Reviews

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

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dreamingintext's review

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As someone who grew up in the '80s, it would be pretty hard for me to to fall in love with this book, since it's a coming-of-age tale set in the '80s....but, here's the thing: even if you didn't grow up in the '80s, this is still a great book. That's one of the things I really like about it - if you grew up in the 80s, it's a fun trip down memory lane, and, if you didn't, well, then you get to see what you missed out on! It's a fun, quirky story, well-written, which starts out when Vanna White (from "Wheel of Fortune") is on the cover of Playboy, and three teenage boys set out on a quest to get their hands on it. It was fun to read, I liked the ending (don't want to spoil it for you, so that's all I'll say about the ending), it's well-written, and the characters were well-developed. I thought it was a sweet book, easy to get into, hard to put down.

sarahammig's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

anacarter's review

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4.0

Full Review on my blog!

Cute, funny, 1980’s love story~

Fourteen year old Billy (Will) Marvin loves hanging out with his two friends, Alf & Clark, and programming video games on his Commodore 64. But when Playboy publishes photos of Vanna White, Billy and his friends do almost anything to get copies… including breaking in to Zelinsky’s store to steal copies. Along the way of trying to get their copies Billy meets Mary Zelinsky, and everything changes. He starts going to her fathers store; they hang out everyday, programming and hanging out..

There were so many surprise, and omg moments. This book was perfect and the author did a good job creating this perfect world. I highly recommend it!

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applezing's review

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3.0

It was cute and funny, but not the cutest/funniest I’ve read. I really didn’t understand Mary’s motivation for hanging out with Will, which makes a lot of the plot possible. What do you see in him, Mary? What do you see???

heather_g's review against another edition

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3.0

Cute story about kids in the 80s and early computer programs and a budding romance

thenerdjournals's review

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2.0

I liked this book okay which is why I am rating it two stars (according to GoodReads two stars mean okay while on any other platform it would be considered less than okay). I feel like the overarching storyline took a bit of a strange unexpected turn, but the book was fun to read and the story had its charm. I feel like a few parts of the book were a little unrealistic- the boys got away with so much (then again this was the 80s and I was a child myself then so I don't really know how the 80s were as far as crime and punishment goes) and I also feel like the storyline with Billy's mother Beth was a bit odd as well. How can you be so confident in your child's good heart when you're never around? I understand being poor and working odd hours but Billy was ALWAYS without parental guidance. Also, the thing with Tack and Beth seemed a bit contrived as well.

ncrabb's review against another edition

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3.0

I wasn’t a teenager in the late ‘80s, but I was young enough and engaged enough in the time to identify with the pop culture references in this book. In fact, its poignant passages made me almost yearn for those days again in places and laugh out loud at the antics of teenage boys who were clearly products of their time. It’s May 1987 as the book opens, and Vanna White has taken the nation by storm with her appearance in “Playboy.” A couple of Billy Marvin’s friends are sure they can cash in on Vanna’s naked images if only they can get a copy of the magazine. Billy is nearly as obsessed with the magazine and its money-making potential. (They can, after all, find a Xerox color copier, copy the pictures, and sell them to other horny teens for serious money. Ah, how well we all remember the Internet-free late 1980s. (And no, CompuServe doesn’t count as the Internet.)

Billy is a natural at computer programming, and he has a snazzy Commodore 64 on his desk and a real disk drive, not a cassette tape storage system. His single mom put in lots of extra hours to get that for him.

The boys hatch a plan to steal a copy of “Playboy” from a local typewriter store. And, dressing up to look older than their 14 years, they venture forth to do just that. The heist doesn’t come off, but Billy meets a truly remarkable girl. She is Mary, and her dad owns the store. Why is she remarkable? Because, as it turns out, she writes computer code better than Billy does. He is immediately impressed. But Mary isn’t the typical slender teenage girl. Her larger-than-usual size means Billy’s friends spend a lot of time after they leave the store flinging cruel insults about her size.

Although the boys are magazine free, they urge Billy to get the store’s alarm code so they can slip in late at night and take a few copies. Billy reluctantly agrees, but as he and Mary work together at a video game they’re writing, his attraction and affection for her grows, and he’s less interested in getting the code.

But Mary has a secret that will interfere with their relationship, and Billy makes some unfortunate decisions that could irrevocably change his life. The two are working on the development of a game which they hope will win a prestigious award/scholarship and an opportunity to meet one of the ‘80s most renowned game designers.

This is a book that thoughtfully looks at the consequences of bad decisions. And it does an excellent job of bringing back memories of how life was in the late ‘80s. The author delivers those ‘80s scenes with unerring accuracy.