If anyone has ever played the Telltale's Walking Dead game series then you know who the star of this graphic novel is: Clementine. You've went along on her journey through the games and faced everything right alongside her. Now, her story continues in this graphic novel series (I assume, given this is called Book One) written and illustrated by Tillie Walden. If you have not completed the game series, I would advise not reading this until you do & if you've never played them well. . . you don't necessarily need to play the games to enjoy the story, but I would suggest giving them a try or finding a lets play of the series as the story up until this point is really, really good and the games are phenomenal.

In this graphic novel, we follow Clementine after the events of the last game. Her mental health is at its worst for sure — Clem has been through a lot — and that's not a surprise given that she's now roughly 17 years old. She's found herself alone and traveling, and this isn't easy as now she's disabled in a land where that puts a person at even more risk. I was pleased that the disability rep in this seemed to be handled really well along with the mental health rep, and not just with Clementine either as their are other characters who have issues they deal with in the story. During her journey, Clementine meets some people from an Amish community who offer to help her as she isn't well, and then when she leaves she eventually joins up with one of the people leaving the town, Amos, for his Rumspringa. He's heading North to help build a community that reports to be walker-free and safe, and as he's never been out in this world on his own Clementine naturally feels the need to offer her protection in the form of her company even though she knows the risk of getting attached to people.

Naturally, they meet others at this location and. . . well, do things ever go well for Clementine?

I won't get into the specifics cause of spoilers, but I will say that the story, and its emotional beats, in here fit well with the themes from the games. In many ways, Clementine is a different character than before though this is to be expected given the circumstances and the fact that we're not quite sure how long she's been on her own — I am sure more will be revealed as the story goes along as it seems like we'll learn things about what brought her to this point as things progress — and the fact that she has been through so much trauma plus now is facing trying to survive alone with a disability that she has to learn how to navigate on her own. Yet, underneath everything Clementine is still herself. The essence of the character we grew to love in the games is still in there.

I will say that the one area where I was disappointed though was the art. Not that the art doesn't have its beautiful moments cause Tillie Walden is quite a skilled artist. However, to come from the vivid world of the Telltale's Walking Dead games to Clementine's story being told in such a colorless way just. . . isn't the same. There were moments where that color choice really made understanding what was happening a bit of a struggle. And, perhaps that was intentional for those parts? But it took away from the moment for me.

Ultimately that's why this was a 3 star for me instead of a 4 star. I'll definitely pick up the next part of this story, as I want to know what happens to the characters, especially Clementine, but I don't understand the decision not to tell this story with the vivid colors that the world of The Walking Dead (games and graphic novels) are known for to its readers.