I haven’t heard of Antigone but after reading the synopsis and really loving Veronica Roth’s Poster Girl I was definitely interested in this short story.

It has a sci-fi, handmaids tale feel about it, in a World where one city has survived and is surrounded by deadly radiation. The only way to survive is with strict protocols and very specific expectations of all woman to carry genetically selected DNA to create babies .. and with only a 50% change of survival.

Through all this a ship has been created with the plan to go to space and try to connect with any other survivors on Earth.

There is revolt due to the very strict limitations created by a cold dictator who keeps his brothers children who are thought to be soulless as they were not genetically selected but born naturally.

It is full of suspense, mystery and absolute bloody heartbreak. To be honest I would have loved to have read more.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for the opportunity to read this in advance.

I actually don't have too much to say about this book. I wasn't familiar with Antigone and didn't look up the original story until after I'd read this. I can see the inspiration, but the motivations are very different, and I don't think I really understood why characters acted the way they did here. The world gets established reasonably well within the smaller scope of the novella, but there are a few things that left me with questions. I think it would've benefited from more pages to flesh everything out just a bit more.

Having read Poster Girl last month, it's interesting to me that this is another story where the author does something with women's autonomy over their bodies. In this universe, most of humanity has died out, and women's bodies are valued because of their ability to give birth. Pregnancy is no longer a choice but a duty. It's anti-abortion laws kicked up to 11—fitting for a dystopian world.

The ending felt extremely rushed to me, and maybe a bit unsatisfying. I also think there were too many different POVs for something this short. I ended up not really connecting to any of them, which makes the ending less impactful than it could've been.

From the first page, the beautiful prose of this novella gripped me and never let me go. I was absolutely mesmerized by all the flowing sentences, how it made the story somehow bigger. Arch-conspirator is a retelling of the Greek tragedy of Antigone, and I'd never heard of it before. I debated if I should go read up on the original first, but I decided not to, I wanted to experience the story for the first time. Oooh boy, that was a double edged sword. It made the story rich but the ending ... well, let's say I was in for a suprise. Because this story is absolutely heartbreaking, be sure to know that going in.

I was suprised how much epic worldbuilding Veronica could put into a short story of only 128 pages, it was done better than many full size fantasy/sci-fi novels. It felt a tiny bit Greek but also entirely foreign, it was definitely a science fiction story. The characters spoke to me too, Antigone is wonderful and fierce, and her choices are ones you can understand. There is soft feminism thrown into the original, where every woman shows strength and seeks change in a different way. Kreon is a perfect antagonist, very evil yet human, and I have a soft spot for Eurydice. The siblings all had a wonderful, flawed relationship. I enjoyed reading this novel very much and appreciated the deeper themes, this is more about what's moral and just and standing up for those who can't stand up for themselves instead of a happy ending. I have to mention that the ending for me was a bit too much. I know, it's like the original, but maybe if one speck of hope had lasted... I don't know, I was just shocked. It feels weird to detract a star because of that, since it is a retelling, but it just hit really hard.

All in all, I very much recommend this book, to savor in a quiet afternoon and ponder over for a long time.

Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth is a dystopian sci-fi retelling of Antigone, an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 BC.

At only 128-pages long, to say you're thrown into the action is an understatement. Arch-Conspirator is unbelievably fast-paced and it felt slightly overwhelming if I'm being honest. The world Roth created was so incredibly complex that I would have appreciated more time to fully understand it's politics and structure, especially as we're thrown into a revolution in the very first chaper.

That being said, it truely is incredible what Roth managed to accomplish in this novella. It makes some really harrowing insights into female autonomy and family loyalty. Arch-Conspirator is unlike anything I read before and I adored how unique and engaging it was. I simply couldn't put it down. It's disturbing, powerful and unforgettable.

Arch-Conspirator is a sci-fi retelling of Antigone set in the last remaining city on a dying earth. I am not a huge fan of Antigone who is likely to worry about the faithfulness of this as a retelling. I approached it largely as a sci fi short story in its own right, and I really enjoyed it. I felt that the world-building was well developed for such a short book, and I cared about and believed the characters' motivations. I would've probably liked it to be longer so we could explore this world and delve deeper into the idea of women's rights over their own bodies, and their worth outside of giving birth, however I think it managed a lot in its few pages.

Recommended for fans of Veronica Roth, dystopia and sci fi.

There were some aspects of Arch-Conspirator that I found interesting, but overall I found the novella a little too confusing (probably because it’s a retelling and I’m not familiar with the original Antigone).

I really enjoyed this and found it such a quick read. It’s an interesting take on the Greek myth of Antigone and I really wish it didn’t end on a spoiler. What happens next?!

This was a really interesting Antigone retelling with a sci-fi twist. I thought the concept was really original, but probably would’ve worked better as a slightly longer story. This was a very quick novella, and I did enjoy the plot and loved the characters. I felt there was a lot more that could’ve been introduced with the characters, and the plot seemed to be wrapped up quite abruptly at the end. I really enjoyed this, but just wanted a little bit more!

