5 Reasons Wonder Woman: Warbringer Nails the Transition from Comics to Prose

Wonder Woman: Warbringer, by bestselling YA author Leigh Bardugo, leaps over those obstacles in a single bound providing readers with a terrific young Diana (not yet Wonder Woman), a great supporting cast, and action sequences that I want to see in a comic, post-haste. The plot rests on human teenager Alia, the descendant of Helen of Troy. Alia carries a curse that could bring the world to ruin—unless she is killed before her 17th birthday or “purified” by the spring in Greece where Helen is buried, things will quickly go mythological hell.
Here are 5 reasons anyone who loved this summer’s Wonder Woman film should read it.
You’ll recognize young Diana from the movie
Though this story’s events don’t match up exactly with the Wonder Woman film, Warbringer features the same compassionate, determined, intelligent take on the title character. This is a coming of age story, in which Diana proves to herself she is worthy of being an Amazon but more than that, she also comes to realize her mission will eventually lead her away from her home of Themiscyria, and into the outside world. As in the movie, Diana’s unfamiliarity with the outside world leads to much humor and fun.

A fantastic new heroine
Alia, the “Warbringer” of the subtitle, is a high school student who’s been hit with one tragedy after another, from the death of her parents to the fateful shipwreck that leads her to be rescued by Diana. Her mixed race is touched on numerous times as something that causes her to be viewed as an outsider by much of modern society, from the Duane Reade security guard keeping a close eye on her to the upperclass white people who dismiss her based on race and gender—even when her wealth and intelligence would otherwise make her one of them. Her intelligence and determination are overlooked, much as Diana’s resilience and courage are ignored by the Amazons—a factor that bonds and motivates the two young women.
The supporting cast is perfect
From Maeve’s, Diana’s Amazon friend, to Alia’s friends Theo and Nim in the outside world, this band of heroes has courage in full measure, if not the skills associated with warriors. They’re not fighters, but they use their intelligence to aid Diana and Alia in her quest. Halfway through the book, I was hoping for a sequel so I wouldn’t lose these people. I definitely want to see them appear in a comic. (If this book is any indication, Bardugo would make a terrific scribe on the monthly Wonder Woman comic.)
Incredible action 
The inciting incident, Diana’s rescue of Alia from drowning, will remind readers of Diana’s rescue of Steve Trevor—especially a certain leap off a cliff. But there’s an extra oomph with the prose, as we can feel Diana’s chill as she crosses the borders to the outside world and the water turns from warm and welcoming to cold, icy, and dangerous. But that’s only the beginning: without spoiling too much, Diana’s discovery of how her bracelets can affect bullets during an assault; a tense sequence in the sky as Alia’s jet is attacked; and the final fight with the true villain of the story, all stand out.

Amazonian mythology
These Amazons remind me very much of those in Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman: The Circle, with a slice of George Perez. (Indeed, there is a thank you to Gail Simone on the acknowledgments page.) The Amazons are those reborn by the gods and goddesses after calling on them for help in their time of death. But the oldest Amazons, those of Hippolyta’s generation, look on Diana with worry and sometimes disdain. The Circle‘s “formed from clay and given breath by the gods” origin seems to be the case here, thus Diana is looked on by her people as not fully “one of them.” I also loved the nods to traditional Greek mythology in the rest of the tale, including the Oracle on the island, the appearances of the gods and goddesses in the quest to take Alia to be purified, and the mythological monsters that show up as the story races to its conclusion.
Wonder Woman: Warbringer is available August 29 in a signed edition from Barnes & Noble.