Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Wonder Woman: Warbringer (DC Icons, #1) by Leigh Bardugo
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers on August 29th 2017
Pages: 384
Goodreads

She will become one of the world’s greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . .

Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law—risking exile—to save a mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.

Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer—a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.

Together, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

4 Nuts

This is it, Bardugo’s Wonder Woman story is here. Everyone is losing their mind from the wait and expectation, except me it seems. Let me explain. I’ve never  never been a big Wonder Woman fan. In fact, for the longest time the only DC Heroes I enjoyed were Green Lantern, Green Arrow, The Flash, and the Teen Titans. But the big three, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Women? Well the feelings ranged from disinterest (WW) to disgust (Superman).  And then Diana got a fabulous movie and for the first time I gave the character a real chance. So why read a Wonder Woman book? Because it’s Bardugo.

The biggest plus for the Wonder Woman mythology is its background in all the different religions. The island of the Amazons was created by the gods, and depending on which version you’re reading it could be those of the ancient Greeks or all mythologies. Bardugo chooses the later, giving Amazons of many beliefs a place on Themyscira. I enjoy this little detail, that any female warrior can call out to a goddess and be given a place of honor on the island rather than other versions where they were all created by gods or some such story.

This is probably my favorite version I’ve read of Diana so far. One of the reasons I disliked or at least overlooked Wonder Woman as a hero was because in many of the cartoons and comics she’s far too perfect and righteous to make an interesting character. This is the same boring boring boy scout characterization that annoys me with Superman, except with him is disgustingly more pronounced and irritating. Bardugo strips all of that away, giving us with this younger Diana a look at a girl not so confident in herself with a much better grasp on humanity. Diana is still a badass, but she’s real too.

Bardugo has always had a good grasp on writing her female characters. This shows in both Diana and Alia in WARBRINGER. Her women are bold and beautiful, strong in a way I think most teens will love reading about. Their dialogue is also superb. In fact, all of the dialogue in this book is really well written, rarely an awkward or stilted line to be found. This is one of the reasons I trusted Bardugo enough to read a book about a character I never really cared for before. She’s great at hooking you with excellent character and beautiful wording til you forget why you weren’t interested in the first place.

This book is fantastic, and I’m actually looking forward to getting into more Wonder Woman lore because of it. It’s a great intro for those unfamiliar with the character and hardcore fans alike. Bardugo’s Wonder Woman is a character I can love and it gives me hope for the rest of the DC ICONS books to come (though I’ll probably still be passing on Superman, blech).

I recommend this book for fans of comics and superhero movies and TV from Arrow to Agents of Shield. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

Who is you favorite DC hero? Share in the comments.

From my shelf to yours,

Erin

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