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Arch-Conspirator (V.) Roth, Pp. 137. London: Titan Books, 2023. Cased, £12.99. ISBN: 9781803363578.

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Arch-Conspirator (V.) Roth, Pp. 137. London: Titan Books, 2023. Cased, £12.99. ISBN: 9781803363578.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2024

Brian J. Zawiski*
Affiliation:
Don Bosco Prep School, Ramsey, NJ, USA
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Abstract

Type
Book Reviews
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association

Veronica Roth's Arch-Conspirator is an engaging retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone in the dystopian setting of a futuristic society on a dying planet. The well-known characters of Sophocles’ Antigone are re-imagined in this futuristic society in the midst of political turmoil. As one might expect, Antigone finds herself in trouble after giving her brother a respectable burial after he had died making an attempt on the life of their uncle, King Creon. Roth presents her retelling in a unique way by attempting to give the reader an insight into the perspective of each of the different characters. It is a short work and perhaps could be criticised for being overly ambitious for all that Roth attempts to accomplish in such a short work. However, I found that the complexity of the work and its brevity created a feeling of heightened tension in a plot filled with both internal and external tension. This retelling of the classical tragedy is highly successful and well worth the read.