Review - Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo 

Publishing Date: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Pages: 384
DC Icons / Superhero / YA

The Premise from the Publisher: "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" (RH).

My overall thoughts and review: Of all the DC superheroes, Wonder Woman is definitely my favorite. The recent film version with Gal Gadot is pretty much my favorite movie of 2017 as well. I just love her so much and everything that she stands for. When I learned that there were going to be some DC Icons YA novels, I was instantly excited. I am ashamed to admit that this will be my first Leigh Bardugo book, but it surely won't be my last. I just love her writing. The story follows Diana during her teen years, and if you are familiar with the films, there are some familiar characters that pop up. You get to see Diana's mother, Hippolyta, and other Amazons. You are once again brought back to the world of Themyscira. The text begins during a race and as Diana is taking a different route, she sees a ship sinking and she dives in to save a human girl named Alia. She decides to relinquish her chances of winning the race and showing the other Amazons that she is capable in order to save the human girl. You get to see Diana's thoughts and anxieties, because she was born on the island and created by her mother, she feels she is not as strong and well-respected as the other Amazons (also, Tek bullies Diana a bit which also makes her feel the way she does). She decides to go seek the Oracle's help and from there she learns the truth of Warbringers. Warbringers are descendants of Helen of Troy and essentially, they are the catalyst to conflict and war. They are often hunted and Diana decides to save Alia instead of simply having her die (another Warbringer would be born in her place anyways). The story moves from Themyscira to New York to Greece. I really loved seeing Alia and Diana's friendship blossom as they explored New York in the beginning. You get to see the usual sassy attitude that Diana has, and I just love her blunt reactions to certain situations. You are also introduced to Alia's overprotective brother, Jason, and her incredibly hilarious best friend, Nim. You also see a possible love interest for Alia in their friend, Theo. I loved how they all worked together to save Alia's life. Even when Nim & Theo knew they wouldn't succeed, they put their life on the line for their friend. I really admired that. All in all, I just loved this book a lot. I finished it within a day and I honestly stayed up into the early hours of the night reading it. If you are a fan of Wonder Woman, you will surely love it. But if you aren't familiar with her, I think this is a nice introduction piece. It has family, friendship, and love, all wrapped up in adventure and drama. It concludes quite nicely as well, but I'll be over in the corner waiting for Bardugo to write a sequel to this ;)

My rating of the book: ✮✮✮✮✮ (5/5 stars)

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Disclaimer: An advanced reader's copy of the book was provided by Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.