Thursday, September 14, 2017

Superhero Beginnings: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

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I received this book for free from Random House Children's Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Superhero Beginnings: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh BardugoWonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
Published by Random House BFYR on August 29th, 2017
Genres: Action, Adventure, YA
Source: Random House Children's Books
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four-stars

Daughter of immortals.

Princess 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 mortal. Diana will soon learn that she has rescued no ordinary girl, and that with this single brave act, she may have doomed the world.

Daughter of death.

Alia Keralis just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she is being hunted by people who think her very existence could spark a world war. 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.

Two girls will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. Tested beyond the bounds of their abilities, Diana and Alia must find a way to unleash hidden strengths and forge an unlikely alliance. Because if they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

I want this review to start on an honest note and I would like to admit that I haven’t read any of the Wonder Woman comics or watched the movie that recently came out (for reasons I am not going to dive into for the purposes of this review.) However, I’ve always been fascinated by her and when I found out that Leigh Bardugo was the one writing the Wonder Woman origin story for the D.C. Icons series, I knew it was TIME.

The reason I even bother mentioning all of that is because I know that I won’t be able to speak to whether or not Leigh Bardugo did Wonder Woman justice (although, I am sure she did.) However, I ~can~ speak to this as an origin story and as a book in general and can I just say that, unsurprisingly, it was amazing?

I had so much fun reading Wonder Woman: Warbringer and now I REALLY wish I had read the comics so that I could better appreciate Leigh Bardugo’s YA adaptation.

This book follows Diana before she becomes Wonder Woman and Aila, the Warbringer. The two find themselves in a situation where they are each other’s only allies. Diana is the princess of the Amazons but has never felt like she has belonged. Aila’s overprotective brother and the streak of bad luck that follows her wherever she goes has always made her feel like an outcast. Together, these kiddos must join forces and take over the world. Just kidding, they are trying to save the world.

Again, I cannot speak to anything regarding the comics but I LOVE how Bardugo sets Aila and Diana as foils for one another. They are similar and yet different at the same time. Their hesitant friendship blooms over the course of the novel and I love that this isn’t just Diana’s story. Aila isn’t just the black sidekick. She gets a voice and chapters and this Wonder Woman origin story is ALSO her story.

There is also a great slew of secondary characters that bring this origin story to life. Aila and Diana are not just two teens in the world, all by themselves with just each other to rely on. THEY GET TO HAVE friends and siblings (although not Diana as much but Diana makes friends.)

This is a superhero origin story though so unsurprisingly, we get a lot of action and a lot of adventure. Both of which I am so here for. My only issue is that there are some small plot holes that we are just meant to go along with for the purposes of the story. While I understand that for the most part, they are unavoidable, I am annoying and cannot get over them? Nothing major though and the plot does hold up for the most part.

Overall, Leigh Bardugo’s Wonder Woman: Warbringer is so FUCKING GOOD and really, there is a reason why its on the NYT bestseller list. #justreadit

 

four-stars

4 Hot Espressos

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Rashika has been tired since 2013. There are very few things that spark joy for her besides a nice cup of tea, warm, baked goods, good books and good TV shows. She is here to pile onto your giant TBRs and to-watch lists. Offer her a cookie and she might be nice to you.

4 Responses to “Superhero Beginnings: Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo”

  1. Hope

    I’m just finishing Wonder Woman and I really liked it. I plan to write a review for it soon. I did enjoy the wide range of diverse characters. And all the greek history lessons.

  2. Valerie

    Wowowowo yay Rashika! I’m glad you liked it even though you didn’t read anything about Wonder Woman beforehand. And i’m gonna be honest with YOU but I was a bit hesitant about this book because idk, I think because I was afraid it would change how Wonder Woman was to me? Like her image. But obviously I see that this book is fantastic, and maybe I will be proven wrong 😀