Digital Fortress Review

Digital Fortress Review

Digital Fortress is about Susan Fletcher, the head cryptographer at the National Security Agency (NSA). The book starts off with her waking up on a Saturday morning and getting a call from her fiancé. They were supposed to go on a vacation that weekend to the Smokey Mountains. That all changed with that phone call. Her fiancé, David who is a professor at Princeton, is asked to go to Spain for an anonymous person. After pouting and wishing things didn’t change last minute her boss calls and tells her to come into work because there is an emergency. Through the weekend she is forced to work on breaking the toughest code she has ever seen. So tough that the massive 3 story computer the NSA uses is unable to break it. Through twists and turns much like that of river rapids, Dan Brown keeps you guessing in yet another intense thriller/mystery hybrid.

 Susan Fletcher is one of the greatest modern heroes ever thought of. While she remains semi-static throughout the book, her personality and how relatable she is makes up for it. Being called in on a Saturday is strange for most of us. It’s especially concerning when your boss won’t even tell you the emergency until you get there. While the vast majority of us are not government workers in any way, shape, or form we still would react with the same amount of confusion and worry that Susan does. Unfortunately, Susan’s staticness is also her greatest weakness. Since she doesn’t change much throughout the novel, her soft and kind personality throws her into situations that many of us would abandon those qualities to get out of. At one point she is nearly raped yet it almost seems she is a willing participant because of how easily she gives in. However her intellect is able to carry her through most of the situations she faces.

Dan Brown’s writing style really hasn’t changed through the books he has written. Why should he? His style makes his books seem very real and literally will leave you on the edge of whatever you are sitting on at the time. If you’re standing, then you’ll want to find a place to sit so you don’t get blown over by the massive gusts of intensity that come at you on almost every page. Once you think you’ve figured out how the novel will end, he throws you in a loop and several corkscrews until you’re nice and disoriented and have no idea what is happening or what will happen. With his constant one page chapters he will continue to make you go crazy. The way he ends them puts you on the precarious edge of a cliff hold you back with just a thin piece of fishing line.

The plot itself follows a traditional “mountain” format. Through the rising action many events occur that lead you up to the climax. However, most of the time when you think you’ve reached the climax you really haven’t. You are still trying to make your way up the side of the mountain with rocks tumbling down that you have to dodge and constant threat of making a wrong step and falling through ice. Though with the amount of plot twists, it’s understandable if people decide to put it down of pure frustration or confusion. It can be relatively difficult to follow at some points which justify someone’s frustration and confusion.

Overall, Digital Fortress is a great book, an easy 4.5 out of 5 stars. If you enjoy anything by Stephen King then you’ll enjoy this book and most others written by Dan Brown. Just be prepared to be on the edge of your seat the majority of the time you read it.

blog 6

If a book is considered non-fiction, it should be based on true facts. Not bent truths and half lies. The book and author need to provide reason for the reader to believe them as well. Whether it’s through a works cited or something else (unless it’s a biography) there needs to be some evidence that you know what you’re talking about. If a statement is proven wrong in a non-fiction book then it should no longer be considered non-fiction until the statement is fixed.

Biographies are different however, especially autobiographies. No one can really tell how what happened in your life and they can’t really disprove it either. Unless you’ve had people following and recording your every move since the moment you were born, your life is going to be defined by how you view it. So in biographies and auto-biographies bending the truth is considered okay. Using figurative language to describe a tough situation you went through as a child makes your life easier to understand and it becomes more relatable. However, you shouldn’t tell a flat-out lie. If you do and your audience figures this out, you could be ridiculed. Your fans would eat you alive and probably discourage you from ever writing again.

blog 5

In my opinion genre fiction is more useful to us, as students, because literary fiction is boring and hard to get through at most points. With Genre fiction students can enjoy a lot easier because the majority of popular genre fiction is simple and enjoyable. Even if it’s assigned, genre fiction won’t be as annoying to read as literary fiction. Students would be able to understand the books a lot better because the need to look deeper into the story comes naturally rather than forced.

In schools, there still should be a healthy mix of both genre and literary fiction. The reason for this is to keep students engaged and thinking critically. Literary fiction allows a teacher to teach lessons that the book teaches and genre fiction can be used to have the students figure out the meaning for themselves.

