Review: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Hey all, Dani here.

I’ve seen the Wonder Woman movie twice, and I loved it. This made me very excited about the book I’m reviewing today, especially after I heard that one of my favorite authors was the one writing the book. But I’ll just start this off with a warning: if you’re expecting this book to follow the basic timeline and/or story of the movie, then you’ll be disappointed. This tale stands completely apart from what we saw in theaters.

Summary

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.

My Thoughts:

Rating: 4 stars

Let me just say that yes, I really enjoyed this book. It was cool to look at a different take on the girl who will become Wonder Woman. This tale takes place in the modern day but Diana is still a younger girl, a teenager. So obviously this book does not at all fit in with the timeline of the film.

There were a few chapters in the beginning spent on Themyscira, and learning about the Amazonian way of life, which I rather like learning about. It is just such an interesting culture of badass women warriors. I’d probably be okay reading a whole novel spent on the island.

Diana has all the makings of someone who will someday become an amazing superhero. From the beginning after she met Alia, all Diana wanted to do was protect her and help her. It was fun to partner the isolated young Amazon with a modern girl, because their ideologies were so different. But they also complemented each other fairly well.

It was exactly the kind of adventure you would expect for a not-quite-superhero. Diana takes on this mission, this quest, to save someone that she believes in turn will save the world and help prevent future wars.

If you are a fan of Diana/Wonder Woman, or if you are a fan of Leigh Bardugo, I recommend this book. The only reason I lowered the rating for this is because I didn’t feel as compelled to devour this adventure tale as I have in past Bardugo books, nor did it hold my interest quite as well as the Wonder Woman film. Yes, I know I shouldn’t compare the book to the film, as there have been numerous iterations of basically every superhero, but as they both came out about the same time, I found I couldn’t help myself.

Where to Buy

You can pre-order Wonder Woman: Warbringer from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, Book Depository, or your local indie bookstore. This book hits shelves on August 29, 2017.