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!
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.
Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth
Published by Tor Books on 21/02/2023
Pages: 112
Goodreads
As I said, this is a novella and has only 112 pages. I love novella’s and have read a lot published by Tordotcom. This novella is published by Tor Books so I had high hopes. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations.
Arch-Conspirator is an Antigone retelling, my sorority was called Antigone so I’m familiar with her story although I wasn’t sure about all the details anymore. I love reading retellings from lesser known stories, there are so many from all the ‘popular’ fairytales and I think we use more from other stories. The story is set in a dystopian future although it took me awhile to figure that out.
To me it seemed like there wasn’t that much world building, which makes some sense in a novella but I’ve seen it done a lot better than here. We get multiple POV’s which was interesting and I liked getting to know the different characters a bit. At the same time, with those different POV’s I think there was also an opportunity for more world building.
I get that the story was retelling of Antigone but I didn’t really like the plot but I especially disliked the ending. After that ending I felt like I wasted my time on the story to be honest. I had a hard time rating this, did I just not understand the book? But in the end I guess my rating it about my enjoyment and that was lacking. I ended up giving this one 2 stars and wouldn’t recommend it unfortunately. Maybe my other Veronica Roth eARC is a better fit, we will see!
