In this dystopian reimagining of the tale, humanity has reached the brink of its own end. The planet is mostly uninhabitable. There’s one city left; outside it is the wilderness. All goods are scarce, buildings are decaying, and blowing dust covers everything. The only hope for humanity’s future is the Archive, where genetic material taken from people after death is stored. A quasi-religious value is attached to these Archives — the stored samples represent immortality for the dead, a way of saving and then resurrecting their souls. 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 THERE isn’t much world-building in Veronica Roth’s sci-fi retelling of Sophocles’s classic Greek tragedy Antigone. Then again, in Arch-Conspirator, there isn’t much world. A dusty dystopian city (Thebes in the original, but it isn’t clear where we are in the reboot) is all that remains after a thinly sketched environmental polycrisis has turned humanity into an endangered species. Scottish lifestyle blogger, mummy of two beautiful little girls, romantasy reader, ACOTAR fan, coffee addict and book hoarder.

Arch-Conspirator - Veronica Roth - The Book Dutchesses Review | Arch-Conspirator - Veronica Roth - The Book Dutchesses

Perhaps it wasn’t because we were family—perhaps it was because we were children of Oedipus, warped though we were by our genes. And Oedipus had almost started a revolution—he was a symbol, and so were we. And what better way to take the power from a symbol than to claim it as your own? Clare thought that by now she would have her life figured out. Instead, she's living with her parents, working a job she hates and has absolutely no idea what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

Review

The womb that gave my life its ebbs and flows made my body sacred to the state, and therefore, particularly subject to its might. My mother called this nonsense. She said that protecting a thing was just an excuse to control it. I did appreciate seeing the ancient world remade into a futuristic one and this was only a novella-length story, so perhaps should not have wished for too much to be included, but I did still hope that a bond with the principal characters and for more fleshed out personalities to be included. Antigone’s parents—Oedipus and Jocasta—are dead. Passing into the Archive should be cause for celebration, but with her militant uncle Kreon rising to claim her father's vacant throne, all Antigone feels is rage. If you have read Antigone, then I think you have a good chance of enjoying Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth. This is not a retelling with a specific lens (feminist, marxist, post-structuralist, etc) - instead it is what it says on the tin, a sci-fi reimagining. Veronica Roth is the New York Times best-selling author of Arch-Conspirator, Poster Girl, Chosen Ones, the short story collection The End and Other Beginnings, the Carve the Mark duology, and the Divergent series. She lives in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and dog.

ARCH-CONSPIRATOR | Veronica Roth | Tor Publishing Group ARCH-CONSPIRATOR | Veronica Roth | Tor Publishing Group

Despite some criticisms, Arch-Conspirator is a cool story and a really fun retelling, I only wish I felt it was all able to be more effectively juggled. Which isn’t really Roth’s fault as it would require an absolute master of literature to pull all this off in such a short space while also feeling polished and powerful. It just feels like biting off more than one can chew, though it still isn’t bad. Antigone is a great story and it was fun to see this done in a sci-fi setting. Speaking of Kreon, I think it was interesting that Roth changed him from being Jocasta’s brother to being Oedipus’. Honestly, it kind of makes sense—being Oedipus’ brother makes a more direct foil between those two, and Antigone’s relationship with her brother. It was kind of clever, and I can’t complain. I am BEGGING Veronica Roth to release more novellas like this. Her writing style completely changed. It was poetic and so full of beauty. I don’t know the origin story this is based on, but I loved every bit of this. It’s uncomfortable and powerful and so gorgeous. The concepts in here were fascinating. This is my favourite thing Roth has ever published. 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.The full narrative was engaging, and I find myself still living in that world in my head – which is disturbing!

Arch-Conspirator - Macmillan Arch-Conspirator - Macmillan

I got the eARC for Arch-Conspirator earlier this year and was pretty excited. Somehow I haven’t read anything by Veronica Roth since Divergent, even though I have another eARC still haha. This is a novella so that seemed like a fast read, but was it also an enjoyable one? Let’s take a look! After the fighting had ceased, after we had found our father and mother’s bodies in the streets, washed them, prayed over them; after I had Extracted their ichor, too young for the responsibility and yet the only ones to do it; after we had stored what was left of them in the Archive; after all that, Kreon had summoned us to this house, to that courtyard where the ivy grew and the street spilled in, and, in the presence of all who had ears to hear, told us we were welcome to live with him there. To this day, I’m not sure what prompted this act of generosity. We disgust Kreon, as we disgust many in this city, because of our origins. 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

In this futuristic world(we don’t know the year but I guess that doesn’t matter) if you give birth naturally, your children won’t have a soul so people extract dead people’s DNA to make children. That’s inherently an interesting topic-designer babies. Once again, Roth isn’t really leaning into why that’s dangerous or beneficial. People just hate the naturally born people Arch-Conspirator” is different from “ Divergent” in many ways, mostly because it is based on the Greek myth. But it’s dystopian, post-apocalyptic world where common people are labeled based on their genes, there are some similarities, and fans of “ Divergent” won’t be completely lost. A retelling of Antigone was not what I was expecting to see as the latest book by Veronica Roth, but this science fiction reimagining of the Grecian tragedy is fantastic! When your time comes and you die, your ichor (soul and gene material) is extracted and stored in the archives. The prospective parents can wander the halls of the Archive and made a choice -be that looking for something like their parents or grandparents. It’s the closest thing to a designer baby that could be imaginable.

Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth | Goodreads

If you're looking for a fairly accurate retelling of Antigone but set in a sci-fi world, I think you'd really enjoy Arch-Conspirator. I haven’t read anything by Roth before this, and only heard conflicting opinions of the Divergent series. But for some reason, this novella caught my eye and I thank Veronica Roth, Tor and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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 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. Nope, you don’t have to know anything about the original! I think the underlying themes resonate enough to speak for themselves 🙂