Wonder Woman: Warbringer in Our Shared Shelf

Oct 10, 2017 Xanthe rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary, poc-protagonist, read-in-2017, family, ya-books, fantasy, superheroes, lgbtqa, new-york-city, road-trip

My love for Wonder Woman goes back to watching the Lynda Carter tv show in my childhood. I had Wonder Woman underwear as a kid that I of course wore all by itself because it was so awesome. But most of my understanding of Diana is her out in the real world, helping people. I'm not as familiar with the comics and thus most of her various origin story versions are all fresh and new to me. Obviously (I mean, Of Course) I saw the completely amazing movie this summer and loved every minute (okay, I c My love for Wonder Woman goes back to watching the Lynda Carter tv show in my childhood. I had Wonder Woman underwear as a kid that I of course wore all by itself because it was so awesome. But most of my understanding of Diana is her out in the real world, helping people. I'm not as familiar with the comics and thus most of her various origin story versions are all fresh and new to me. Obviously (I mean, Of Course) I saw the completely amazing movie this summer and loved every minute (okay, I could have done without all the scenes with the poisonous gas, but whatever.) When I heard about this book, I guess I assumed that it would be a tie-in to the movie, so I was a little surprised when it turned out to be another origin story. I had to take myself firmly in hand and remind myself that this shouldn't be a problem since we're used to getting constant retellings of all the other superheroes' stories and don't bat an eye (mean, how many versions of Batman and Spiderman have there been on the big screen alone?) The real crime here is that Wonder Woman has been neglected so long and that there haven't been MORE reboots and retellings. So, what I'm saying is bring on the novelizations, reboots, tie-ins, spin-offs, and re-imaginings until we're drowning in them. We're owed them for years of neglect.

But how's the story itself? Once I got over restarting Diana's story with her as a teenager (and stopped imagining her as Gal Gadot with occasional flashes of Lynda Carter) I was able to really dig into her journey to separate herself from her boxed-in identity on Themyscria of being the Queen's privileged daughter, the only Amazon who hadn't earned her place on the island through heroism in the outside world and glorious death in battle. Diana's first step on her on her path to independence is to rescue Alia, a modern day girl whose ship explodes and sinks just off the coast of Themyscria. The rules of the island tell Diana to let her drown, let her die, not to interfere. But Diana is a hero and a protector and makes the choice to save Alia's life, even as it becomes clear she isn't an ordinary girl, but instead the scion of Helen of Troy and the inheritor of a terrible legacy. Alia is a Warbringer, a girl whose bloodline gives her influence over humankind's most destructive impulses. Diana sets out to help Alia change her destiny, with the two of them alternating point of view chapters, allowing for the requisite pop-culture references and modern snark from Alia to alleviate Diana's more serious mission-focused perspective. I really loved this version of Diana who is struggling with who she wants to be and how she can define herself beyond her mother. She saves Alia even though she knows the Amazons would have killed her and works to free Alia from her legacy as a Warbringer because she believes it's the right thing to do to save the world from the repeated waves of conflict brought on by these descendants of Helen through no fault of their own, but also because she thinks Alia deserves to survive and live a life free of the curse of her bloodline. Alia is a fully-realized person with a family, delightful friends, and her own conflicting feelings about Diana barging into her life. The two of them forge a deep friendship that the reader can believe might even last beyond this one story outing, with both of them respecting each other's choices and finding moments of happiness to share. And isn't that what Wonder Woman and Diana is really about? Saving humanity not just because it's the right thing to do, but because each of us is valuable and deserves a chance to live and make our own choices. I'll be first in line for the next installment, no matter what Diana is up to. ...more

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Oct 20, 2017 Ina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Oh mercy of all the Gods, this is just utterly brilliant. I have no words...pure pure brilliance! All DC or YA fantasy fans - you will absolutely love this!

(Also, thank you (although you have nothing to do with this book) Gal Gadot for being my perfect wonder woman!)

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Oct 24, 2017 Amy (Bossy Bookworm) rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasyish-sci-fi

3.5 stars for me. I read this knowing little (aside from how it’s presented in the WW movie) about WW’s traditional origin story, but I knew I loved Leigh Bardugo’s writing. The dialogue was great. Superhero stories are likely going to go off the rails a little bit—hopefully in a great way—and Warbringer was no exception. It’s not sticking with me a week after finishing it, exactly, but it was a fun read with a satisfying level of main character development, surprises, battles, and the promise o ...more

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