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The Tribe: A New World is a novel written by A.J. Penn, first published on November 25, 2011 by Cumulus Publishing Limited. It serves as the canonical continuation of the television series The Tribe and the equivalent of Series 6.[1]

An audio dramatisation of the novel was released on November 19, 2020. It features the voices of Beth Allen (Amber), Caleb Ross (Lex), Antonia Prebble (Trudy), Meryl Cassie (Ebony), Matt Robinson (Slade), Michelle Ang (Tai San) and Danny James (Zoot). [2]

Continuing directly from Series 5, the Mall Rats drift on their boat and eventually land on an island, only to come across two tribes at war with each other, the Natives and Legion, the former led by The Priestess and the latter by the hot-tempered Blake, the main antagonist. The Legion are apart of The Collective, which are various tribes united under their enigmatic leader Kami. Lia of the Natives is introduced as a new love interest for Lex.

Bray is reintroduced, being held hostage by Eloise and her Zootist fanatics before ending up as a Legion slave with newcomers Emma, Shannon and Tiffany. Ebony breaks up with Slade and escapes to become Blake's lover, but finds distrust in his commander Axel. A cannibalistic tribe called The Fallen led by Belle, serves as secondary antagonists.

Publisher's Summary[]

Forced to flee the city in their homeland – along with abandoning their dream of building a better world from the ashes of the old – the Mall Rats embark upon a perilous journey of discovery into the unknown. Cast adrift, few could have foreseen the dangers that lay in store. What is the secret surrounding the Jzhao Li?

Will the unravel the mysteries of The Collective? Let alone overcome the many challenges and obstacles they encounter as they battle the forces of mother nature, unexpected adversaries, and at times, even themselves?

Above all, can they build a new world in their own images – by keeping their dream alive?

Plot Synopsis[]

For detailed summaries of each chapter, see The Tribe: A New World/Chapters.

The book starts with Bray and Amber's wedding attended by their friends and family. However, it turns out Bray is just being tortured with the Reality Space Visor by Eloise, the charming and vicious leader of the Zootists. She injects and drinks Bray's blood, to the joy of the fanatical Zootists. The Guardian looks by with a manic smile. Bray is kept in a cell and Eloise demands from Bray one simple thing, to have his child with her, so she can continue the bloodline of Zoot. Bray refuses in disgust until he finally gives in. Eloise and Bray have a room together, ready for a night. But Bray manages to trick her and ties her up, he escapes the compound with the help of the scientist Judd, who is shot dead by a vengeful Eloise. Bray escapes into the wastelands.

Meanwhile, the Mall Rats have been drifting the open sea, after they had escaped from the virus unleashed on the city by Mega weeks prior. They begin to panic as they are running out of food and boat motor. Ram keeps telling them to return to the city, but no one listens. Days pass and they spot an abandoned ship and climb onto it. They discover that the ship is called the Jzhao Li and finds all the crew deceased. After throwing their bodies overboard, they find a journal from Dr Jane Gideon and discover they had died from the virus. Some of the Mall Rats worry if traces of the virus are still on the ship, but they all display no symptoms. They also find food and medicine intact in the ship's cabinets. Slade breaks up with Ebony after she continually insults his deceased brother Mega. Meanwhile, Ram discards his Techno uniform for one of the deceased crew.

Bray makes it through the wastelands and stumbles upon two kids at an abandoned air force base and amusement park. But Bray is knocked out and held hostage by the blind Emma, who is the older sister to the two kids, Shannon and Tiffany. Emma is suspicious of Bray, who claims he means no harm, much to her disbelief. Emma explains that she and her siblings are all that is left of her tribe, the Roaches. The reminder of the tribe were taken away by The Fallen, who have been harassing Emma's tribe since the adults died. Emma considers trading Bray to The Fallen so they would leave them alone. Days later, The Fallen and their leader Belle return and capture Tiffany. Emma lets Bray go to save her sister, but they all get captured. The Fallen are revealed to be Cannibals and are implied to have killed the remaining members of the Roaches. They sell Bray, Emma, Shannon and Tiffany to the Legion.

When the Mall Rats see land, Jack and Ram try to figure out how to operate the Jzhao Li. However, they accidentally cause the ship to speed into the island. Everyone jumps into the life boat but it gets stuck halfway, Slade and Zak manage to fix the issue but are left on the doomed ship. Ebony jumps into her own separate life boat, but her fuel runs out to her dismay. The Jzhao Li crashes into the island and explodes. Washed shore, the Mall Rats find Slade mortally wounded and Zak dies from his injuries soon after, leaving May heartbroken. Ruby dives into the sunken ship to retrieve Antibiotics for Slade but passes out, she is then rescued by May. Ruby would realise she is actually pregnant with Slade's baby and stays by his side while he recovers. The Mall Rats make camp on the beach and call it Camp Phoenix. Ram forcefully scrubs off his Techno markings, much to Jay's suspicion.

