The Tribe: Birth of the Mall Rats

by Harry Duffin

The world began without the human race. Now, after a mysterious pandemic decimates the entire adult population, it looks as if it will end exactly the same way. Unless the young survivors – who band together in warring Tribes – overcome the power struggles, dangers and unexpected challenges in a lawless dystopian society to unite and build a new world from the ashes of the old. The Birth of The Mall Rats is the first story in a compelling series of novelizations of the global cult television phenomenon, The Tribe. Creating a new world in their own image – whatever that image might be…

428 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2012

About the author

HARRY DUFFIN is an award-winning British writer, who has been Head of Development at UK independent, Cloud 9, since its foundation in 1994. Since that time he has been lead writer/script executive responsible for seven major television series, including “Swiss Family Robinson” starring Richard Thomas, and “Twist in the Tale” featuring William Shatner.

He is co-creator of the UK Channel Five teen series “The Tribe”. In its fifth series, numbering over 260 episodes, “The Tribe” has been sold world-wide.

Before joining Cloud 9, Harry worked extensively in British theatre and UK television for both the BBC and ITV, on flagship series like EASTENDERS and CORONATION STREET. While working on `The Street”, he won the Writers´Guild Award for Best TV serial.

In 2010 Harry published his first novel, CHICAGO MAY, and has since published JAIL TALES, amusing memoirs of his wife's 20 year career as a prison governor, and BIRTH OF THE MALL RATS; the first in a series of novels based on the cult teen TV series, THE TRIBE.

Reviews

[Chantal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the book, it reminded me so much of the series which I loved also. Having the story written as a book allowed for more character backstories. A great read with a lot of dialogue.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And kinda loved it.

I didn't really mind but I will point out there are some grammatical errors and it relies heavily on dialogue, but that is my only criticism of this book!

I LOVE The Tribe, and as a huge book nerd, having it written in book form is just awesome! I loved every moment of this book, quick and easy to get through as it was. Having the story written as a book allowed for more character backstories, explanations about why the kids wear tribal makeup (which I really appreciated because sometimes WTF do they look like) and added scenes with Zoot and Ebony which allowed for character development and helped me understand their characters a bit more. I always say the book is better than the movie because in a book you get to know the characters inner thoughts and feelings. I'm not saying this book was better than the show, but in a small way it was. I really appreciated the character development and world building here.

Perhaps one more criticism is that there are no more books like this. I would be thrilled to have the rest of season 1 at least as a book. The Tribe: Eagle Mountain. I'm keeping the dream alive!

Harry Duffin - I WANT MORE! Another book to finish off season 1, and if you really feel like it, give me the rest of the series in book form. Better yet, give me a book explaining WTF happened to the Mall Rats who disappeared when the Technos arrived in season 4 leading right up until we see KC, Alice, and the Guardian in that cage on the beach at the end of season 5. THAT is what I want.

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean I might be biased since I’ve been a fan of The Tribe since I was 9. Anyone who knows the show will instantly know what is going on, there’s a ton of fan service. I can’t see anyone who doesn’t know the show really enjoying it.

The book doesn’t really have much of an ending, it follows just that The Birth of the Mallrats. I know this was supposed to be a series and I’d love to see the rest of the show in this format. It was great seeing more of the Locos and some adult content.

I just wish we had more Tribe Circus love as well.

[Natalia Heaney]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s a New Zealand-made show about a world where the adults were wiped out by a virus became a cult hit. Running for five seasons (before the producers thought the actors were getting too old for their roles and cancelled it), The Tribe centred on the Mall Rats living in a previously abandoned shopping mall in the middle of an abandoned city, and featured other tribes of kids and teens trying to survive in this new world.

Since the show’s cancellation the cult following has continued, including a spinoff show about younger kids, soundtracks, DVDs – and books.

The Tribe: the Birth of the Mall Rats is not the best introduction to this phenomenon. It is a for-fans-only type of book, and is more or less the first season of the show in written form. The problem with this is that the book is basically the scenes from the television on the page, which means they’re all too short (there are 181 chapters!).

The show had large ensemble cast (with some standouts – go Amber and Bray!), which means we’re jumping around a lot. It works on the screen, and the author has tried his best to make it work here, but it really is a book for people who already know these characters.

There’s another book – The Tribe: A New Dawn – which reads more like a proper novel. A New Dawn has taken the scripts and storylines for the planned but never made sixth season and turns them into something that works on the page.

For all its drama, crazy costumes, and occasionally weird acting, The Tribe was an addictive post-apocalyptic-type soap opera that was loved by at least one generation.

[Lesley Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birth of the Mall Rats is the first in a series of novels based on a UK television series that ran for seven years and gained cult status worldwide. The Tribe could be best described as Lord of The Flies crossed with Mad Max and set in a crumbling urban environment. However, the reader need not have seen the series to understand the story or appreciate the dilemmas of the finely drawn characters in this novel by Harry Duffin, creator of the original TV shows.

A virus has killed all the adults and the young are cast adrift in a world that has changed forever. Gone is the technology and the legal restraints they relied upon to define their civilised society. As so often happens in dark and dangerous times, charismatic leaders swiftly emerge for good or ill. Two brutal gangs run amok, looting and laying waste to everything in their path. On the run from all the chaos and anarchy is a small group of kids whose moral compass has not been destroyed by the recent events. The struggle to survive forces them together with others they meet along the way. The plan is to escape the lawless city and start afresh in the countryside. But the two warring gangs of the Locos and Demon Dogs are hunting them down and the group need to set aside their differences and use ingenuity and teamwork to escape to a new life. This is the story of the beginnings of the Tribe and their bid for freedom.

[JusMe · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of The Tribe series, I loved this book. Perfectly written.

"With no adults to guide, rule or protect them, the children of the world were on their own. Their task to build a New World in their own image...Whatever that image may be..."

"As of this day all who join hands here are bound together as brothers and sisters. Supporting, caring and protecting one another as one tribe. The Mall Rats!"

"In that moment there was a fleeting sense of pride and optimism. No matter what lay ahead, whatever trials and dangers they may have to face, they had joined themselves to each other and to the future. The Mall Rats had been born."

[Shawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the first half of the book but the second have didn't really go anywhere. This book did make me want to check out the TV show.