Tankbread

By: Paul Mannering

Narrated by: Rupert Degas

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Ten years ago humanity lost the war for survival.

Now intelligent zombies rule the world. Feeding the undead of a steady diet of cloned people called Tankbread, the survivors live in a dangerous world on the brink of final extinction.

One outlaw courier must go on a journey through the post-apocalyptic wasteland of Australia. Fighting his way into the very heart of the apocalypse in the desperate search for a way to save the last humans and destroy the undead threat. His only companion is a girl with an extraordinary secret. Her name is Else, and she's Tankbread.

©2011 Paul Mannering (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Great story!

I would love for #2 to be on Audiable this is one of my favorite books! was kind of disappointed to see #2 isn't on here....

interesting take on zombie apocalypse

first this is a prime example of narration done right kudos to the narrator and production crew
This was a fun story ..part Zombies part mad Max part Dr. Frankenstein
worth a credit to listen too

this book is extremely graphic

Zombies are everywhere EVLO's - extremely violent lucid organisms (or evols) as they are called in this book. They are kept at bay by being fed "Tankbread". One man is hired to deliver something and ends up getting in way over his head into a world he didn't even know existed.

The narration in this, done by Rupert Degas was good. His narration really helped this story. The slight Australian accent was a wonderful touch without being hard to understand. I genuinely believe that his narration helped me enjoy this book more.

Tankbread was one of those books that meandered seeming to go on without a plot (much like the characters in the book). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. But I think that this could have used some more direction.

I like to check reviews out to see what others think of something, especially when I like it (when I absolutely love something I write my review, post it and then read other reviews). This one surprised me. Yes, the book is violent. Yes, it's vulgar. No, it didn't need to be - but to leave a bad review based solely on that is insulting to the author.

Now, with that said, this book is extremely graphic. With both violence and sex (rape and consensual). There is vulgar language, and I actually found it as comic relief throughout this downer of a book. Else was wonderful. Her usage of foul language never ceased to make me laugh.

Needless to say, this book was interesting. It was a new take on a zombie book. The zombies wet different. The story was different (if a bit random). I want to compare this to a movie but it will give away a pretty big part of the story (so I won't).

With what I said earlier. If violence, sex, and extremely bad language isn't your cup of tea - you probably won't enjoy this. If you don't mind these things it was a great read.

Audiobook purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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What would you do to protect someone you just met?

Zombies are everywhere EVLO's - extremely violent lucid organisms (or evols) as they are called in this book. They are kept at bay by being fed "Tankbread". One man is hired to deliver something and ends up getting in way over his head into a world he didn't even know existed.

The narration in this, done by Rupert Degas was good. His narration really helped this story. The slight Australian accent was a wonderful touch without being hard to understand. I genuinely believe that his narration helped me enjoy this book more.
Tankbread was one of those books that meandered seeming to go on without a plot (much like the characters in the book). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book. But I think that this could have used some more direction.

I like to check reviews out to see what others think of something, especially when I like it (when I absolutely love something I write my review, post it and then read other reviews). This one surprised me. Yes, the book is violent. Yes, it's vulgar. No, it didn't need to be - but to leave a bad review based solely on that is insulting to the author.

Now, with that said this book is extremely graphic. With both violence and sex (rape and consensual). There is vulgar language, and I actually found it as comic relief throughout this downer of a book. Else was wonderful. Her usage of foul language never ceased to make me laugh.

Needless to say, this book was interesting. It was a new take on a zombie book. The zombies wet different. The story was different (if a bit random). I want to compare this to a movie but it will give away a pretty big part of the story (so I won't).
With what I said earlier. If violence, sex, and extremely bad language isn't your cup of tea - you probably won't enjoy this. If you don't mind these things it was a great read.

Though I personally own this book, the review was originally written and posted to AudiobookReviewer dot com

Good spin on zombies

I liked the fresh spin on feeding zombies. I would have liked that & Adam explored a little more. I liked how the nun changed but I wish there was a chapter that bridged the two sides of her personality, it was implied and briefly mentioned but I would like to have gotten a glimpse into what happened to create such a change. A great performance! A good solid interesting zombie book.

Intriguing yet disturbing!

Tankbread is a very unique story I found myself riveted to. The apocalyptic premise of it is very intriguing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The only downside was the Excessively Unnecessary use of the F-word and the overly graphic descriptions of the decaying zombies. Make sure you aren't eating or have just eaten when listening to it otherwise the meal might become a wasted effort.

Else is hysterical! I thoroughly enjoyed her discovery of humanity and knowledge. I found her childlike innocence very endearing; especially while she was at the convent. The relationship that develops between her and her companion is as natural as it is unexpected.

However, for me the most stunning part of the entire story is the answer to the last question Else is asked. I never realized that it was never said, mentioned or even alluded to; yet his presence is undeniable. That made the story truly awesome!!

Love among the zombies down under

Mannering's Tankbread offers an interesting twist on a zombie theme: having originated from a military / organ growth program, some zombies (if they died peacefully) are reanimated semi-intelligent. As a result, there's an uneasy truce provided the humans can supply, cloned human flesh (tankbread). What follows is an adventure/quest tale of one man (to be played by Hugh Jackman) making his way to a remote military outpost where tankbread research is ongoing in an attempt to "cure" the zombie infection.

Unfortunately, the tale falls short in that there's only one intelligent zombie around while the rest behave as typical zombies. Most of the escapades are simply traveling to different locations in this post-apocalyptic wasteland only to be overrun by zombie hordes with lots of fighting. The little twist at the end of the tale is not so much unexpected as completely out of place. The zombie origin is never satisfactorily explained, nor is the basis for the cure.

The narration is well done with a great Aussie accent that provides for a realistic feel for Australia. The Sean Connery errant knight character is also excellently rendered and by that time in the story seems quite plausible.

mad max meets zombies meets soylent green

Any additional comments?

as the story opens, our unnamed protagonist is sitting across the table from su young, who is eating a girl. she is tankbread- a human grown in a tank as food for zombies. su young is an "evol," a thinking zombie. while not as smart or quick-thinking as a normal human, evols rule. there is a peace treaty between evols and humans b/c of the tankbread. tankbread gives the evols a little civility and intelligence so normal humans can live side by side with evols.

su young hires our unamed protagonist to journey to the sydney opera house, where the geeks create the tankbread, to bring back his latest shipment of tankbread. it's a dangerous journey b/c of all the feral dead, the dead outside the cities that don't eat tankbread.

while at the sydney opera house, a huge hoard of zombies attack. while fleeing our unnamed protagonist runs into a young tankbread girl, who is more than she seems, and he has been lead to believe. what ensues is their journey to discover what she truly is.

this story has a few twists. it is mostly action as they travel across parts of australia, trying to unravel the mystery of this girl. the story is kind of predictable as it is a mash-up of different stories you've heard before: an outlaw who slowly realizes he's in love with a mysterious beautiful girl with unlimited potential, set in a world where mad max meets zombies meets soylent green.

what stands out most is the narration. it is really good. rupert degas reads with a believable aussie accent. his voice is easy to listen to.

Fantastic performance

If you could sum up Tankbread in three words, what would they be?

Rupert has taken a book I'm very proud of and brought it to life with a fantastic narration. Natural Australian accents and great characterisation.