.

The survivors discover a town that appears to offer safety and a return to ordinary life. Rick and his companions must decide whether to trust the refuge and whether they can adjust after everything they have endured.

Life within a protected community gives the survivors a chance at something resembling normality. Rick remains on edge, however, and his behavior threatens to undermine the fragile security that others are beginning to accept.

The community's walls separate its residents from the undead, but tensions within offer dangers of their own. As threats press against their defenses, Rick and the survivors face difficult choices about how to protect their home.

Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga explore the origins of the Governor before his encounters with Rick Grimes. This Walking Dead novel follows a small group's struggle through the zombie outbreak and the circumstances behind Woodbury's feared leader.

After the crisis that engulfed their community, the survivors must assess their losses and rebuild. Rick and his companions struggle to recover a sense of direction while confronting what remains of the place they hoped would keep them safe.

Rick discovers that his community is part of a wider network of survivors. Exploring the settlements beyond their familiar boundaries raises new possibilities and questions about the world they might build together.

Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga's short story follows Philip Blake's effort to secure control of Woodbury. Set between Rise of the Governor and The Road to Woodbury, it depicts his confrontations with both human opponents and zombies.

Rick seeks to connect surviving communities into a stronger network, but Negan and the Saviors become a formidable obstacle. Their demands and the consequences of defying them threaten the security his group has struggled to establish.

Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga continue the Governor's story as his violent rule in Woodbury brings him into conflict with Rick, Michonne, and Glenn. Personal grudges and growing confrontations drive this first part of the novel.

Escaping the zombie outbreak near Atlanta, Lilly Caul seeks refuge in Woodbury's fortified community. Its apparent security becomes increasingly troubling as she discovers the methods of its leader, the Governor, in Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga's novel.

Rick, Ezekiel, Gregory, and Negan each hold their community's fate in their hands. As their competing interests push the settlements toward war, the survivors prepare for a conflict that could reshape the world they have built.

After the war, Rick and his allies begin rebuilding their communities and looking toward a shared future. Their hard-won peace offers hope, but an unexpected enemy threatens the fragile beginning they have created together.

Rick brings allies together to challenge Negan and the Saviors in open war. The communities must commit their strength to a battle whose outcome will determine whether they can escape the control threatening their lives.

With Alexandria devastated, Rick must rally the remaining communities against Negan's army. The continuing war places their future in doubt as the survivors struggle to turn their alliance into a force capable of enduring the conflict.

After the Governor’s death, Lilly Caul and a small group of survivors try to rebuild Woodbury as a safe community. Their effort to overcome its violent legacy faces a new threat when an enormous herd of walkers approaches the town.

The Governor’s vendetta against Rick Grimes and the prison survivors drives Woodbury toward a brutal confrontation. As Philip Blake’s leadership grows increasingly destructive, Lilly Caul must confront the cost of trusting him in a world overrun by the undead.

Lilly Caul and her fellow survivors try to build a life in underground tunnels while hoping to reclaim Woodbury. Elsewhere, Reverend Jeremiah Garlitz rebuilds his followers and prepares a weapon aimed at destroying Lilly's community.

A threat concealed within the walker hordes catches the survivor communities unprepared. Their period of rebuilding and relative prosperity gives way to another struggle for survival as the danger challenges assumptions about the enemies surrounding them.

The Whisperers threaten the safety of the survivor communities, and Carl refuses to wait for others to assess the danger. Michonne's return adds another change as familiar survivors confront questions about how far they can trust their fragile peace.

Lilly Caul's survivors work with neighboring settlements to restore a railway between Woodbury and Atlanta. When a new faction attacks their home and abducts children, Lilly leads a rescue mission through traps, walkers, and dangerous human adversaries.

A devastating attack by the Whisperers leaves Rick responsible for guiding his shaken community. Challenges to his leadership complicate the response, forcing him to decide how to face criticism while preparing the survivors for an uncertain future.

Betrayal within his own community forces Rick Grimes to reconsider his approach to leadership. As he gathers forces against the Whisperers, he must find a new course that can unite the survivors before the outside threat overwhelms them.

Although Lilly Caul has found relative safety in Atlanta, she longs to return to Woodbury. Her journey across an apocalyptic landscape brings walker swarms, flooded rivers, and dangerous people, testing how far she will go for her community.

Rick's forces meet the Whisperers in open war, putting the future of his rebuilt communities at risk. As the opposing sides align for battle, survival depends on choices whose consequences extend beyond the immediate struggle for victory.

After the Whisperer War, Rick and Alexandria confront the largest walker horde they have ever encountered. Exhausted survivors must fight to preserve their community as the consequences of the conflict threaten to overwhelm everything they have defended.

Before becoming the violent leader of the Saviors, Negan lived in a world that had yet to collapse. This origin story follows his earlier life and the experiences surrounding society's breakdown, exploring the man behind his feared persona.

Negan's remarks are collected alongside trivia and material about the creation of the Saviors' leader. The book follows his abrasive personality across The Walking Dead's comics and television adaptation, pairing memorable lines with background about the character.

Alexandria reels from recent events, leaving its survivors to confront unsettled loyalties and responsibilities. Rick, Dwight, Eugene and Negan each have something to prove as the community's turmoil tests the relationships and decisions shaping its future.

The survivors encounter new allies, enemies and dangers as their world continues to expand. Changing circumstances challenge the relationships and expectations they have built, confronting the communities with further uncertainty beyond their familiar struggle against the undead.

Rick escorts Commonwealth governor Pamela Milton through Alexandria's allied communities, hoping to show her their way of life. The tour quickly becomes troubled, exposing tensions that complicate the relationship between the settlements and the larger society she leads.

Conflict within the Commonwealth reaches a breaking point, threatening the civilization the survivors have rebuilt. Rick Grimes faces the consequences of a long struggle to protect the living as the series brings its competing visions for society to a conclusion.

Months after the zombie virus devastates China, scavengers Zhu and Elena risk their lives supplying a vertical settlement called the Beacon of Light. When a vast horde, a deadly typhoon of walkers, bears down, loyalty, love, and survival collide.