So, the first offering of the DC YA novels (DC Icons #1) will be out in August, and it is by the amazing Leigh Bardugo. It’s called Wonder Woman: Warbringer, and it stars a teenage Diana of Themyscira having a coming of age moment long before Captain Steve Trevor makes his entrance into her life.
I watched the movie Wonder Woman before reading the book (with the intense fear that the book would spoil me) and I must say, it was a good move. Were there movie spoilers in the book? Not really. But there were so many aspects of the book that made me go “WHAT? But... why? But... huh?"
Fear not, however. All will be revealed. Let Leigh Bardugo take you on the adventure she wove. Run with it. Question nothing until you’ve read the last page. I can promise you characters you will love (What's up, Nim? You are awesome.). I can most definitely assure you there will be some lovely character journey juxtapositions between Diana and our Warbringer, Alia.
And speaking of Warbringers… I can assure you some tasty lore and world-building. I mean... warbringer. Helen of Troy was apparently the first warbringer. Daughter of Nemesis. DNA that can usher in an age of bloodshed and misery passed down from mother to daughter over the ages, triggered when the girl comes of age at seventeen. Sign me up for that story!
Alexa (of she who owns ye auld book blog fame… yes, the one whose name is in the URL of this website) and I were at BookCon 2017 here in New York and we got to sit in on the DC Icons Panel where Leigh Bardugo (along with Marie “I’m writing Baby Bruce” Lu, Matt “Teen Clark” de la Pena, and Sarah “I love me my Selenas/Celaenas” Maas) discussed how she got to put her own spin on the Wonder Woman mythos. She talked a bit about the concept of a warbringer at the panel and touched briefly on her take on Helen of Troy. How, in this world, the historians and the patriarchy will reduce a woman to her looks as the cause of wars (hello, oh face that launched a thousand ships!) when in reality, the power within her is greater than just her appearance.
Woman was being modest, yo. She killed that lore. I read this book with its well crafted characters, brilliant literary contrasts between both female leads, well-paced and well-written narrative (not to mention, of course, that this passes the Bechdel test with flying colors)… and I literally cannot even.
Just a parting word - when you read it and try to reconcile it with the events of the Wonder Woman movie (which was so awesome that it reduced both the panelists and myself to tears), take it with a grain of salt in terms of continuity. At the DC panel, there was a lot of talk among the DC Icons authors that there is major involvement from editors to make sure their books stayed within the current most relevant context of the bigger world DC is trying to build for its audiences today. If the events of this book got the green light, we can only assure you that none of it clashes with the movie.
Having watched the movie again after I read the book, and being a fan of the crazy world of DC comics, it all works out. So please, if you love Diana, if you love Leigh Bardugo (I’m so reading everything she has ever written ever, thanks to this book), if you love a good superhero story… get yourself a copy of Wonder Woman: Warbringer.
Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo | Series: DC Icons #1
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers | Publication Date: August 29, 2017
Source: ARC received at BEA 2017 (Thanks!)
Buy the Book: Book Depository | Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes and Noble
Thanks to the lovely folk over at Random House, we get to host a giveaway for one finished copy of Wonder Woman: Warbringer! This giveaway is US only, and you can enter via the Rafflecopter.
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