A strangely-addicting mix of Alaska and religion with a touch of sci fi. That sounds iffy, right? Don't worry. All these ingredients combine into something great. My eyes have been glued to this book for the last three days!!! The ending is satisfying enough for now- it's not one of those annoying cliff hangers- but already I wish there were more to read.

PS: Enjoyed how the author based several characters on real Alaskan players: Sarah Palin as Vera Tetlin, the Pilgrim family as the Prophecy family, etc.

This was a pleasantly surprising pick up. The story mostly revolves around an uber-religious family who witness an alien event an interpret it as biblical.
Firstly, I have to say the character development in this story is nothing short of fantastic. The main character, Prophecy is fantastically realistic. A complicated, conflicted yet dedicated man looking out for is family.
Despite the sheet number of characters, I never felt like any were lacking any uniqueness.

The writing was fantastic. Perfectly paced so there was never a lull in the book. Consistently engaging and you always had the feeling that everything you were reading was significant and relevant.

My sole criticism would be that this was clearly the first book of a series, as also indicated in the title. It is clearly very reliant on that. Not many of the mysteries of the novel were revealed or answers given. The book cannot stand alone if necessary. While I am perfectly happy to read the next installment when its ready, I just wish there was a greater sense of satisfaction from having more answers within a self contained story.

Would happily recommend to friends. Very much looking forward to the next book.
This has also encouraged me to pick up other works from David Marusek.

Even Adam Smith knew, the market is not kind. And when you have a market saturated by minimum viable products (i.e. easily accessible, watered down slush), then it’s likely the more subtle, intelligent material for sale will be overlooked. In short, I thought the market had chewed up and spit out David Marusek years ago. His stories “The Wedding Album”, Counting Heads, and the like were just too niche, too sophisticated to be appreciated by a wider, paying audience which typically supports writers’ careers. And then last month in NetGalley I find his return. More than fifteen years since his last published effort, David Marusek is back with the first in a planned trilogy of science fiction novels: Upon this Rock (2017, Stack of Firewood Press).

Set on the very edges of civilization in the Alaskan wilderness, Upon this Rock opens at the border of a national park where the park service and a fundamentalist Christian cult are at odds over land ownership. Poppy Prophecy, tyrannical leader of the cultists, exerts control over every aspect of his family’s lives, from clothes to punishments, daily activities to prayer. Preaching the apocalypse is nigh, he prepares them for nuclear winter in an abandoned mine that may or may not be on park property. Jace Kuliak is one of the park rangers caught up in the feud. A hard-working, pot-smoking young man, he finds himself not as passionate about irritating Poppy’s family as some of his fellow rangers, and is content enjoying the beauty and peace of the park and his daily work. But one evening both Jace and Poppy witness a strange light in the sky that seems to descend onto the park. The object eventually found, nothing is the same for the rangers in the aftermath—Poppy’s cult family, Jace, or the world.

With Upon this Rock Marusek does something interesting: he takes a hyper-Christian cult leader and a laid-back, west coast millennial and confronts them with something otherworldy. Poppy assigns the foreign object a mythical Christian value while Jace runs with implications stemming from the numerous science fiction stories he has read. On one hand indicative of the subconscious power of superimposed perception, on the other it rings true to something deeper within each of us, namely the delicate balance between objective observation and the desire to have our worldview substantiated.

Marusek himself living in Alaska, it’s obvious he is all too aware of the antics many fundamentalist groups and the state’s blue-collar leaders get up to, not to mention accurately describing the details of setting and climate of the largely wilderness state. Pacing and structuring the novel well, he steadily draws the reader deeper into the bizarre world of extreme Christianity frozen by Alaskan winter, all the while putting a strong focus on setting, scene and character to prevent the novel from blending in with the rest of the market. The story spiced up by the ‘alien’ element, it generates an escalating mystery begging for explanation. With its all too many real-world parallels to contemporary doomsday cults, the next novel in the series cannot come soon enough for me.

Nothing new has appeared from Marusek in print since 2009, which makes Upon this Rock a very pleasant surprise. One of many non-commercial voices in the science fiction field deserving of wider recognition and readership, there’s a strong chance that readers put off by his earlier, more experimental work will find this most recent novel a more accessible page-turner, as purely in terms of relaxing, reading enjoyment, this is the best of 2017 I’ve read thus far. Welcome back Mr. Marusek.

Whoa...An entertaining story from beginning to end without a dry moment, anywhere. A very good storyteller that will make you want the follow-up, that much, sooner.

Upon This Rock: Book 1 - First Contact by David Marusek
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I came upon this as a total surprise on NetGalley, but a completely welcome one! I've read two of his other highly acclaimed hard SF novels and I didn't care in the slightest what this one might be about.

Why? Because he's just that good and I trust him completely to tell a great tale.

Now that I've finished this book, I'm not revising my statement. At all.

What should you expect here? Alaska. Deep country. We focus mainly on two sides of an issue with very little in the way of alien first contact until much deeper into the tale. That's fine, really, because we're thrown in deep into a family of ultra-conservative and perhaps quite fringe Christians who are so elite that they feel like they're more fundamental than Quakers. With a few notable exceptions as with a satellite cell phone for their online business, they would be, too.

The other side is with the Rangers who naturally have beef with this complex and disturbing family because they're squatting illegally on Public Park land.

Prepare to get fully invested in this family and the area and the Rangers, because this novel is completely fascinating and complex all on this level. And then add an alien who knows how to manipulate humanity. :) Angels! Or demons. :)

Murder, rape, right-wing nuttery, and an almost Waco situation ensue, while all the while, we're learning and emotionally preparing for a huge fallout to come.

This is only the first book in a series and the setup is delicious. The point isn't even that it is a first contact novel. The real strength is in the way it's written... the fullness of its details, and the complexity of its characters, the way they live, react, and survive as they see the world and the devil bear down on them.

I can honestly say that this is an epic setup and I trust the author to knock it right out of the park with subsequent novels! :)