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.

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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.

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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.