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opticflow's review against another edition
1.0
BEWARE OF SPOILERS. ALL THE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I read this book in under 24 hours. Flew through it, actually, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Did I read a different book than other reviewers? Where is the sweet romance and charming coming of age story listed in the description?
It is a memorable, thought provoking, and disturbing book. It can be applauded for having a smart, computer coder girl love interest. It has a lot of 1980s pop culture references and game code throughout. It is a complicated and (mostly) unpredictable story told in a compelling, breezy way.
But the main takeaway I had was that every woman loses. I do not think this was the message the author intended. That's why I am so disturbed.
"America's Sweetheart," Vanna White, loses when she can't prevent Playboy from publishing nude photos of her against her will. This is the catalyst of the entire book. Billy and his friends hatch a scheme to make money from selling Vanna's photos to other teenage boys. Vanna White is a good girl turned sex object.
Unbeknownst to her, Christie Brinkley also loses her clothes in an ASCII-rendered strip poker computer game. This is the first game Billy creates. Making video games is the only thing Billy is good at. Christie Brinkley has always been a sex object.
14 year old Mary and her father lose thousands of dollars in merchandise and damage to their store. This occurs because two 18 year old boys violently exact revenge. Mary pursued one of them, slept with him, regretted it, and lied about him stealing so that her dad fired him from their store. The older boys manipulate Billy and his friends to break in to the store under the pretense of getting copies of Playboy. Billy abets the crime because of his own desire for revenge, after Mary tells Billy she is not interested in him. Mary also has no friends. She is a pariah at school because she likes computers. Mary is dehumanized and the butt of all jokes because she is fat and slutty. The plot twist is that actually Mary is not fat. She is pregnant. Billy was beginning to fall in love with Mary but is now shocked that even Mary is a sex object. Mary gives her baby up for adoption and distances herself from Billy.
Billy's mom is a lost cause. She is absent nearly the entire story because she works nights and sleeps days, and Billy's father left her years ago. Billy's terrible grades are a surprise. Picking up Billy from the police station is a surprise. Seeing a note in Billy's handwriting with "fat bitch" scrawled over and over is a surprise, because Billy is such a good boy. Billy's mom gains a boyfriend out of the police officer who takes a shine to Billy.
Billy's friends are mean and the older guys are dangerous. But Billy is supposed to be the hero readers root for in this story. He has moments where he wants to do the right thing, and treat Mary with respect, but it doesn't last. Two quotes from Billy seem to sum up the situation. "It seemed cruel but I nodded anyway." "Most of our thoughts are truly unthinkable." Authors can get away with a lot in the guise of creating a naive character, but the entire time I thought this would have a redeeming ending where the character learns to be a better human being. The author's complicity in this deeply sexist narrative perpetuates the problem.
So what happens to Billy?
Billy does not face criminal charges for the burglary and vandalism. Billy thinks he might lose his friends for liking a fat girl, but they end up supporting him. Billy is not at risk of any harm from the older dangerous guys because they are neatly dispatched.
Billy loses his computer. His mother sells it to help reimburse the damage to Mary's dad's store. But he gets computer access back when Mary's dad allows Billy to use the store computers.
Billy loses his summer, because his GPA is so low from skipping school and not doing schoolwork that his principal makes him take on a summer internship. But the principal knows Billy is not a bad kid, and can redeem himself. Billy has a video game producer interested in his games so his future prospects are looking good regardless.
Billy loses his love interest. Or does he? Mary wants to start a new life after putting her past mistakes behind her. But by the end of the story Billy freely admits he still likes Mary. He has apologized. And they are going to work together on another video game. Does she forgive him? Is there a chance she is interested in more? It is ambiguous.
There is much more to analyze here. What is the author trying to allude to naming these characters William and (the virgin) Mary? There's a dissertation hiding here in what I'm sure many people could skim as a cute and funny story. I just cannot see it. I am really troubled by this book.
I read this book in under 24 hours. Flew through it, actually, like ripping off a Band-Aid. Did I read a different book than other reviewers? Where is the sweet romance and charming coming of age story listed in the description?
