Leanne Olson

by Veronica Roth, narrated by Dion Graham and January LaVoy

Releasing February 21, 2023 from Macmillan

I really enjoyed this novella from science fiction author Veronica Roth.  Arch-Conspirator is a dystopian reimagining of Sophocles’ play Antigone.  

In this story, Thebes is the last city on Earth.  Earth is a dystopian wasteland and the souls of the dead are stored in the Archive so they can be repurposed.  When Antigone’s brother betrays her uncle Creon (ruler of the city), Creon dooms him to death without the harvesting of his soul, denying him immortality. Antigone has to decide whether to obey her uncle or try to save her brother’s soul.

I’m loving Roth’s sci-fi writing these days, and I picked this one up because I enjoyed her novel Poster Girl so much.  It’s similar: a very thoughtful, engaging book with philosophical questions and a strong and flawed female protagonist.  I loved the way Roth updated Oedipus’s family curse, Antigone’s relationship with her sister, and the ending.

Narrators January LaVoy and Dion Graham are perfect, well-suited to this story with commanding and expressive voices that I could easily imagine performing in the original Greek tragedy. 

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Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for my review copy of this audiobook.