Arch-Conspirator

by Veronica Roth Narrated by Dion Graham, January LaVoy

Overview

"Stunningly performed by narrators Dion Graham and January LaVoy...together, they capture the propulsive motion and ominous atmosphere of this compelling story."- AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award Winner)

In this gripping and atmospheric reimagining of Antigone, #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth reaches back to the root of legend and delivers a world of tomorrow both timeless and unexpected.

“I'm cursed, haven't you heard?”

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.

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.

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.

“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

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

Editorial Reviews

FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile

Roth’s retelling of Sophocles’s ANTIGONE, stunningly performed by Dion Graham and January LaVoy, is set in a dystopian future in Thebes, the last habitable city on Earth. The tyrant Kreon holds Antigone and her siblings—the children of his vanquished rival—in genteel yet uneasy captivity. Tensions come to a head when Antigone’s brothers kill each other in battle and Antigone fiercely defies Kreon’s order to abandon her brother Polyneikes’s body. Chameleon-like, LaVoy smoothly switches from channeling Antigone’s quiet rage to bringing out the gentleness and youth of her sister, Ismene. Graham’s grizzled, blustering Kreon contrasts exquisitely with the earnest loyalty of Kreon's son, Haemon, and Polyneikes’s ebullient recklessness. Together, the narrators capture the propulsive motion and ominous atmosphere of this compelling story. S.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 10/17/2022

Readers who are tapped out on The Handmaid’s Tale as a parable for the current cultural moment will celebrate this taut, defiant reenvisioning of Sophocles’s Antigone, which brilliantly probes many of the same themes. Bestseller Roth, best known for the YA Divergent series, turns from trilogy sprawl to the confines of novella and expertly meets the demands of the form, offering just enough worldbuilding and keeping a tight focus on her well-drawn characters’ difficult choices. Antigone and her siblings are given refuge by Kreon, who overthrew their father’s government. Not only is it politically expedient for Kreon to keep his dead rival’s children alive, it’s necessary—because this is a postapocalyptic scenario: all genes are compromised, and every “viable womb” is precious to the state. The siblings are ostracized because they were naturally conceived and thus believed to be soulless. Souls can be embodied only by mixing the purified genes of the dead, who are then reborn via the surrogacy of the living. Though believed to be tainted, Antigone and her sister Ismene can still serve as such vessels. But when murder blights their lives again, will Kreon respect the right of Antigone’s beloved dead to be reborn? 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. (Feb.)

From the Publisher

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

"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

"Fascinating. . . an inventive, fast read."—Buzzfeed

“Veronica Roth has already proven herself to be one of the best dystopian writers right now, but this Antigone retelling takes it all to the next level. Not only does it bring a completely new spin to a familiar story, but it's also the kind of speedy read that will kick you out of a book slump.”—Cosmopolitan

"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

“An elegant, pressingly relevant Antigone retelling, with a fascinating chorus of viewpoints that both complicates and elucidates its complex themes.”—Shelley Parker-Chan, bestselling author of She Who Became the Sun

“Queen of Dystopia Veronica Roth packs a lot of cool worldbuilding into Arch-Conspirator, offering a fresh take on a classic tragedy. If you’re a fan of mythology and schemes, definitely put this one on your list.”—Tor.com

“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

"[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

“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

"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

Library Journal

11/01/2022

Roth (Poster Girl) takes the ancient story of Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, and blasts it into a dystopian future, where there is one last habitable city left on Earth that is ruled by the tyrant Kleon. As the children of the previous ruler, Antigone and her siblings are virtual prisoners of Kleon and are reviled because their parents flouted the laws that surround reproduction. In their society, genetic diversity is shrinking, and ambient radiation must be gene spliced out of every fetus. The bodies of women are protected to the point of fetishization because they can bear young and continue the species. Kleon believes that his position is untouchable, so he rewrites the laws and sentences Antigone to death. But Antigone doesn't care about her own life—only that she can use it to bring Kleon down. VERDICT 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.—Marlene Harris

FEBRUARY 2023 - AudioFile

Roth’s retelling of Sophocles’s ANTIGONE, stunningly performed by Dion Graham and January LaVoy, is set in a dystopian future in Thebes, the last habitable city on Earth. The tyrant Kreon holds Antigone and her siblings—the children of his vanquished rival—in genteel yet uneasy captivity. Tensions come to a head when Antigone’s brothers kill each other in battle and Antigone fiercely defies Kreon’s order to abandon her brother Polyneikes’s body. Chameleon-like, LaVoy smoothly switches from channeling Antigone’s quiet rage to bringing out the gentleness and youth of her sister, Ismene. Graham’s grizzled, blustering Kreon contrasts exquisitely with the earnest loyalty of Kreon's son, Haemon, and Polyneikes’s ebullient recklessness. Together, the narrators capture the propulsive motion and ominous atmosphere of this compelling story. S.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175462617
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	02/21/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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