This is a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel, centering on a young man named During-the-Event ("D.E.") Perez. As a baby, he was rescued by his grandfather from the destruction of their town by government forces -- the "Event" commemorated in his name -- and was raised alone by the old man, who was attempting to live by the traditions of the local Native American tribe. After his grandfather dies, D.E. goes off in search of his parents, who he believes may still be alive.

It's a very readable novel, and even though it's kind of meandering, I found it a fairly quick read. I can't say that, as an example of this particular subgenre, it really stands out for me, though. I think I kept wanting it to give me a little more... something... than it ever quite did. Maybe just a little more detailed worldbuilding, or more emotional heft.

Mind you, I can't really help comparing it a bit to The Dog Stars which I just read a couple of months ago -- it has some broad similarity to that novel, even if it's very different in details -- and that's really not at all fair, as The Dog Stars was damned impressive, and most things are going to suffer in comparison. ( )

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During-the-Event by Roger Wall is a dystopian novel and coming of age story. This book won the 2018 Permafrost Book Prize in Fiction.

America has been ravaged by climate change, half the population has been wiped out, the US has become isolationist trying to get out of the mass. The government is practicing population control and those that are not indentured, are in hiding and fearing for their lives.

During-the-Event Perez, or D.E. lives with grandfather in what used to be North Dakota. D.E. is completely isolated from people and only knows what his grandfather told him. When the grandfather dies, D.E. must learn to how to integrate himself into a society, or whatever is left of it.

What surprised me about During-the-Event by Roger Wall is that the book does not have an antagonist to pit the protagonist against. No overly written villains, no threatening futuristic robots, not even environmental disasters or government going rouge. Just a boy trying to find himself, discovering girls and his own will to survive.

I appreciated the way the author set up the post-apocalyptic world, from the beginning. The reader immediately understands the impact climate change had had on the country, the people, and the world. D.E. tells the story he was told by his grandfather, even though he was too young to remember those life changing events.

In the first half of the book, D.E. establishes the setting and how people survived, or died in the apocalyptic aftermath. His grandfather scares him from government agents who are looking for them to kill them, and keeps him in line. After the grandfather dies, D.E. starts interacting with people he meet (of course, not all of them are well meaning), and getting out to the real world and find where he belongs, accepting the new reality forced upon him.

This is an interesting story featuring a naïve, but introspective, narrator. I think this novel could have been 50 pages longer, the ending is abrupt and I would have liked to learn more about the post-apocalyptic society. ( )

The results of climate change have brought about mass extermination to reduce the population. And when the machines came to a small town in North Dakota to raze it, D.E. was a newborn being babysat by his grandfather and they survived. For seventeen years the two have lived alone in cave high up on a butte, scavenging and foraging. When his grandfather dies, loneliness forces D.E. (named for “During the Event”) to leave his wilderness home and explore the world he has been taught to distrust.

Part Hero’s Journey, part Bildungsroman, During-the-Event is a beautifully written book, written evocatively close to the land, especially the first part (and how many dystopias are set in places like North Dakota?) When D.E. leaves what has been his home, we leave with him, mourning his loss of innocence. Some of what he faces seems jarring, perhaps improbable (not sure I found one part credible), but we as readers are carried along, invested in D.E.’s future, hoping for the best in this riveting story. ( )