Arch-Conspirator

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Roth takes us into a new dystopia where women are prized for the ability to reproduce and all of humanity depends on it.

Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth | The Book Review: Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth | The

The setting is the distant future. We are on Earth, but the planet has become a wasteland. To preserve what’s left of humanity, the genetic material of those who die are extracted and stored away in a repository called the Archive. Every person still living is a gift, every viable womb precious, but women no longer have children naturally. Instead, most choose to procreate by selecting desirable traits for their offspring from the Archive, with those who were conceived the natural way shunned for being soulless. The earth is a barren landscape, nothing survives, and nothing grows. Funny – I could imagine this coming to be in a few decades/generations, climate change is already in full force, is this what we have to look forward to – ground unfit for purpose and the women used for nothing but vessels? Sounds absolutely bleak if you ask me. That being said, it truly 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. 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. I carried many of yesterday's woes. Antigone carried too many of tomorrows. And Polyneikes carried too many of todays."Great review, Mogsy:). I don’t recall the story of Antigone, other than it didn’t end well for the female protagonist – but then, that’s the norm for Greek myths anyway. I love the sound of this one.

Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth Book Review | Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth’s Arch-Conspirtitor had all the makings of a great book. The premise is based on the Greek tragedy of Antigone , the girl who rises up alone. She will defy her uncle and ultimately dies young. There is also a war between siblings, death, and sadness. Antigone is enough of a story to base a new book on. But Roth took Antigone and added a new layer of depth to it. It takes place in a dystopia, in one of the last cities. Children are no longer born naturally but selected from existing cells and reproduced. This selection puts a limit on new humans and gene diversity. They do all this because of religion (waves hand). When you die, your gametes are harvested through a device inserted below your belly button. To not do so is the ultimate dishonor to someone. 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. That said, I don’t know that Kreon’s stance makes much sense here. Without going into specifics, he believes that Antigone and her siblings have no soul, and therefore there is no use in saving their genes. I’m not sure this makes sense, since obviously these people have an understanding of genetics, so I would think that having viable DNA and eggs/sperm in such a dire world would still be valuable, souls aside. But maybe I missed something. Nikias moved away from Kreon, no doubt sent on some small mission. My uncle’s eyes lifted to mine. He nodded in greeting. The story is fantastic, the writing superb, and Roth has definitely matured in her writing since Divergent.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 In this combination of reprints and original stories, Roth (The Fates Divide) explores, as she expresses in a letter to reviewers, “that pivotal moment when something ends—often Continue reading » I imagined he was right—it was a difficult job, keeping a tight fist for so long. But I wasn’t sure any amount of ivy could make this place beautiful to me.