Arch-Conspirator

By: Veronica Roth

Narrated by: Dion Graham, January LaVoy

Length: 3 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

"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.

©2023 Veronica Roth (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“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

Living in desperate times

This is a dystopian novel with important differences. The focus is on the interpersonal relationships of Antigone and her family, particularly the dictator, Creon. Every character is well-motivated, including Creon, who is the villain of the piece. The use of classical Greek characters as the main protagonists is a clever idea. Because we already know their history, the story can be relatively compressed with the background material, filled in by a prior knowledge. The whole thing works better than what you might expect.

Great retelling of Antigone

Wonderful sci-fi inspired retelling of Antigone. Quick read, definitely would like to read more by this author.

Slow to start but…

I very much enjoyed this story. I hope you do too. Four more words required.

Waste of time

Not well put together and has mistakes and no coercive storyline. It was to much smashed into one book that was a short novel. It was a written andromeda but poorly executed.