Book Review: Wonder Woman - Warbringer; Leigh Bardugo

Ooh boy, this book took me a long time to get through. I honestly thought I'd never finish it! The weird thing is, I didn't think it was bad! When I was reading it, I enjoyed it immensely! I just wish that I had loved it to the point that it had been a one day read!

SOURCE: Illumicrate
TYPE: Paperback

TITLE: Wonder Woman: Warbringer
AUTHOR: Leigh Bardugo
SERIES: DC Icons (#1)
PUBLISHER: Random House
PAGES: 369
GENRE: Young Adult, Retellings, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Blurb:
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.

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.

What I Liked:

• I really loved the characters in this book. Diana and Alia are really well-written, and great POVs for this story. I can totally see Diana becoming an awesome Wonder Woman later on, and I loved watching her character develop. Alia was also awesome, complex, and I enjoyed her immensely. My favourite characters were probably Theo and Nim though - so much more than the token 'funny' side characters. They were complex and diverse. Great job Bardugo!
• I think that Bardugo did a wonderful job at blending Greek mythology with a modern-day setting. I have never read Rick Riordan's series, but I imagine that if it was aimed at a slightly older audience then this would have been the result. I'm really on board with Greek Myth right now, so this book excited me a lot for that reason.

What I Disliked:

• There were a few similarities to the film and points in the book were a little repetitive, which was a shame. I also found that my least favourite thing about the book was how putdown-able it was. I enjoyed it, but went long periods of time between reading parts of it. I wish it had sucked me in a bit better.

Overall Conclusion:

A good book for definite! As I said, I don't read superhero books often but I definitely liked this one a lot: a great set of characters and fantastic Greek mythology references to keep me going. I just wish I'd been as sucked in by this as I have been by other reads in the past!