In my opinion only the reader gets to decide what is good writing and what is bad writing. We all have different opinions and different tastes. It’s the same thing with food. Some of us like Mexican while others like Chinese, some of us like science fiction and some of us like autobiographies. It all depends on the reader. Best seller lists are just references for those looking to read a new book and pick out what they would like best. That way you can create your own best seller list.

top 5 & book trailer

Blog 7

In Dan Brown’s book, Digital Fortress, Susan Fletcher is very similar to Brown’s most famous character, Robert Langdon. Robert is a professor at Harvard and teaches ancient symbolism. Susan is the head cryptographer at the NSA(National Security Agency). This is an obvious connection that the two have with each other because they both deal with symbols and codes on a near daily basis. Underneath that however, both Robert and Susan have similar personalities. They are both the “top dog” in their respective fields. Both of them are called upon to do extraordinary tasks that their job doesn’t normally involve. Robert is called to the Vatican to help stop a terrorist attack on Vatican City despite the fact he is agnostic. Susan is forced to fight for her life inside her own work place while trying to stop a virus from infecting the National databank which contains every single piece of classified information the Federal government has ever possessed. They are both put into extreme situations which they are forced to overcome or else there will be heavy consequences. While all of this is occurring they are both plagued with internal conflicts. Susan is thinking about her fiancé and the trip they were supposed to take and Robert is dealing with his own beliefs; he is unsure whether or not God exists.

Blog post 4

The Da Vnci Code- Dan Brown

Some challenges a filmmaker would have adapting this book into a movie would be that Dan Brown includes so many historical facts and information that it would be hard to convey those facts into a movie. Also, the characters are hard to create because of all the thought process Dan Brown includes in the book. Brown's writing style is so incredibly detailed yet fast paced; a combination you can't really make into a movie script.

Scenes to keep-
1. A scene that definitely needs to be kept is the scene where Fache takes Robert Langdon to see Sohpie's grandfather's body in the Louvre. This needs to be kept because it gets the plot rolling and causes the story to pick up pace dramatically.
2. Another scene that needs to be kept is the scene when Robert and Sophie are extracted from the Swiss Bank by the manager because he wants to protect Sophie's grandfather's private possession that she had withdrawn from the vault. This needs to be kept because it starts several plot twists from this one simple act.
3. One other scene that needs to be kept is the seen when Sophie and Robert are inside the art gallery where the Mona Lisa is kept. Not only is this essential to the plot line, it also includes several interesting facts that would keep the viewer engaged.

Scenes to discard-
1. One scene that isn't needed is the scene of the bishop on the plane to Paris. I feel this would really slow down all the intensity because it was thrown in the middle of some intense scene to act as a bridge. You can't do those kinds of scenes in movies.
2. Another scene that could be cut is when the nun makes the phone call to the four people in the Priory of Sion. This isn't needed because you learn of their deaths later on and it just becomes repeated information.
3. One other scene I would get rid of is when Sophie and Langdon pull off to the side of the rode in the armored truck they stole from the bank. This slows down the intensity of the current situation and really isn't important in anyway.

Book 1 project

Book  1 Project

Idea  1- My first idea for merchandising the book would be to make it into a video game. This game would be a Skyrim or Oblivion type game and you would be playing from the POV of one of the CIA agents involved in the book. The main storyline would follow the story line of the book but there would be side missions you can do for the sake of making the game more dynamic and give it a better replay value. Instead of condensing the story line into a span of 10 hours, it would be expanded for the same reason that there would be side missions. I believe a person who has read the book would understand this game as well as those who haven’t. Since video games don’t require you to have much knowledge of the game prior to playing it should reach out to a wide audience; the young because of the genre of game it would be and older gamers because of the storyline.

This idea comes from my opinion that playing a video game through a CIA agent’s POV would be a really interesting game and this book made it easier to put that idea into action.

Below is a picture of Skyrim. If you could imagine that guy with a handgun or rifle and instead of fighting a dragon he’d be fighting a person and the background was DC then you can imagine what my idea would be like.

Idea 2- My second idea for merchandising the book would be to create a replica 33^rd degree masonic ring. The title of the book would be engraved on there to show it’s not the real thing and show others why they are wearing or displaying it. I think it is very possible that someone who has read the book would buy this. This would especially be true if they already had or the book sparked and interest for them about Freemasonry. People who haven’t read the book may not understand it because they wouldn’t understand the background or purpose or importance behind this ring. This product would be targeting older readers, men more likely than women because Freemasonry is primarily and thought by many to be a strictly male organization. Below is a picture of a real masonic ring. Just imagine the writing on the inside saying The Lost Symbol instead of the original saying in Latin.

Idea 3- One more way The Lost Symbol could be marketed would be to create a puzzle game with a miniature map of DC and having replica monuments and a replica of the Smithsonian. There would be clues on each of the monuments that can be deciphered using the symbols shown in the book. The objective of the game would be to figure out who is playing Mal’akh and stop the player from obtaining apotheosis. The players will pick characters by randomly selecting a character card and they can’t reveal who they are so that Mal’akh remains anonymous. When a player draws a card from the clue deck, there will be one of two options. One is the option that every player besides Mal’akh has to choose and the other is the choice Mal’akh has to choose. Since the cards will remain hidden and players won’t say what clue they are reading the game should still remain challenging. The clues on the monument should help the players figure out what Mal’akh’s next move will be. However, if Mal’Akh is able to obtain apotheosis DC (the board) becomes “destroyed” all the monuments fall over or burst.