Meanwhile, Ebony is stranded on her life boat which is far from the island, she despairs until a mysterious ship picks her up. The ship arrives at an Oil Ring, which is controlled by Legion, their leader being Commander Blake. Ebony manages to seduce Blake and they become lovers, but both are waiting for either to slip up and betray. Blake's second in command, Axel, dislikes Ebony and is weary of her. Later Bray, Emma, Shannon and Tiffany arrive at the Oil Ring blindfolded, to the extreme surprise of Ebony as she believed Bray was dead. Blake decides to send Ebony, Axel and some of his men to capture the remaining Mall Rats on the island.

Ram eventually reveals to Jay why he was so insistent on returning to the city and changing his personal appearance. He believes the island they are on belongs to a group of tribes called The Collective. Before the virus, Ram met a person online called "KaMi-1314" who he originally believed to be a female but turns out to be male. Kami is the mysterious leader of The Collective, which had ruthlessly gained the power and support of various tribes in their home city and continues expanding. Ram was offered to join The Collective and together they would invade cities, starting with the Mall Rats city. But Ram was suspicious of Kami and decided to invade the Mall Rats's city on his own. He also reveals he had went to Eagle Mountain to steal Headsets that were ultimately used for the Virtual Reality program at the height of his reign. Ram never told anyone in the Technos about The Collective as he feared they would betray him to Kami. Ram also sent messages to Kami that the virus had remerged and kept The Collective from coming to the city. In a shocking twist he believes that Kami, upon realising Ram lied, had sabotaged the Techno computers which caused the AI Zoot to release the Virus Mark II. Ram believes Mega was merely tricked into thinking he was responsible for the virus outbreak. He even speculates that there might not have been any virus released at all but simply smoke, to scare the city's population into fleeing into the lands controlled by The Collective. The Mall Rats become utterly confused but fearful upon learning this new revelation.

While looking for food, Lex and Jack are taken hostage by an indigenous tribe whose leader is The Priestess. None of this tribe speak English, minus Lia, who is a German girl that translates whatever The Priestess says. Despite claiming no harm and that the Mall Rats had accidentally stumbled upon their scared land, the Natives believe that Lex and Jack are from Blake's tribe which had captured several of their members. The Priestess decides to execute Lex and Jack and deliver their bodies to the Legion as a warning. Believing that her tribe had made a grave mistake, Lia frees Lex and Jack. They try fleeing but are all recaptured. The Priestess is about to execute them when a native member returns to inform them that Lex and Jack are telling the truth, as he saw the Mall Rats on the beach. Lex and Jack are set free but Lia is banished from the Natives for betraying them. They return to the Mall Rats on the beach and are told that if they don't leave the beach by the next morning, The Priestess and the Natives would come after them.

The next morning the Mall Rats are suddenly attacked by Ebony and the Legion. They almost get captured but the Natives appear and save the day. Fearing that The Priestess would harm them next, Lia desperately tries to tell her, via Amber, that the Mall Rats mean no harm and are philosophically grounded on the same beliefs. Ebony would try to claim that she was a victim and forced by the Legion to participate in attacking the Mall Rats, but no one buys it and lock her and the men up. The Mall Rats, with the combined forces of the Natives, offer to strike Blake's Oil Ring and release the slaves, to which The Priestess agrees. Amber, Jay, Salene, Jack, Ellie, May, Darryl and Native warriors leave on the Legion ship while the rest remain behind. However Ebony, Axel and the Legion members managed to break free and kidnap Ram, Trudy and Brady. Gel saves Trudy and Brady by spraying hair spray into the eyes of the Legion members. Ram sadly, is taken by Ebony and her men, who disappear into the forest.

The Mall Rats infiltrate the Oil Ring and release the slaves, including Emma, Shannon and Tiffany. During the battle, a fire leaks out and the Oil Ring starts to slowly crumble. Eager for a challenge, Blake creates a sick hunting game by chasing Bray throughout the base with a fishing gun. Bray is badly injured trying to escape from Blake and in their battle, they fall off the railings but managed to hold on tightly for their lives. Realising the Natives had invaded his Oil Ring and not wanting to be punished for his failure by Kami and The Collective, Blake releases his grip and falls to his death into the ocean. Bray survives and runs into Amber and Jay, the former shocked that he's alive but rejoices in a loving hug. They all escape on the Legion Boat as the Oil Ring explodes and falls apart.

