What do you think?
Rate this book
Rise & Walk
The walking dead descend upon a paintball competition in the mountains. Two brave young women join forces with two thrill seekers in a terror filled struggle against the undead. Low on ammunition and supplies, the survivors use anything at hand to fight off the flesh hungry horde. As the party makes their escape they soon realize that there is nowhere to run when the dead Rise and Walk.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
4 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 27, 2010
Gregory Solis, Rise and Walk (Hadrian Publishing, 2007)
Consider this book in light of the one above it in this issue, Jason Pinter's The Fury. Both of these books ended up with the same rating. And both of them are getting “yes, but...” reviews (in the sense that the rating and the review don't really go together unless you read between some lines). The same rating and the same motivation for the rating, but coming from entirely opposite sides of the coin. Why is this? A lot of it has to do with the expectations of the reviewer, and the impossibility of objectivity when coming to a book; we all carry our personal baggage onto every literary flight we take. But even then, such an analysis (and aren't we all facile when analyzing our own motives?) seems a bit wrong, because at the end of the day I wasn't expecting a great deal from either book (Rise and Walk vanity-published, and The Fury published by Mira; both those ways lie madness, in my experience). Even more to the point, what I liked and hated about each book is roughly similar. And now that I've talked my way through this, both of them getting the same rating makes perfect sense. And still, in many ways, I simply liked Rise and Walk so much better than I liked The Fury, but its flaws were also much, much bigger.
The action opens in a small California mountain community; a glorified campground, really, where a general store has sprung up that seems a little more permanent than the kind of thing you'd normally find in such a place. This may have something to do with the ammunition plant just over the mountain; many of its workers spend a lot of time there, as well as the rich, spoiled son of its owner. As the book opens, a meteorite crashes to earth, and when it splits open, a noxious green has is released. (Yes, you last saw this in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, happening to Stephen King.) Unfortunately, it's in the midst of a number of geology students on a field trip when this happens, and pretty soon, the entire batch, save one kid who collects some of it and runs off to turn it in to the cops, are ravenous zombies hunting for human flesh. And what do you know, there's a campground halfway down the mountain. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, um, campground, a paintball competition is about to take place, one the aforementioned lazy rich kid fully intends to fix in order to hand a defeat to Team Blackjack, the perennial winners of competitions such as this one. Blackjack are led by two lifelong friends, Jack and Tony, who eventually become the main characters in our story. What happens when you get a bunch of paintball hooligans with weapons fixations together with a horde of ravenous zombies? Let the blood fly, folks.
I remember, back in late 2006 and early 2007, for a while Rise and Walk was the only book anyone talked about in the horror underground. Yeah, it was being vanity published (Hadrian Press' parent company is Lulu), but so what? Look how David Moody started out. The comparison isn't unwarranted, despite Moody and Solis coming at the zombie thing from opposite ends of the spectrum; Rise and Walk was supposed to be the next coming of local-undead-boy-makes-good. But where Autumn's reputation has only grown as time has gone on, once Rise and Walk was published, the buzz stopped, and the book sank into obscurity with lightning speed. The sequel, which is promised for mid-2007 in the back of the book, has yet to materialize. Now, I understand the reasons for all of this, and will detail them, probably more exhaustively than I intend to, below. But I will say right now that despite everything, I started this book less than twenty-four hours before I am writing these words. That's gotta count for something.
If you're a grammar snob, or even a casual user of the stuff, Gregory Solis will get on your every last nerve. It doesn't matter what your hot button is, he will press it. Repeatedly. (Mine is the substitution of “loose” for “lose”, but those who abhor comma misplacement will want to gouge their eyes out. And I'm just touching the very tip of this iceberg.) There is an art to writing, and there is a craft. Mr. Solis is in desperate need of some work on the craft bit. The writing here is barely competent at best, hideous at worst. The man has never met a contraction he likes, which makes the dialogue stilted and Edwardian much of the time. Amusing for a few pages, annoying thereafter.
