The stakes a certainly raised in this installment. The group is out on the road looking for greener pastures to provide some semblance of safety in a world full of zombies. Which seems to be the central theme in this volume. Where is home? Nowhere. What is safe? Nothing. 
 The group comes across some new faces. So the real character building here is seeing how different groups are facing the apocalypse. Some are running from it. Others are trying to deny it... or shove it in the barn, as it is. It's ironic that the safest place they can find is a Prison. What once was considered damnation is now salvation. 
 Basically this volume is showing a world that's completely off its axis. Everyone is at the breaking point and just trying to make it through another day. Hope seems to be a fleeting, fragile thing and it's slipping away a little more with every step they take. It made me feel like the characters we've met have only scratched the surface of the most brutal realization... the world is never going to be the same again. 
 I see why this series has gone on for as long as it has. It's told fairly simply with a lot of zombie gore and action. Which are fun in their own rights. But I think the factor that really sells this is the subtle emotional depth of the characters. We are watching them struggle to survive even though the world is over. Its an interesting character study. 
 On to volume 3!