It is a memorable, thought provoking, and disturbing book. It can be applauded for having a smart, computer coder girl love interest. It has a lot of 1980s pop culture references and game code throughout. It is a complicated and (mostly) unpredictable story told in a compelling, breezy way.
But the main takeaway I had was that every woman loses. I do not think this was the message the author intended. That's why I am so disturbed.
"America's Sweetheart," Vanna White, loses when she can't prevent Playboy from publishing nude photos of her against her will. This is the catalyst of the entire book. Billy and his friends hatch a scheme to make money from selling Vanna's photos to other teenage boys. Vanna White is a good girl turned sex object.
Unbeknownst to her, Christie Brinkley also loses her clothes in an ASCII-rendered strip poker computer game. This is the first game Billy creates. Making video games is the only thing Billy is good at. Christie Brinkley has always been a sex object.
14 year old Mary and her father lose thousands of dollars in merchandise and damage to their store. This occurs because two 18 year old boys violently exact revenge. Mary pursued one of them, slept with him, regretted it, and lied about him stealing so that her dad fired him from their store. The older boys manipulate Billy and his friends to break in to the store under the pretense of getting copies of Playboy. Billy abets the crime because of his own desire for revenge, after Mary tells Billy she is not interested in him. Mary also has no friends. She is a pariah at school because she likes computers. Mary is dehumanized and the butt of all jokes because she is fat and slutty. The plot twist is that actually Mary is not fat. She is pregnant. Billy was beginning to fall in love with Mary but is now shocked that even Mary is a sex object. Mary gives her baby up for adoption and distances herself from Billy.
Billy's mom is a lost cause. She is absent nearly the entire story because she works nights and sleeps days, and Billy's father left her years ago. Billy's terrible grades are a surprise. Picking up Billy from the police station is a surprise. Seeing a note in Billy's handwriting with "fat bitch" scrawled over and over is a surprise, because Billy is such a good boy. Billy's mom gains a boyfriend out of the police officer who takes a shine to Billy.
Billy's friends are mean and the older guys are dangerous. But Billy is supposed to be the hero readers root for in this story. He has moments where he wants to do the right thing, and treat Mary with respect, but it doesn't last. Two quotes from Billy seem to sum up the situation. "It seemed cruel but I nodded anyway." "Most of our thoughts are truly unthinkable." Authors can get away with a lot in the guise of creating a naive character, but the entire time I thought this would have a redeeming ending where the character learns to be a better human being. The author's complicity in this deeply sexist narrative perpetuates the problem.
So what happens to Billy?
Billy does not face criminal charges for the burglary and vandalism. Billy thinks he might lose his friends for liking a fat girl, but they end up supporting him. Billy is not at risk of any harm from the older dangerous guys because they are neatly dispatched.
Billy loses his computer. His mother sells it to help reimburse the damage to Mary's dad's store. But he gets computer access back when Mary's dad allows Billy to use the store computers.
Billy loses his summer, because his GPA is so low from skipping school and not doing schoolwork that his principal makes him take on a summer internship. But the principal knows Billy is not a bad kid, and can redeem himself. Billy has a video game producer interested in his games so his future prospects are looking good regardless.
Billy loses his love interest. Or does he? Mary wants to start a new life after putting her past mistakes behind her. But by the end of the story Billy freely admits he still likes Mary. He has apologized. And they are going to work together on another video game. Does she forgive him? Is there a chance she is interested in more? It is ambiguous.
There is much more to analyze here. What is the author trying to allude to naming these characters William and (the virgin) Mary? There's a dissertation hiding here in what I'm sure many people could skim as a cute and funny story. I just cannot see it. I am really troubled by this book.
cefuller's review against another edition
5.0
This was a really fun and quick read. Loved the 80s throw back. The story and characters were great and I honestly didnât want to stop reading.
thecorioliseffect's review against another edition
4.0
I really like middle grade novels, and I think The Impossible Fortress helped me figure out why.
