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Book Summary and Reviews of Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth

Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth

Arch-Conspirator

by Veronica Roth

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  • Published:
  • Feb 2023, 128 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From dystopian visionary and bestselling phenomenon Veronica Roth comes a razor-sharp reimagining of Antigone. In Arch-Conspirator, Roth reaches back to the root of legend and delivers a world of tomorrow both timeless and unexpected.

Outside the last city on Earth, the planet is a wasteland. Without the Archive, where the genes of the dead are stored, humanity will end.

Passing into the Archive should be cause for celebration, but Antigone's parents were murdered, leaving her father's throne vacant. As her militant uncle Kreon rises to claim it, all Antigone feels is rage. When he welcomes her and her siblings into his mansion, Antigone sees it for what it really is: a gilded cage, where she is a captive as well as a guest.

But her uncle will soon learn that no cage is unbreakable. And neither is he.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[A] taut, defiant reenvisioning of Sophocles's Antigone.... The plot preserves the shape of the original without ever losing the capacity to surprise and, more importantly, prod reflection and recognition. This powerful tale of reproductive oppression is sure to wow." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Roth deftly handles extensive world building, character development, and plot. Readers familiar with Sophocles' original story will have an extra dimension of appreciation, but those without that background will still race through the pages to learn Antigone's fate." - Booklist

"Roth uses the familiar tale of Antigone as a vehicle to tell a story about desperation, hubris, tyranny, and revolution. Combined with the dystopian setting of the dying planet and the tyrannical rule of the surviving city state, the story gives readers a heroine to root for, a despot to revile, and a thought provoking ending." - Library Journal

"Arch-Conspirator is a gut punch of a story. Roth takes everything fragile about love, everything powerful about certain doom, and blooms with it. You'll be holding your breath until the very last word." - Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six

"Roth's powerful retelling of Antigone transforms a bleak classical tragedy into a story of ferocious, bittersweet triumph―all set against the backdrop of a ravaged post-apocalyptic future." - Sunyi Dean, bestselling author of The Book Eaters

"Tragic and triumphant in equal measure. Roth is a storyteller who reaches new heights with every tale." - John Scalzi, bestselling author of The Kaiju Preservation Society

"Heartbreaking, intimate, inevitable. The worldbuilding tightens around the neck in a way that perfectly matches the noose-tension of the dramatic tragedy." - Max Gladstone, co-author of This Is How You Lose the Time War

"Veronica Roth's Arch-Conspirator is something rare and magnificent―a novella of epic voice and scale. Roth is a masterful conjurer, summoning both classic myth and visceral dystopia to weave a breathtaking tale of love, avarice, and the timeless desire for revenge." - Ryka Aoki, bestselling author of Light From Uncommon Stars

This information about Arch-Conspirator was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Andrew

Great Futuristic Twist on Greek Tragedy
Replacing burial rites with genetic preservation is one of the many twists to Sophocles' Antigone in Veronica Roth's novella. But the spirit of the story stays true despite the change in time and space, as discussions of personhood and family take center stage. I recommend it for fans of greek drama and dystopian novels.

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Author Information

Veronica Roth Author Biography

Veronica Roth is the New York Times bestselling author of Chosen Ones, the short story collection The End and Other Beginnings, the Divergent series, and the Carve the Mark duology. She is also the guest editor of the most recent The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Link to Veronica Roth's Website

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