WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER (DC ICONS #1) – LEIGH BARDUGO

Daughter of immortals. Princess Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary sisters. But when she breaks Amazon law, she learns she rescued no ordinary girl, and that she may have doomed the world.
Daughter of death. Alia Keralis just wished to escape her brother. She doesn’t know that she is hunted by people who think her existence could spark a war. When a bomb detonates on her ship, Alia is forced to confront a horrible truth: she is a Warbringer—fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery.
We cannot spend our lives in hiding, wondering what we might accomplish if given the chance. We have to take that chance ourselves.
I know I’m a little late to the game when it comes to Leigh Bardugo but there has been so much hype about this book that I was a little weary about being let down.  I am so glad to say that I was not disappointed.  I fell absolutely in love with Wonderwoman: Warbringer, it was everything I had dreamed it would be and more.


Diana, Princess of the Amazons, spent her life being looked down on by her sisters, the women who helped raised her but could never stop themselves from fearing who she would become.  So Diana worked, tirelessly, to prove herself worthy of their praise.  But, when the opportunity finally arises, Diana is drawn from her course by a sinking boat and goes against all that she had been warned against to save the mortal girl shows up on the shores of her world.  
When the Amazons begin to sicken and the land to shake, Diana realises there is more to this mortal than meets the eye.  Alia is a Warbringer, a descendant of Helen of Troy, destined to bring about a new age of war or die.  Fighting enemies who hope to possess Alia and those with far more ambitious agendas. the two girls must unite and face the new life together, or risk losing it all.  Any decision could mean their end or the destruction of the world.


While it took me a little while to get into the book, dragging on at the start, once the action began there was no putting this puppy down! Bardugo takes the story that many of us know and love and creates something absolutely amazing with it.  Non stop action, a twist I never saw coming and an endless supply of emotional, powerful moments - this is a book that is so human it will keep you hanging.  The ending was probably the only let down - it wasn't happy, it wasn't sad, it just was.  But perhaps that is the most real part of all.

For a completely fictional story about an immortal warrior princess made of clay, there is something real and raw about this book.  The character's emotions, their struggles, their shortcomings and deceits, their hopes and uncertainties, made it so easy for me to connect with the unlikely band of misfits.  And, what I loved most, they all kicked some major ass!  Especially the ladies.  

This is a predominantly female-led story, with two leading heroines who are understanding and encouraging of other women and supporting male characters who don't look down on women or think of them are lesser beings.  When it comes to feminism, this book does really well.

But, of course, I can't start talking about feminism without mentioning Diana!  She was the ultimate kickass heroine; powerful and intelligent, driven and inquisitive.  I absolutely loved her blunt manner of speaking, her complete cluelessness surrounding social conventions (and the world in general), and her constant misinterpretation of 'modern' speech.  It was beyond refeshing to have a character so oblivious to social expectations and judgements who isn't portrayed as a pariah or a bumbling (and generally disliked) idiot.  
And when it comes to fighting or standing up for herself, this girl is a QUEEN!  She stands by what she believes in and doesn't let the opinions and expectations of others ruler her.  Here we have a feminine character who can also go out kicking asses and taking names, not giving a damn about what others want or expect from her.

“It's the people who never learn the word impossible who make history, because they're the ones who keep trying.” 
I LOVED this book!  Leigh Bardugo did an amazing job with this story, it had everything I wanted and everything I didn't know I needed.  I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of her books as well as the rest of the books in the DC Icons series.


Rating: 5/5


Get your hands on Wonder Woman from Amazon and Book Depository and sit back to enjoy this lively, empowering read!

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