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Wonder Woman: Warbringer

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AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The award-winning DC Icons story of the world's greatest super hero: WONDER WOMAN by the # 1 New York Times bestselling author LEIGH BARDUGO.


"You’ll enjoy this book whether you’re a fan of Wonder Woman comics, the Wonder Woman movie, Leigh Bardugo, or just YA lit in general." —Hypable

She will become one of the world's greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . . 
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 mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.
 
Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn't know she is being hunted. 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, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

"Feminism is the invisible jet powering this literary revamp of the Amazon princess." —The New York Times Book Review

"Warning: This novel about the young super hero crossing paths with a seemingly ordinary—but seriously powerful—girl may result in multiple fist pumps." —Seventeen

Don't miss the rest of the DC Icons series! Read them in any order you choose:
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu
Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas
Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña

You do not enter a race to lose.
 
Diana bounced lightly on her toes at the starting line, her calves taut as bowstrings, her mother’s words reverberating in her ears. A noisy crowd had gathered for the wrestling matches and javelin throws that would mark the start of the Nemeseian Games, but the real event was the footrace, and now the stands were buzzing with word that the queen’s daughter had entered the competition.
 
When Hippolyta had seen Diana amid the runners clustered on the arena sands, she’d displayed no surprise. As was tradition, she’d descended from her viewing platform to wish the athletes luck in their endeavors, sharing a joke here, offering a kind word of encouragement there. She had nodded briefly to Diana, showing her no special favor, but she’d whispered, so low that only her daughter could hear, “You do not enter a race to lose.”
 
Amazons lined the path that led out of the arena, already stamping their feet and chanting for the games to begin.
 
On Diana’s right, Rani flashed her a radiant smile. “Good luck today.” She was always kind, always gracious, and, of course, always victorious.
 
To Diana’s left, Thyra snorted and shook her head. “She’s going to need it.”
 
Diana ignored her. She’d been looking forward to this race for weeks--a trek across the island to retrieve one of the red flags hung beneath the great dome in Bana-Mighdall. In a flat-out sprint, she didn’t have a chance. She still hadn’t come into the fullness of her Amazon strength. You will in time, her mother had promised. But her mother promised a lot of things.
 
This race was different. It required strategy, and Diana was ready. She’d been training in secret, running sprints with Maeve, and plotting a route that had rougher terrain but was definitely a straighter shot to the western tip of the island. She’d even--well, she hadn’t exactly spied. . . . She’d gathered intelligence on the other Amazons in the race. She was still the smallest, and of course the youngest, but she’d shot up in the last year, and she was nearly as tall as Thyra now.
 
I don’t need luck, she told herself. I have a plan. She glanced down the row of Amazons gathered at the starting line like troops readying for war and amended, But a little luck wouldn’t hurt, either. She wanted that laurel crown. It was better than any royal circlet or tiara--an honor that couldn’t be given, that had to be earned.
 
She found Maeve’s red hair and freckled face in the crowd and grinned, trying to project confidence. Maeve returned the smile and gestured with both hands as if she were tamping down the air. She mouthed the words, “Steady on.”
 
Diana rolled her eyes but nodded and tried to slow her breathing. She had a bad habit of coming out too fast and wasting her speed too early.
 
Now she cleared her mind and forced herself to concentrate on the course as Tekmessa walked the line, surveying the runners, jewels glinting in her thick corona of curls, silver bands flashing on her brown arms. She was Hippolyta’s closest advisor, second in rank only to the queen, and she carried herself as if her belted indigo shift were battle armor.
 
“Take it easy, Pyxis,” Tek murmured to Diana as she passed. “Wouldn’t want to see you crack.” Diana heard Thyra snort again, but she refused to flinch at the nickname. You won’t be smirking when I’m on the victors’ podium, she promised.
 
Tek raised her hands for silence and bowed to Hippolyta, who sat between two other members of the Amazon Council in the royal loge--a high platform shaded by a silken overhang dyed in the vibrant red and blue of the queen’s colors. Diana knew that was where her mother wanted her right now, seated beside her, waiting for the start of the games instead of competing. None of that would matter when she won.
 
Hippolyta dipped her chin the barest amount, elegant in her white tunic and riding trousers, a simple circlet resting against her forehead. She looked relaxed, at her ease, as if she might decide to leap down and join the competition at any time, but still every inch the queen.
 
Tek addressed the athletes gathered on the arena sands. “In whose honor do you compete?”
 
“For the glory of the Amazons,” they replied in unison. “For the glory of our queen.” Diana felt her heart beat harder. She’d never said the words before, not as a competitor.
 