And yet the art he's got down like nobody's business. Gregory Solis has two speeds: breakneck and faster-than-that, and while his attempts at characterization are stumbling, you've got to give the man points for trying. (In many ways, especially the pacing, Rise and Walk reminds me of the novels of Jack Priest, except that Solis' characters are much deeper. Not better-written, mind you, but you know they all have backstories.) And yeah, it's silly and cheesy and oftentimes outright stupid. It only shies away from the conventions of half the zombie books/movies since Night of the Living Dead once (though that once is one of those scenes that I have gotta see on film some day), and depending on your point of view, there's one subplot that just kind of ends. (I give Solis the benefit of the doubt, and assume the ominous ending of the last chapter of that subplot was meant to say “th-th-th-that's all, folks!” about the characters involved—which would make it graduate-level work, if you consider the rest of the novel to be, say, on a third-grade level.) But despite all this, once the book gets its hooks into you, which takes only a few pages, it will not stop until it disgorges you on the other side. If you're lucky, you won't catch the clues Solis throws out about the ending, but I did, and that made it no less fun. I was very surprised at how enjoyable this book was, awful grammar and all; if you can put that sort of thing aside, this one's a must-read for zombie fans. ** ½
Consider this book in light of the one above it in this issue, Jason Pinter's The Fury. Both of these books ended up with the same rating. And both of them are getting “yes, but...” reviews (in the sense that the rating and the review don't really go together unless you read between some lines). The same rating and the same motivation for the rating, but coming from entirely opposite sides of the coin. Why is this? A lot of it has to do with the expectations of the reviewer, and the impossibility of objectivity when coming to a book; we all carry our personal baggage onto every literary flight we take. But even then, such an analysis (and aren't we all facile when analyzing our own motives?) seems a bit wrong, because at the end of the day I wasn't expecting a great deal from either book (Rise and Walk vanity-published, and The Fury published by Mira; both those ways lie madness, in my experience). Even more to the point, what I liked and hated about each book is roughly similar. And now that I've talked my way through this, both of them getting the same rating makes perfect sense. And still, in many ways, I simply liked Rise and Walk so much better than I liked The Fury, but its flaws were also much, much bigger.
The action opens in a small California mountain community; a glorified campground, really, where a general store has sprung up that seems a little more permanent than the kind of thing you'd normally find in such a place. This may have something to do with the ammunition plant just over the mountain; many of its workers spend a lot of time there, as well as the rich, spoiled son of its owner. As the book opens, a meteorite crashes to earth, and when it splits open, a noxious green has is released. (Yes, you last saw this in The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, happening to Stephen King.) Unfortunately, it's in the midst of a number of geology students on a field trip when this happens, and pretty soon, the entire batch, save one kid who collects some of it and runs off to turn it in to the cops, are ravenous zombies hunting for human flesh. And what do you know, there's a campground halfway down the mountain. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, um, campground, a paintball competition is about to take place, one the aforementioned lazy rich kid fully intends to fix in order to hand a defeat to Team Blackjack, the perennial winners of competitions such as this one. Blackjack are led by two lifelong friends, Jack and Tony, who eventually become the main characters in our story. What happens when you get a bunch of paintball hooligans with weapons fixations together with a horde of ravenous zombies? Let the blood fly, folks.
I remember, back in late 2006 and early 2007, for a while Rise and Walk was the only book anyone talked about in the horror underground. Yeah, it was being vanity published (Hadrian Press' parent company is Lulu), but so what? Look how David Moody started out. The comparison isn't unwarranted, despite Moody and Solis coming at the zombie thing from opposite ends of the spectrum; Rise and Walk was supposed to be the next coming of local-undead-boy-makes-good. But where Autumn's reputation has only grown as time has gone on, once Rise and Walk was published, the buzz stopped, and the book sank into obscurity with lightning speed. The sequel, which is promised for mid-2007 in the back of the book, has yet to materialize. Now, I understand the reasons for all of this, and will detail them, probably more exhaustively than I intend to, below. But I will say right now that despite everything, I started this book less than twenty-four hours before I am writing these words. That's gotta count for something.
If you're a grammar snob, or even a casual user of the stuff, Gregory Solis will get on your every last nerve. It doesn't matter what your hot button is, he will press it. Repeatedly. (Mine is the substitution of “loose” for “lose”, but those who abhor comma misplacement will want to gouge their eyes out. And I'm just touching the very tip of this iceberg.) There is an art to writing, and there is a craft. Mr. Solis is in desperate need of some work on the craft bit. The writing here is barely competent at best, hideous at worst. The man has never met a contraction he likes, which makes the dialogue stilted and Edwardian much of the time. Amusing for a few pages, annoying thereafter.