âIt was by far the riskiest, most dangerous, and dumbest thing heâd ever doneâand I am talking about a guy who once ate a strip of staples on a dare.â
Itâs inevitable that the protagonist of any novel is going to do something stupid. Itâs inevitable Iâm going to sit there asking why, why, why are you such an idiot?! Billy, the hero of The Impossible Fortress, is no exception. But I can forgive him more than I forgive the protagonists of YA and especially adult novels.
I sit there and remind myself, âOh yeah. Youâre fourteen.â
Itâs 1987. Billy, Alf, and Clark are your average fourteen-year-old boys. Theyâve just discovered Vanna Whiteâyes, the Vanna White of Wheel of Fortuneâhas graced the pages of Playboy. Their mission? Get that magazine. The problem? Theyâre not old enough. Their plan? A heist to end all heists.
âIt was one of those ideas that doesnât sound stupid until someone says it out loud.â
This, at least, is what the back of the book leads you to believe. This is not, in fact, what the book is mostly about. But itâs one of the rare instances where it didnât actually bother me.
The book is mostly about Billy, Mary, and coding his video game, The Impossible Fortress. As someone who learned how to code in basic (I had a teacher who was a hundred years old and for some reason thought this would be useful), so it was fun to see all the throws to basic coding. Each chapter begins with lines of code from the gameâs code, which was super cool because I understood most of it.
Billy and his gang, which includes his friends Clark and Alf, reminded me a lot of the Stranger Things team, which was super fun. Theyâve got a great and realistic dynamic, which does involve them goofing on each other and giving each other a hard time. But hey, what fourteen-year-old boys donât do this?
âWe knew Clark was doomed to a life of celibacyâthat heâd never have a real flesh-and-blood girlfriendâso he needed the Vanna White Playboy more than anyone.â
Clark has a condition called syndactyly, where two or more fingers (or toes) are fused together. So, despite being attractive, Clark doesnât like to talk to girls and sticks his hand in his pocket as often as possible. Billy and Alf give him crap for âthe Clawâ as they call it, but I canât imagine any fourteen-year-old boy in 1987 (or now) wouldnât. I know people will call this out as ableism, and Billy and Alf donât exactly realize the error of their ways. But at the end of the novel, a pretty girl tells Clark that no one cares about his hand. Sort of the reverse of the classic YA trope, âOh, hey, a guy told me Iâm pretty, and now I believe it.â And so, this little fact of his friends making fun of him didnât bother me.
Mary is also described as being a little heftier, and yes, the boys make fun of her for it. She makes comments about it herself, and there is a part where Billy gets so angry at her that he uses this against her. Again, I canât imagine fourteen-year-old boys not making fun of a girl for her weight, which is not a good thing. So I wish theyâd been called out for this, even though they are not.
âI knew the flak from Alf and Clark would be ridiculous. All the little piggy baby jokes. All the sheâs-so-fat put-downs.â
There are some topics that are a little mature, so I almost have a hard time calling it middle grade. Itâs sort of a cross between middle grade and YA. The throws to 80s culture were fun if you like that kind of thing, and this really is a sweet and fun novel that reminds us all of how hard we thought life was when we were fourteen.
Despite these issues, I still really enjoyed this book. It was quirky, nerdy, funny, and ridiculous to boot. I know this book wonât be for everyone. But if you like middle grade (or younger YA) and enjoy some nerdy (and I mean nerdy) 80s culture, I definitely recommend it.
And a little bonus! If you check out the authorâs website, you can play The Impossible Fortress. Just click âplay the gameâ at the top of the page.
âNothing ships before itâs ready! Just ask Atari. They learned their lesson with that dreadful E.T. game.â
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âIt was by far the riskiest, most dangerous, and dumbest thing heâd ever doneâand I am talking about a guy who once ate a strip of staples on a dare.â
Itâs inevitable that the protagonist of any novel is going to do something stupid. Itâs inevitable Iâm going to sit there asking why, why, why are you such an idiot?! Billy, the hero of The Impossible Fortress, is no exception. But I can forgive him more than I forgive the protagonists of YA and especially adult novels.
