Review of
The
Walking Dead Volume 27: The Whisperer War, by Robert Kirkman
et. al. ISBN 9781534300521
Five out of five stars
This volume brings
the situation of the outposts developed by the group controlled by Rick Grimes
to a climactic point. Rick has organized his people into a functioning society
and has formed a professional military armed with automatic weapons with plenty
of ammunition. While the walking dead are still a threat, they can be dealt
with. The real existential danger is from the whisperers, living humans that
wear the skin of the walking dead, so they can mingle with them undetected.
They are called the whisperers, for that is the only way they can communicate
when embedded within groups of the walking dead.
The whisperers
have embedded themselves within a herd of the walking dead so that they can direct
them towards Rick’s military forces and carry out an attack. There is a battle
and both sides take major losses, with Rick’s forces achieving an apparent
victory. However, when receiving the report, Rick realizes very quickly that
the main and decisive battle has yet to be fought. Setting up a dramatic topic
for volume 28.
This volume
also includes one of the best features of this series, the internal machinations
among the living. Even though the various outposts of the living are facing a
potential existential crisis, there are those that will pursue their own
agendas in their quest for power and control. Human nature is portrayed as
something that never changes, even when the world falls apart and there is a popular
and effective leader that has done a great deal to build a functioning and
productive society. The quest for political power among some is such a drug
that they will pursue it even under the worst of circumstances.
