The Impossible Fortress

Jason Rekulak’s The Impossible Fortress is full of fun ’80s game-programming nostalgia, but that’s not the only reason to read it. This world of mix tapes and floppy disks definitely unlocks retro memories, but the overall story is fresh and original, with YA vibes.

In the late 1980s, teenage Billy and his two best friends, Alf and Clark, spend time at Billy’s while his mom is out working, the three friends rent movies to re-watch the sexy scenes and having meander debates about who would win in hypothetical fights. I felt like I definitely went to school with these guys.

In the 80s, in their working-class neighborhood, a computer is an extremely rare find, but Billy’s mom won one in a raffle so Billy has access to a Commodore 64. He starts making his own simple games, despite being a pretty mediocre student. When he has the interest, Billy has the brainpower, and the rest of the book is sort of a YA story about how he’s going to use his brains and what kind of person he’s going to become.

At the same time, Billy, Alf and Clark have come up with a scheme that will make them popular and earn them cash. They plan to steal and photocopy a Playboy, and sell copies to all the guys at school. All they need to do it get their hands on the first copy, but obviously there’s no online shopping (or there would be, ahem, other online activities and no need to steal the magazine) and the proprietor of the town’s newsstand is definitely not going to sell Playboy to kids. There’s a heist element in this novel that’s pretty far-fetched, but plays into the overall theme of how Billy’s going to use his brain.

I went into this one on a friend’s recommendation (Thanks, Jerry!) so I knew it was going to be a retro story with an interesting girl game programmer from the start. Even knowing that Mary wasn’t going to be a booth babe character or the token programming girl in a guy’s story, I still wasn’t prepared for Mary’s storyline.

I loved the YA elements, as Billy’s life changes from his usual hanging around with Alf and Clark, to programming with Mary after school. How his mom really believes Billy can do better in school, but in the anti-helicopter way of the 1980s, she’s at work most of the time and just sees his quarterly report cards. There’s a distinct young adult vibe, as Billy faces a major question of who he’s going to be, which mixes so well with the retro programming vibes.

Overall, The Impossible Fortress is a wonderful nostalgic look at early programming and early PC games of the1980s, but that’s not the whole reason to read it.  This is a coming-of-age adventure, with relatable, memorable teenagers and unexpected turns.