I sit there and remind myself, âOh yeah. Youâre fourteen.â
Itâs 1987. Billy, Alf, and Clark are your average fourteen-year-old boys. Theyâve just discovered Vanna Whiteâyes, the Vanna White of Wheel of Fortuneâhas graced the pages of Playboy. Their mission? Get that magazine. The problem? Theyâre not old enough. Their plan? A heist to end all heists.
âIt was one of those ideas that doesnât sound stupid until someone says it out loud.â
This, at least, is what the back of the book leads you to believe. This is not, in fact, what the book is mostly about. But itâs one of the rare instances where it didnât actually bother me.
The book is mostly about Billy, Mary, and coding his video game, The Impossible Fortress. As someone who learned how to code in basic (I had a teacher who was a hundred years old and for some reason thought this would be useful), so it was fun to see all the throws to basic coding. Each chapter begins with lines of code from the gameâs code, which was super cool because I understood most of it.
Billy and his gang, which includes his friends Clark and Alf, reminded me a lot of the Stranger Things team, which was super fun. Theyâve got a great and realistic dynamic, which does involve them goofing on each other and giving each other a hard time. But hey, what fourteen-year-old boys donât do this?
âWe knew Clark was doomed to a life of celibacyâthat heâd never have a real flesh-and-blood girlfriendâso he needed the Vanna White Playboy more than anyone.â
Clark has a condition called syndactyly, where two or more fingers (or toes) are fused together. So, despite being attractive, Clark doesnât like to talk to girls and sticks his hand in his pocket as often as possible. Billy and Alf give him crap for âthe Clawâ as they call it, but I canât imagine any fourteen-year-old boy in 1987 (or now) wouldnât. I know people will call this out as ableism, and Billy and Alf donât exactly realize the error of their ways. But at the end of the novel, a pretty girl tells Clark that no one cares about his hand. Sort of the reverse of the classic YA trope, âOh, hey, a guy told me Iâm pretty, and now I believe it.â And so, this little fact of his friends making fun of him didnât bother me.
Mary is also described as being a little heftier, and yes, the boys make fun of her for it. She makes comments about it herself, and there is a part where Billy gets so angry at her that he uses this against her. Again, I canât imagine fourteen-year-old boys not making fun of a girl for her weight, which is not a good thing. So I wish theyâd been called out for this, even though they are not.
âI knew the flak from Alf and Clark would be ridiculous. All the little piggy baby jokes. All the sheâs-so-fat put-downs.â
There are some topics that are a little mature, so I almost have a hard time calling it middle grade. Itâs sort of a cross between middle grade and YA. The throws to 80s culture were fun if you like that kind of thing, and this really is a sweet and fun novel that reminds us all of how hard we thought life was when we were fourteen.
Despite these issues, I still really enjoyed this book. It was quirky, nerdy, funny, and ridiculous to boot. I know this book wonât be for everyone. But if you like middle grade (or younger YA) and enjoy some nerdy (and I mean nerdy) 80s culture, I definitely recommend it.
And a little bonus! If you check out the authorâs website, you can play The Impossible Fortress. Just click âplay the gameâ at the top of the page.
âNothing ships before itâs ready! Just ask Atari. They learned their lesson with that dreadful E.T. game.â
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mindfullibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
As a completely nerdy child of the '80s, I loved this book. This one is for those of us who remember playing LOGO as the only game available in the computer lab in elementary school, the ones who typed on typewriters as a hobby, and the ones who have at least once in their lives forgotten to eat, sleep or shower because of a coding problem. While I have never come close to the level of coding in this book, I can appreciate the obsessive nature of it and loved how imperfect Will was. Did he do stupid things? Totally. Was he a 14-year-old boy? Yes. Do those things naturally go together? Of course. I loved the wholehearted geekiness of this book and bow down to Rekulak for making Mary the better coder of the two main characters. This was a very fast read, and one that I won't soon forget.