The Mall Rats and the Natives celebrate at the village, dancing over their victories and Bray's return. Jay tells Bray that if he and Amber intend on getting back together, he would gladly step aside. Bray also meets his child, Baby Bray, for the first time. Lex and Lia start to feel extremely attracted to one another. Meanwhile, Trudy can't help but wonder why the Legion had tried to kidnap her and Brady. The Mall Rats also wonder of Ram's fate and if they would cross paths with Ebony again. Lex recalls The Guardian's words in the Series 3 finale, where he said The Technos were the "True Bringers of Power and Chaos." Because Jay remarked that the Technos had never met The Guardian nor were they about Zoot, Lex begins to believe that The Guardian wasn't referring to the Technos but to The Collective. For now, the Mall Rats decide to celebrate their present victories while leaving the mysteries of The Collective for the future.

Character Introductions[]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • As The Tribe: A New World has been confirmed as canon, it effectively is the long awaited Series 6.
  • The novel bases some of its story ideas from the abandoned Series 6 scripts. Particularly the ideas of the Mall Rats washed up on a mysterious island, the return of Bray, Ebony betraying the Mall Rats for the newly introduced antagonist tribe, and the gritty elements.
  • First appearance of Bray since the Series 3 finale.
  • First mention of Zak by name, as it wasn't known in Series 5.
  • First time the main story hasn't taken place in either the City, the Mall or the Hotel.
  • First time Bray meets Jay, Slade, Ruby, Gel, Darryl, Sammy and Lottie.
  • First time Bray meets his son, Baby Bray.
  • The Guardian reappears briefly in the prologue, but isn't seen for the reminder of the book. He would return fully in the next novel The Tribe: A New Dawn.
  • Alice, KC, Ryan, Tai San, Cloe, Patsy and Paul are mentioned in the book but don't appear. Some of whom are hinted to be alive as Bray heard rumours while he was still in captivity. However, reality space versions of Dal, Tai San, Cloe and Patsy appear in the prologue at the fake wedding of Bray and Amber.
  • Many fans have expressed their disappointment at Trudy's development in this novel, as she eats Sammy's vomit and is hysterical for majority of the book. As a result, fans feel her character development was reversed from her growth in the TV show. Raymond Thompson has defended this as he explains people do things to survive in harsh conditions and are not without struggles. [3]
  • Some fans have criticised the way Ebony and Slade broke up, as it felt forced and trended on the same grounds during Series 5. Slade is also shown to be suddenly romantically interested in Ruby, despite the fact that their relationship was more casual in Series 5 with only Ruby seriously wanting Slade. Ebony pushing Ruby in front of a truck in the Series 5 finale is also strangely never mentioned. [4]
  • A New World currently remains as the novel to have the most grittiest elements in the entire franchise. This includes Eloise drinking Bray's blood, a desperate Trudy eating Sammy's vomit, Slade mortally wounded on his side, the Legion using hot coals to burn marks onto their slaves' faces, The Priestess planning to kill Lex and Jack and dismembering their bodies, and the cannibalistic tribe called The Fallen who have dead bodies floating in their pool.
  • Belle, the leader The Fallen, might be a reference to Bella Swan of the popular Twilight franchise. Both characters have identical names and suck on blood, although the only difference is that one is a cannibal and the other is a vampire.

Errors[]

  • In Chapter 10, Bray recounts how he met Alice and KC in a slave camp before they were shipped off elsewhere. But this contradicts Series 5 Episode 48 as KC mentioned he was in slave camp with Bray before the former was taken to be with Alice on Labour Island. All 3 were never mentioned to be together until this point. It's possible they were sent to be together for while before the start of this novel, but Bray never mentions meeting Alice and KC to the Mall Rats when he reunites with them, especially to Ellie who would have been thrilled to know that her lost sister is still alive.
  • In the prologue and Chapter 18, Cloe's name is misspelled as "Chloe."
  • In Chapter 20, Jay recounts how he entered the Technos and he mentions that Java and Siva were sent to the same camp as him and they advanced in computer classes. That camp becomes the Technos after the virus. But this contradicts Series 4 Episode 9 when Java and Siva mentioned that they were apart of the Locos before they fled to join the Technos.
  • Although Lex had learned what possibly happened to the missing Mall Rats from Mega at the end of Series 5, it is not brought up in the entire novel nor is it ever mentioned again in succeeding novels. One way to explain this plot hole is that it wasn't on Lex's priority as they had to focus on surviving at sea and eventually battling The Collective forces. KC mentioned in Series 5 Episode 48 that their current location, Labour Island, was just a holding area until they are shipped off somewhere permanent. It's likely Mega only told Lex of their temporary location and not their permanent locations, which explains why the Mall Rats still can't figure out where the missing ones really are.
  • In Chapter 44, Ellie's long hair was cut off by a Legion guard during the final battle, causing her to cry as she had been growing her hair long since the virus struck. But oddly this plot point is never mentioned again in the following books, although one can assume Ellie's hair would have grown back to almost the same length by the time of The Tribe: (R)Evolution.

References[]

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