And yet the art he's got down like nobody's business. Gregory Solis has two speeds: breakneck and faster-than-that, and while his attempts at characterization are stumbling, you've got to give the man points for trying. (In many ways, especially the pacing, Rise and Walk reminds me of the novels of Jack Priest, except that Solis' characters are much deeper. Not better-written, mind you, but you know they all have backstories.) And yeah, it's silly and cheesy and oftentimes outright stupid. It only shies away from the conventions of half the zombie books/movies since Night of the Living Dead once (though that once is one of those scenes that I have gotta see on film some day), and depending on your point of view, there's one subplot that just kind of ends. (I give Solis the benefit of the doubt, and assume the ominous ending of the last chapter of that subplot was meant to say “th-th-th-that's all, folks!” about the characters involved—which would make it graduate-level work, if you consider the rest of the novel to be, say, on a third-grade level.) But despite all this, once the book gets its hooks into you, which takes only a few pages, it will not stop until it disgorges you on the other side. If you're lucky, you won't catch the clues Solis throws out about the ending, but I did, and that made it no less fun. I was very surprised at how enjoyable this book was, awful grammar and all; if you can put that sort of thing aside, this one's a must-read for zombie fans. ** ½
November 2, 2010
Solid zombie story, I hope a sequel comes out one day (the end built to it). The four main characters were well developed, and the side characters were as well before meeting their demise. Only problem I had was the main characters were pretty much supermen. Weapons trained, outdoor adept, just a little too much.
July 6, 2020
There's not much to say about this one. It's far from the best zombie novel I've ever read, but it's also far from the worst. The characters are relatively one-dimensional, but they serve their purpose overall. There's some cool zombie action here and there, and some of it can get pretty gnarly, but upon reflection it's all pretty standard and uninspired. It's gory and there's action, but it rarely fully captivated me. The writing is fairly simplistic, and Solis seems to have an incredibly debilitating allergy to conjunctions of any kind, which gets tedious and odd to read, but it had a nice and steady flow to the narrative. I tore through it pretty fast though and had a decent enough time reading it.
I'm rounding this up to three stars for one reason alone: If I ever come across the sequel I'm invested enough to check it out. And that counts for something. About one goodreads star.
I'm rounding this up to three stars for one reason alone: If I ever come across the sequel I'm invested enough to check it out. And that counts for something. About one goodreads star.
November 5, 2010
Gregory Solis has put together a fast paced entertaining zombie tale that is a little rough around the edges, which is to be expected with what I am guessing is his first novel. There are some spelling and gramar errors but nothing too major in that department. The dialogue, while solid, was a bit stilted in places.
Despite these minor flaws the author pulls off a pretty engaging tale of zombie chaos. We have 4 main characters in this book, two men and two women, who are up in the Northern California mountains one fall weekend when a meteor lands nearby. An entire class of Junior College Science students seek out and discover the meteor and things turn malevolent shortly there after.
Mr. Solis keeps the book moving at a quick pace and the 200+ pages blur by rather quickly. Jack and Tony, the two male leads, are paint ball warriors and part time survivalists (which I guess means they like all the trappings but are not over the top looney tunes with it). Veronica and Nikki work in a general store at the campgrounds the two men have come to for a paint ball competition. The horrifying situation thrusts these four together in an effort to survive and somehow escape the ever increasing volume of corpses that have gotten up and are running around trying to eat everyone.
Again, this is a rather quick read and was entertaining. It is my hope that the sequel, which is expected out later this year, allows the author the opportunity to continue to hone his writing skills, which are decent, but can be sharpened.
Overall, fast paced, entertaining, and worth the read.
Despite these minor flaws the author pulls off a pretty engaging tale of zombie chaos. We have 4 main characters in this book, two men and two women, who are up in the Northern California mountains one fall weekend when a meteor lands nearby. An entire class of Junior College Science students seek out and discover the meteor and things turn malevolent shortly there after.
Mr. Solis keeps the book moving at a quick pace and the 200+ pages blur by rather quickly. Jack and Tony, the two male leads, are paint ball warriors and part time survivalists (which I guess means they like all the trappings but are not over the top looney tunes with it). Veronica and Nikki work in a general store at the campgrounds the two men have come to for a paint ball competition. The horrifying situation thrusts these four together in an effort to survive and somehow escape the ever increasing volume of corpses that have gotten up and are running around trying to eat everyone.
Again, this is a rather quick read and was entertaining. It is my hope that the sequel, which is expected out later this year, allows the author the opportunity to continue to hone his writing skills, which are decent, but can be sharpened.
Overall, fast paced, entertaining, and worth the read.
March 28, 2011
Rise and Walk is a very exciting edition to the zombie genre. Originally published in the US and with a genuine cult following, I was really pleased to see this great zombie novel revamped and reimagined for a European audience. I'm a big fan of Afraid by Jack Kilborn, and Rise and Walk really taps into the same kind of sweaty-palmed tension that his book generates.
The set up builds up a clear picture of an isolated hillside community bounded by woods as thick as any in the Twilight films. Some of the main characters like a game of paintball, and there follows a classic fight to survive with zombies drifting out of the trees with a mean appetite for human happy meals.
