Summary: Princess Diana wants to prove herself to her immortal warrior sisters and mother, and when she finally has the opportunity to, she can’t tell anyone because it will likely lead to her exile. Mortals aren’t exactly welcomed on her island of Themyscira, much less ones who are shipwrecked there like Alia. Alia thought a semester at sea would be the perfect way to get away from her controlling brother and would allow her to get away from all the unfortunate things in her life. When her arrival causes trouble in Themyscira and the mortal world,  Diana and Alia must work together to prevent war.

My Rating: 4.25/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

I’ve been looking forward to the DC Icons series throughout 2017 and my anticipation will extend to 2018, with Marie Lu’s Batman: Nightwalker and Sarah J. Maas’s Catwoman: Soulstealer , and of course, Leigh Bardugo’s Wonder Woman: Warbringer. Not only are these authors all-stars in the YA world, but they’re among my all-time favorite authors!

I went into Wonder Woman: Warbringer not knowing too much about the plot other than teenage Diana having to team up with a mortal girl, Alia. If you are not the world’s biggest Wonder Woman fan and maybe have only seen Wonder Woman, the 2017 film, no worries; Leigh Bardugo does a great job of introducing us to the world of Diana and her home of Themyscira, an all-female island for immortal warriors.

My favorite setting in the novel was New York City, specifically for Diana’s reaction. I loved seeing her experience the World of Man and outwit guys on the subway. However, as much as I liked seeing Diana in the mortal world, I wish that we spent some more time in Themyscira before things started hitting the fan. I enjoy world building, okay??? I liked exploring Diana’s relationship with her sisters and her mother, as Leigh Bardugo displays that Diana isn’t exactly the Wonder Woman that we all known in her home.

Being a fan of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows duology, I wasn’t surprised at all with how much I enoyed Wonder Woman: Warbringer’s cast of characters. Jason added some mystery to the novel with his information on Alia’s origins and the family company, and Nim and Theo were absolutely hilarious. I loved this gem from the pair: 

“ “We have a driver,” Diana said, new hope surging through her. “Now we just need to find a car.”

“You know this means I get to choose the radio station,” said Nim as they set out across the field.

Theo whimpered. “How about I just let you run over me?” ” (242).

While I really enjoyed the book overall, there were a few elements that weren’t my cup of tea. The ending of the novel really dragged on to me, even with all of the action scenes. We spend a lot of the novel building up to a certain moment that Alia and Diana must face, which I figured wouldn’t go exactly to plan, and it took so much time to get to a resolution. Some of the chapters in the beginning of the novel were also a bit long, and I felt that they could’ve been separated into shorter sections. A few of the chapters in the rest of the novel are also long, but they seemed to go faster with the dialogue between our cast—there are plenty of funny Nim and Theo moments!

Have you read Wonder Woman: Warbringer? Share in the comments?