The Last Tribe

By: Brad Manuel

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 22 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

Imagine being alone in the world, one of only a handful to survive a global pandemic. Not only do you struggle to find food, water, and shelter but you also deal with the sadness and losing everyone you know and everything you have.

Fourteen-year-old Greg Dixon is living that nightmare. Attending boarding school outside of Boston, he is separated from his family when a pandemic strikes. His classmates and teachers are dead, rotting in a dormitory-turned-morgue steps from his room. The nights are getting colder, and his food has run out. The last message from his father is to get away from the city and to meet at his grandparents' town in remote New Hampshire. Knowing the impending New England winter could be the final nail in his coffin, Greg packs what little food he can find and sets off on his 100-mile walk north with the unwavering belief that his family is alive and will join him.

As the fast-moving and deadly disease strips away family and friends, Greg's father, John, is trapped in South Carolina. Roadblocks, a panic-stricken population, and winter make it impossible for him to get to his son. John and his three brothers appear to be immune, but they are scattered across a locked-down United States, forced to wait for the end of humanity before travelling to the mountains of New Hampshire.

Spring arrives, and the Dixons make their way north to find young Greg. They meet others along the way, slowly forming the last tribe of humanity from the few people still alive in the Northeast.

©2015 Brad Manuel (P)2016 Podium Publishing

Critic reviews

• Nominated: 2017 Audie Award for Best Male Narrator

A perfect year in the post apocalypse.

This was one of the strangest books I've ever read or listened to. It's an answering argument to the survivalist guns and gore stores. The premise is the very common, post disease die-off, empty world situation. A few survivors are left. What do they have to do to make it?

Unlike every other book I've ever read in that genre, there are no roving bands of thugs, no armies of raping and pillaging hordes, no herds of brain dead contagious zombies.

You would think a book where nothing goes wrong would be boring -- and on one level you're right. There isn't really any great conflict and very little serious tension. Everything goes right and nearly all the decisions made are the right ones, the very few survivors represent all the needed skills to a level that seems almost ridiculously unlikely.

So... you'd discount this as not worth bothering with -- and you'd be wrong.

The book takes a fairly mature look at what could be accomplished if the conditions allowed. The author deliberately set up the type of plague, it's onset and symptoms, the rate of infection and fatality, all in such a way that the world would be left relatively empty but mostly intact, and used that setting to tell the story of adaptation in a far more mature way than most zombie or plague books ever get around to doing.

Worth a read, unless what you're looking for is zombies and gore -- then you'll be disappointed.

Fans of The Passage and The Stand will love this

What did you love best about The Last Tribe?

The remarkable and vivid characters.

What other book might you compare The Last Tribe to and why?

The Passage by Justin Cronin and The Stand by Stephen King. The Last Tribe is a well written...

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, to hundreds of them. Scott is a Pro, all his recordings are great and this one is even better.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

I first stumbled upon The Last Tribe when I was writing the article for the Audie Awards 2017. One of my favourite narrators, Scott Brick is nominated there for Best Male Narrator with The Last Tribe by Brad Manuel. immediately after publishing the list of nominees on the blog I when on Audible and purchased the audiobook. It was one of the best books I listened to in a long time and I’ll tell you about it below, without spoilers of course…

The story follows the Dixon brothers and their relatives as they travel through the United States with hope of reuniting the entire remaining family after a plague decimates the population of the World, leaving behind just a few survivors. The action moves easily between the family members as they follow different paths in order to get to the rendezvous location. There are some adults alive and they do their best to keep everything in check, but the stars of this book are the children.

I’m vague with my description for a good reason. I really want you to be as surprised as I was as I discovered each new character, location and the personal stories of this superb group of survivors. Don’t worry, of cours, there are more people alive, not only the Dixon‘s and, sadly, they all have their share of dramatic stories to tell. But, even as the World shut’s down around them, hope remains for a new, different future for those who want to join ”the tribe” and work together for a better life in a new World.

Brad Manuel is a superb writer, the story is beautifully told from many angles, the characters feel alive and real. Their adventures will keep you up all night, listening to Scott‘s stelar performance. Although there are a lot of dramatic moments where you may think everything is lost, what I love the most about this contemporary post apocalyptic thriller is its positive vibe! There are no zombies, no roving bands of hateful scumbags, just scattered survivors, predominantly good at heart and a few misguided individuals…

I won’t tell you anything else about the plot or the characters,. The only thing I’ll add before moving on to the narration is that The Last Tribe made me see a better side of the human race than other books like it.


As I said when I started this review, Scott Brick is performing The Last Tribe and he gives life to all the characters with such passion and emotion that I can tell that he enjoyed the story as much as I did. He differentiates each important character in the listener’s mind with different voices, accents, tones, inflections and sometimes he gets close and personal in order to drive home some really intense scene.

I’m sure that Scott is everything and more that Brad Manuel imagined a narrator will sound when he was writing The Lost Tribe and I hope he wins Audie….

fans of Stephen King‘s The Stand and Justing Cronin‘s The Passage will enjoy The Last Tribe tremendously as long as they want a fantastic, positive story, without all the gore, blood and virals, which in case you are not familiar with the amazing The Passage Trilogy are a sort of vampires imagined by Mr. Cronin.

If the End of the World comes, I hope people like these will survive and start a new society!

Please vote Yes below if you liked this review and visit theAudiobookBlog dot com to read more reviews.

Thank you

Victor Dima

Refreshing Except for the Glaring Cliche

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes...sorta. I'm always looking for the left-field in a genre. The apocalypse is always littered with violence and evil and blah blah blah. This was so refreshing to finally have an easier pace. It was like the calm after the storm. Right up until Mary Sue entered the picture.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The Genius Teenage Girl. I would have changed her character. Completely. Every time Manuel started in on her brilliance I was rolling my eyes. Seriously, Manuel, you had everything going for you in this one. I could even forgive the bit of stretching in the other characters. But then you had to go and write The Genius Teenage Girl. I almost stopped listening.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I've heard Brick elsewhere and his reading always feels so genuine. I appreciate his approach to the reading.

Could you see The Last Tribe being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes. Maybe. If they change The Genius Teenage Girl. If not, just cast Anne Hathaway and be done with it.

Any additional comments?

I don't know, guys. I guess go for it. The concept is interesting. Maybe you can forgive the characters and it'll be awesome.

brilliant!!!!!!

this was the best audio book I have listened. this story was amazing and full of emotions, making me wander what's next. I never had been kept listen something like was this book. was a beautiful and great book and perfectly performance. five star is too low that this book deserve. wish find another book to amazing me like it was

NOT like King's The Stand

I chose this book because another reviewer compared it to Stephen King's The Stand, but it doesn't come close to the depth or complexity of that classic. Most of characters were shallow and rather one-dimensional. There are no moments of suspense, no real conflict, everyone's a good guy and everything always works out - so not very believable. Scott Brick's narration was the one saving grace.

What Is It About This Book!?!?

What is it about this book? Other reviews are correct in saying that there are no real plot twists that we all expect from this genre. “Nothing happens!” The author doesn’t really give our characters much conflict to overcome. But when you step back and consider the realities of what would really happen if 99% of the world’s population suddenly (within a month) just died off – it makes sense. There technically isn’t much to run up against if you are 1 of maybe 300 survivors in the entire United States.

Personally I loved it! I dunno, there is something about this story that makes it so easy for me to listen to again and again. I am a bit of a hermit myself, and very comfortable being alone so it’s easy for me to really get excited about being the last person on earth and what I would do if it were me. And despite the lack of conflict (no hostile groups to overcome, no zombies trying to eat us), there IS conflict… but it’s more subtle – yet just as life threatening. Climate. Shelter. Food. Loneliness. These are all the things our characters must figure out.

Because we have nothing but time, we get to know our characters pretty well and see them struggle to find one another and survive until that happens.

The ending is very satisfying! The narration is perfect! If you are looking for a “relaxing” apocalypse story – here it is!

Wonderful listening

I hope there is another sequel with Mr. Brick narrating. This story had loss, heartache, hope and sense of humor. Thank you Mr Manuel a novel well done.

Liked this book and wish it was a series

Any additional comments?

I’m SO glad I didn’t pay attention to any of the bad reviews and listened to this book. I loved it! Even though there were a few things were highly unlikely in the story line, I overlooked them and still enjoyed the book. Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators.
I’ve come to the conclusion that many of the reviewers who said it was boring, said so because they’re much like movie goers who expect to sit on the edge of their seat in the theater, adrenalin pumping from gun battles or survivors running from zombies or roving gangs of evil demented apocalypse survivors, which are typical in many of the books in this genre. The Last Tribe is very reminiscent of the classic 1949 apocalyptic novel “The Earth Abides” by George R. Stewart. A classic I first read as a child and have read many times since.
The Last Tribe is about the near eradication of humanity after a deadly disease and how survivors slowly come together, and try to start civilization all over again. The reason there were no roving gangs of evil people is because there were so very few people left alive. Out of a city of 10 million, 10 possible survivors does not lend itself to roving deviants. This book about what people do when everyone and I mean everyone is dead. It’s not the same scenario as an EMP strike where all our comforts are gone and people are left. It’s about survival and rebuilding life after the PEOPLE are gone. Where do you go, how do you grow food, what skills do people have for learning to live in the 19th century rather than the 21st century. I hope the author writes a second book to continue the story of how they grow their tribe after they reached their final destination.
If you’re looking for a gut wrenching, fast paced, adrenalin pumping experience, then you too will find this book boring. But if you’re looking for a survival book that actually has some hope for mankind then this is a good read.

Absolutely a MUST Read

If no the best read, it is clearly one of the top books I've read(listened to).

The author provides an incredible perspective of life in a post apocalyptic world. It is an engaging and captivating story of what it might be like, and he does it from a unique point of view.

In the interest of not revealing . . . I'll simply say that you have to read this. It's great

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Perfection!!!

An outstanding, very well written, unique and powerful end of the world story. I'm speechless by how great this novel really is, honestly I loved it. Really hoping for a sequel, I mean come on, there has to be a sequel, right???? Way to go Brad Manuel!!!!!!