I loved it, and I think any zombie fans would agree it's right up there with David Moody, Wayne Simmons and JL Bourne for delivering adrenalin fuelled rides that don't forget that great action always needs great characters!
The set up builds up a clear picture of an isolated hillside community bounded by woods as thick as any in the Twilight films. Some of the main characters like a game of paintball, and there follows a classic fight to survive with zombies drifting out of the trees with a mean appetite for human happy meals.
I loved it, and I think any zombie fans would agree it's right up there with David Moody, Wayne Simmons and JL Bourne for delivering adrenalin fuelled rides that don't forget that great action always needs great characters!
October 3, 2014
This is the latest in a long line of zombie books that I have read that have ultimately been a bit disappointing. It isn't anything new and isn't professionally written. It's not terrible, but there are quite a few grammatical and typographical errors. I could overlook this, but the story isn't particularly original and some of the writing just isn't very good.
In this story the zombie outbreak begins when a group of college students on a field trip are exposed to a mysterious substance in a meteorite. They die and soon start to eat their classmates. They then begin to attack the local campsite where a paintball competition is being held. From that point on the story mainly revolves around two pretty bland and interchangeable male characters and two pretty bland and interchangeable female characters as they fight off the living dead with whatever tools they have to have. Luckily some of those tools are an assortment of firearms, knives and a sword (!) that the men happen to have with them.
Below average.
In this story the zombie outbreak begins when a group of college students on a field trip are exposed to a mysterious substance in a meteorite. They die and soon start to eat their classmates. They then begin to attack the local campsite where a paintball competition is being held. From that point on the story mainly revolves around two pretty bland and interchangeable male characters and two pretty bland and interchangeable female characters as they fight off the living dead with whatever tools they have to have. Luckily some of those tools are an assortment of firearms, knives and a sword (!) that the men happen to have with them.
Below average.
August 1, 2014
Based on the foreword and the mostly positive reviews, I was expecting something...better. The writing quality was just atrocious. Awkward phrasing, messed up punctuation and constant use of the wrong word - to instead of too, shutter/shuttering instead of shudder/shuddering (this one really bugs me and it always seems like the people that make this mistake have to use the word constantly). But moving beyond that, it was boring. The characters felt flat, and the story seemed to go back and forth between boring interaction and zombie scenes that were gruesome but not really scary (I like my zombies stories to be scary, gruesome is also good, but optional).
I suppose I am just not a true connoisseur of zombie books or maybe I just have pedestrian tastes, but I'm cool with that.
I suppose I am just not a true connoisseur of zombie books or maybe I just have pedestrian tastes, but I'm cool with that.
March 19, 2008
After getting through a few zombie novels that were a bit bland or not extremely entertaining to me, I found Rise & Walk to be a welcome and refreshing read. Let me get one thing straight: there is nothing really new or original about this novel as fas as a zombie novel goes. It's simply pretty well written, fast-paced, and edited pretty well.
The lead character was a bit overdone in my opinion with his endless amounts of tactical and combat abilities, but I found myself able to easily get around that because the other three main characters were likeable and much more down to earth.
The zombies in the novel were faster than I generally like, but they maintained the stupidity that I find appealing in the genre. Purists should find this to be right up their alley.
The lead character was a bit overdone in my opinion with his endless amounts of tactical and combat abilities, but I found myself able to easily get around that because the other three main characters were likeable and much more down to earth.
The zombies in the novel were faster than I generally like, but they maintained the stupidity that I find appealing in the genre. Purists should find this to be right up their alley.
July 2, 2015
In our hectic lives these days,it is unusual for me to start and finish a book in just over a day.
This book tells the tale of a meteorite being found on a high school trip in a remote park in America.Due to an accident with the meteorite strange things happen to the kids in the school party and those that they go on to bite.When the four survivors from the park get back to civilization,only then does the true horror unfold
This book tells the tale of a meteorite being found on a high school trip in a remote park in America.Due to an accident with the meteorite strange things happen to the kids in the school party and those that they go on to bite.When the four survivors from the park get back to civilization,only then does the true horror unfold
January 16, 2013
Possible meteor or fallen satellite. Incompetent officials and single man heroic acts. This book tries to combine all the current character types out there and have them all magically come together. It seems a bit contrived like the author had some good ideas for the zombie concept and the type of people--just couldn't get them flowing together beyond happy coincidences.
October 9, 2011
I really love Zombie related movies and have just discovered Zombie books, this is the third Zombie book I have read and think that it is an ok read but believe the hero characters are a bit unbelievable and cheesy.
May 23, 2011
Choc full of zombie genre related cliches but then I'm a sucker for a zombie novel. An okay read.
December 3, 2007
It left me wanting more, but what did I expect?
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews