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skylover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I honestly am speechless, but will try my best to share even a fraction of the thoughts that come to me right now in the aftermath that is this book. It's like being thrown in headfirst to the middle part of a story, right before the climax, if you aren't familiar with the original story of Antigone (which I am not, so imagine how disoriented in the world I was at first). I thought the characters were great, dynamic, and complex, for such a short story. The world building was simple enough - dystopian, yet sci-fi with women's rights to reproductive being the main theme - to follow, only in the beginning did a few words trip me up before their synonyms to our language were introduced. I am still gaping at the ending and trying to piece together what all I just read. Something tells me there's even more I didn't catch this first time around. This is a story that leaves an impact bigger than its page count, and will stay with me for a minute....wow. V Roth you've outdone yourself
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Classism
gummifrog's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Arch-Conspirator was a tasty little bite of a sci-fi retelling. However, it was clear Veronica Roth was so in love with this little world she had created based on Antigone, that I feel that perhaps too much wound up on the cutting room floor. Although I love a good novella and short story, I feel that it's best if you have to add a lot of padding. In this case, I felt as if there was too much to love, and I find it hard to believe she couldn't have written more. It was a delightful appetizer that has me wanting for more, rather than making me feel full.
I fell in love with Antigone, and I felt the book lingered on her thoughts with a lot of love and care. I also liked the fact that there were different perspectives - it helped to flesh out character motivations and internality. Haemon was a surprise to me, and I didn't expect to like him so much - he's a character I would have liked to learn more about, not to mention Antigone's siblings, whose presences were far too distant.
However, ultimately the story felt too short, and too much character development was dropped at the expense of plot - everything takes course over what feels like only a few days, and the characters are barely allowed to process and grieve the tragedies they are encountering, one after another.
It's a tragedy, so I knew there wouldn't be a happy ending. Maybe that's why she chose to have it be so short - so you don't fall in love too hard with the characters!
Anyway, I loved it and DO recommend it, haha.
I fell in love with Antigone, and I felt the book lingered on her thoughts with a lot of love and care. I also liked the fact that there were different perspectives - it helped to flesh out character motivations and internality. Haemon was a surprise to me, and I didn't expect to like him so much - he's a character I would have liked to learn more about, not to mention Antigone's siblings, whose presences were far too distant.
However, ultimately the story felt too short, and too much character development was dropped at the expense of plot - everything takes course over what feels like only a few days, and the characters are barely allowed to process and grieve the tragedies they are encountering, one after another.
It's a tragedy, so I knew there wouldn't be a happy ending. Maybe that's why she chose to have it be so short - so you don't fall in love too hard with the characters!
Anyway, I loved it and DO recommend it, haha.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Minor: Sexual content