notesonbookmarks's review against another edition
4.0
This was short and sweet and so fun. Not high literature by any means, but definitely full of nostalgia and sass and laugh out loud moments. Nerds, lovers of the 80s, and computer/ video game geeks unite.
angiesix's review against another edition
4.0
I received an ARC of the book from Jellybooks. Other reviewers have summarized the story as well as I could, so I'll start by explaining what drew me to read the book. I love YA novels and turn to them when I want a read that will entertain me, take me back to my own youth, or help me relate to my own teen. I loved Ready Player One, and thought that the setting (1980s) and the characters (nerdy teens who like to game and code) would appeal to me based on that. On those levels it did. While I understand the other reviewers complaints that they didn't like Billy's choices or the lack of change in Billy and Mary after everything is revealed, I didn't find that it took away from the story for me. If anything, I recognize that as more believable. Thinking back on my own exploits as a teenager, it took me years after to see the errors of my ways and feel any kind of shame or growth. As an adult, it's so easy to look at the characters' choices and think of how they would've behaved better. In their young shoes, the choices aren't so black and white. Approval of the pack is just as important (if not more so) than doing the right (hard) thing. I really enjoyed the story and will be recommending it to my blog readers.
minty's review against another edition
5.0
I am biased: This book was written by an old friend and brilliant coworker.
But truly, I enjoyed this book immensely! I have some minor quibbles, as I would with any book, but I'd recommend it heartily.
The entire time I was reading I was hoping the character would get a job at a cosmetics company or McDonald's, and I was rewarded :)
But truly, I enjoyed this book immensely! I have some minor quibbles, as I would with any book, but I'd recommend it heartily.
The entire time I was reading I was hoping the character would get a job at a cosmetics company or McDonald's, and I was rewarded :)
nerdyrev's review against another edition
3.0
I had a chance to read this one when it was still in pre-publishing format a few months ago, so some details may not line up with the final copy. The wonderful thing is the story has stuck with me for these last few months and I quite enjoyed it. The other wonderful thing is this is a Book of the Month selection this month, so for just $5, you can try Book of the Month and get this book! (Plug plug)
The book takes place in 1987 and centers around Billy, who is a nerd. He loves his computer almost as much as his friends, but his computer is older and the game he created is flawed because of it. It runs too slowly and there are programming problems, but it is all about his game.
There is something else magical about 1987, Playboy has just come out with an issue that features Wheel of Fortune letter turner Vanna White! If Billy and his friends can just get a copy, not only can they see Vanna in all her glory, but the plan is to photocopy the magazine and sell copies to their friends. It is a fool proof plan with the only step being- get the magazine.
This leads Billy to a store where he thinks he can get the magazine. In the back of the store are two computers that are better than his and behind one is Mary. She is an expert programmer, has nothing but time as she helps out at the store, but has a secret that she is unwilling to share with Billy. The other kids make fun of Mary, but a computer game and a plan to get a Playboy, will bring Billy and Mary together.
On a purely nostalgic level, this book connected with me so much. I was a similar age as Billy in 1987, I too loved computer games, and I remember that Playboy. It truly was one of those- we gotta see inside issues. So, it hit all the right buttons for someone like me.
It was also a lot of fun. It was a cute romance story that isn't quite a romance either as the two leads are in their teens. It is a childhood romance, so to speak. The characters were well developed and the feel for the time was just right.
The story wasn't quite perfect though. I enjoyed it a ton, but the Playboy storyline became second fiddle as did Billy's friends. The break in story line was a tad convoluted, especially with how it was to be pulled off. There were also some other problems with the storyline, especially the big secret which even someone Billy's age should have figured out pretty quickly.
It worked though. It was a fun read that as I was reading it, I kept asking myself- why I am I taking this so seriously? It is a good afternoon read where you just want to sit back and enjoy yourself for a bit- not too heavy and not too deep, but a fun romp back in time.
I gave this one 3 stars.
* I wish to thank NetGalley for the early edition. I received it in exchange for an honest review
playswithstring's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25