“To whom do we give praise each day?” Tek trumpeted.
 
“Hera,” they chorused. “Athena, Demeter, Hestia, Aphrodite, Artemis.” The goddesses who had created Themyscira and gifted it to Hippolyta as a place of refuge.
 
Tek paused, and along the line, Diana heard the whispers of other names: Oya, Durga, Freyja, Mary, Yael. Names once cried out in death, the last prayers of female warriors fallen in battle, the words that had brought them to this island and given them new life as Amazons. Beside Diana, Rani murmured the names of the demon-fighting Matri, the seven mothers, and pressed the rectangular amulet she always wore to her lips.
 
Tek raised a blood-red flag identical to those that would be waiting for the runners in Bana-Mighdall.
 
“May the island guide you to just victory!” she shouted.
 
She dropped the red silk. The crowd roared. The runners surged toward the eastern arch. Like that, the race had begun.
 
Diana and Maeve had anticipated a bottleneck, but Diana still felt a pang of frustration as runners clogged the stone throat of the tunnel, a tangle of white tunics and muscled limbs, footsteps echoing off the stone, all of them trying to get clear of the arena at once. Then they were on the road, sprinting across the island, each runner choosing her own course.
 
You do not enter a race to lose.
 

  • NOMINEE | 2019
    Rhode Island Children's Book Award
  • SELECTION | 2018
    Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices
  • NOMINEE | 2018
    Georgia Peach Book Award
  • NOMINEE | 2018
    Missouri Gateway Readers Master List
  • SELECTION | 2017
    Boston Globe Best Book of the Year
A Boston Globe Best of the Year Book
A CCBC Choices 2018 Best of the Year Selection
2018 YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Nominee

"Cinematic battles and a race against time keep the excitement high, but the focus on girls looking out for each other is what makes this tie-in shine."
Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

"All readers will definitely be delighted by Bardugo’s cinematic delivery and long for more stories about this epic, ass-kicking heroine."
VOYA, STARRED REVIEW

"A hero's journey times two. Alia taps into her own bravery and Diana learns about sexism, racism and something the Amazons have always dismissed: the courage, resilience and ingenuity of mere mortals."
The New York Times Book Review

“Bardugo breathes zippy new life into the story with a twisty plot, whip-smart characters, and her trademark masterful writing.
Booklist

"Wonder Woman is the epitome of a kick-butt heroine, and Bardugo does her justice with aplomb."
The Bulletin

"Bardugo’s Wonder Woman: Warbringer not only synthesizes a coherent origin and mission statement for Diana, but also makes the Amazon princess feel so fresh that she could have been created yesterday. . . . One of the best Wonder Woman stories ever."
Tor.com


"Warbringer is straight-up dazzling, every sentence waking up your senses with a 'Yeah, that's right, this is BRAND-NEW, SUCKAS!' punch."
—LIBBA BRAY, New York Times bestselling author of The Diviners
© Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, and the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. Visit her online at leighbardugo.com and follow her on Twitter at @LBardugo. She is the first author in the DC Icons series, a collection of books in which the DC Comics super hero icons are written by megastar young adult authors. The series also includes Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas, and Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña. View titles by Leigh Bardugo

Leigh Bardugo (author of WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER) | 6 Second Summaries

About

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The award-winning DC Icons story of the world's greatest super hero: WONDER WOMAN by the # 1 New York Times bestselling author LEIGH BARDUGO.


"You’ll enjoy this book whether you’re a fan of Wonder Woman comics, the Wonder Woman movie, Leigh Bardugo, or just YA lit in general." —Hypable

She will become one of the world's greatest heroes: WONDER WOMAN. But first she is Diana, Princess of the Amazons. And her fight is just beginning. . . . 
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 mere mortal. Even worse, Alia Keralis is no ordinary girl and with this single brave act, Diana may have doomed the world.
 
Alia just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn't know she is being hunted. 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, Diana and Alia will face an army of enemies—mortal and divine—determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. If they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.

"Feminism is the invisible jet powering this literary revamp of the Amazon princess." —The New York Times Book Review

"Warning: This novel about the young super hero crossing paths with a seemingly ordinary—but seriously powerful—girl may result in multiple fist pumps." —Seventeen

Don't miss the rest of the DC Icons series! Read them in any order you choose:
Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu
Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas
Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña

Excerpt

You do not enter a race to lose.
 
Diana bounced lightly on her toes at the starting line, her calves taut as bowstrings, her mother’s words reverberating in her ears. A noisy crowd had gathered for the wrestling matches and javelin throws that would mark the start of the Nemeseian Games, but the real event was the footrace, and now the stands were buzzing with word that the queen’s daughter had entered the competition.
 