Antigone lives in the last city of an irradiated landscape. It’s perpetually dusty, the population is dwindling and if you have a viable uterus you’re going to reproduce, whether you like it or not. Your chances of surviving childbirth are 50-50.

When you die in this world, your ichor is extracted from you and stored in the Archives. Would-be parents wander the Archives and make their choices, the Archivist implants the combined cells (complete with edited genes) and, hey presto, designer babies.

Antigone and her siblings, Polyneikes, Eteocles and Ismene, aren’t like everyone else, having been made the old fashioned way.

“We were unique among our people, pieced together from whatever random combination of genes our parents provided. Table-scrap children.”

This novella is a dystopian retelling of Sophocles’ play. Because I wasn’t already familiar with the story, I found a summary to read before I started this book. While it helped in comparing the two, it also spoiled the ending for me. I could have easily followed this story, even if I hadn’t done any homework before tackling it.

If you do know anything about Antigone, you’ll know this isn’t a happy book. It’s tragedy, grief and the abuse of power.

“Doomed from the start, I found myself thinking. All of us.”

I sometimes find multiple perspectives distracting and that was the case here for the first few chapters. However, once I figured out who everyone was, I began to enjoy hearing from the different characters: Antigone, Polyneikes, Eurydice, Ismene, Kreon and Haemon.

I would have liked to have explored this world more. I wanted to meet the Archivist. I wanted to understand how this pocket of land was currently habitable when the rest of the planet wasn’t. I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters better. Realistically, though, achieving the level of detail I craved would have pushed this way outside of novella territory.

The themes explored here lined up well with what I’ve read about the original story. I loved Antigone’s fierce loyalty to her family and her resistance against the status quo. I’m not sure what Sophocles would have made of this book (there’s a spaceship!) but I enjoyed this read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Titan Books for the opportunity to read this novella.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC of 'Arch-Conspirator' by Veronica Roth.

'Arch-Conspirator' is a novella by Roth about one of my favourite Greek Myths: Antigone and her story.
I am slightly mad that this story is so short because I believe that Roth could have kept going but out of the whole story, the writing was beautiful and I felt it was written well. I'm really fussy with Greek Myth stories but this one I did enjoy. I think Veronica should keep writing stories like this, I think she's found a new passion.

This was such an interesting update on the story of Antigone and I really enjoyed it. I loved the sci-fi elements of the narrative and the post-apocalyptic setting was a fantastic way to reproduce the city state political set up of Ancient Greece. I really appreciated the fact that all of the names of the key players remained the same (I love the original play, so this was a real plus for me!) and thought Veronica Roth did an excellent job of updating the plot for a modern audience, while retaining all of the tragedy of the original. Overall, this was a really compelling and well written book and firmly cements Veronica Roth as someone I will continue to read going forward.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Arch-Conspirator is a retelling of the play Antigone by Sophocles by bestselling author, Veronica Roth. I was excited to read this one as have been a long time fan of Veronica Roth's work. This unique retelling was quick to read and gave an interesting and fresh new take on this historic story. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book.

This needed to be longer. The world building and characters were intriguing but the story needed some more time to develop. I'm not familiar with the Antigone narrative but I enjoyed the tension throughout the novella.

Antigone’s parents once sat upon the throne but then they were murdered by her Uncle and now he takes their place. She, along with her siblings, must reside with him inside the palace walls but whilst she allows pleasant smiles to play upon her lips, murderous and traitorous thoughts fill her heart.

I really enjoyed seeing Roth rework renowned mythological figures into a futuristic and alien world, but the overall story somehow felt a little flat, for me. It was certainly very unique and inventive, but the characters were a little surface level and felt less like a true reimagining of these infamous figures and more like they had been brought back to life with only their most basic character traits and sufferings intact.

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.

4.5 stars

Headlines:
Greek tragedy retelling
Dytopian patriarchy
Female power

I ate this novella up in an evening and my thoughts are still on it afterwards. This was a completely full and satisfying story for its 128 pages. I really enjoyed the way Roth told this story in a pass-the-parcel POV keeping a totally coherent narrative voice and perspective of the story. Antigone was the central character, but those around her, good and bad were utterly compelling.

The story of Antigone, her siblings and her parents' legacy was told in a dystopian earth, an earth that had many shades of familiarity but with a patriarchal dictator at its head. Females were precious for their uterus and therefore disempowered. There was a lot to unpack ethically interwoven into the fast pace of the story.

These characters were mostly shades of grey but with one much darker than the others. I liked seeing Antigone trembling with a sense of anarchy. Some characters really surprised me and the plot was tightly constructed.

I couldn't put this novella down and I can see the tale staying with me; it's memorable. I love a shorter story that packs all the punches.

"Sometimes I just stare into the future and don't like anything I see."

Thank you to Titan Books for the review copy.