When Hippolyta had seen Diana amid the runners clustered on the arena sands, she’d displayed no surprise. As was tradition, she’d descended from her viewing platform to wish the athletes luck in their endeavors, sharing a joke here, offering a kind word of encouragement there. She had nodded briefly to Diana, showing her no special favor, but she’d whispered, so low that only her daughter could hear, “You do not enter a race to lose.”
 
Amazons lined the path that led out of the arena, already stamping their feet and chanting for the games to begin.
 
On Diana’s right, Rani flashed her a radiant smile. “Good luck today.” She was always kind, always gracious, and, of course, always victorious.
 
To Diana’s left, Thyra snorted and shook her head. “She’s going to need it.”
 
Diana ignored her. She’d been looking forward to this race for weeks--a trek across the island to retrieve one of the red flags hung beneath the great dome in Bana-Mighdall. In a flat-out sprint, she didn’t have a chance. She still hadn’t come into the fullness of her Amazon strength. You will in time, her mother had promised. But her mother promised a lot of things.
 
This race was different. It required strategy, and Diana was ready. She’d been training in secret, running sprints with Maeve, and plotting a route that had rougher terrain but was definitely a straighter shot to the western tip of the island. She’d even--well, she hadn’t exactly spied. . . . She’d gathered intelligence on the other Amazons in the race. She was still the smallest, and of course the youngest, but she’d shot up in the last year, and she was nearly as tall as Thyra now.
 
I don’t need luck, she told herself. I have a plan. She glanced down the row of Amazons gathered at the starting line like troops readying for war and amended, But a little luck wouldn’t hurt, either. She wanted that laurel crown. It was better than any royal circlet or tiara--an honor that couldn’t be given, that had to be earned.
 
She found Maeve’s red hair and freckled face in the crowd and grinned, trying to project confidence. Maeve returned the smile and gestured with both hands as if she were tamping down the air. She mouthed the words, “Steady on.”
 
Diana rolled her eyes but nodded and tried to slow her breathing. She had a bad habit of coming out too fast and wasting her speed too early.
 
Now she cleared her mind and forced herself to concentrate on the course as Tekmessa walked the line, surveying the runners, jewels glinting in her thick corona of curls, silver bands flashing on her brown arms. She was Hippolyta’s closest advisor, second in rank only to the queen, and she carried herself as if her belted indigo shift were battle armor.
 
“Take it easy, Pyxis,” Tek murmured to Diana as she passed. “Wouldn’t want to see you crack.” Diana heard Thyra snort again, but she refused to flinch at the nickname. You won’t be smirking when I’m on the victors’ podium, she promised.
 
Tek raised her hands for silence and bowed to Hippolyta, who sat between two other members of the Amazon Council in the royal loge--a high platform shaded by a silken overhang dyed in the vibrant red and blue of the queen’s colors. Diana knew that was where her mother wanted her right now, seated beside her, waiting for the start of the games instead of competing. None of that would matter when she won.
 
Hippolyta dipped her chin the barest amount, elegant in her white tunic and riding trousers, a simple circlet resting against her forehead. She looked relaxed, at her ease, as if she might decide to leap down and join the competition at any time, but still every inch the queen.
 
Tek addressed the athletes gathered on the arena sands. “In whose honor do you compete?”
 
“For the glory of the Amazons,” they replied in unison. “For the glory of our queen.” Diana felt her heart beat harder. She’d never said the words before, not as a competitor.
 
“To whom do we give praise each day?” Tek trumpeted.
 
“Hera,” they chorused. “Athena, Demeter, Hestia, Aphrodite, Artemis.” The goddesses who had created Themyscira and gifted it to Hippolyta as a place of refuge.
 
Tek paused, and along the line, Diana heard the whispers of other names: Oya, Durga, Freyja, Mary, Yael. Names once cried out in death, the last prayers of female warriors fallen in battle, the words that had brought them to this island and given them new life as Amazons. Beside Diana, Rani murmured the names of the demon-fighting Matri, the seven mothers, and pressed the rectangular amulet she always wore to her lips.
 
Tek raised a blood-red flag identical to those that would be waiting for the runners in Bana-Mighdall.
 
“May the island guide you to just victory!” she shouted.
 
She dropped the red silk. The crowd roared. The runners surged toward the eastern arch. Like that, the race had begun.
 
Diana and Maeve had anticipated a bottleneck, but Diana still felt a pang of frustration as runners clogged the stone throat of the tunnel, a tangle of white tunics and muscled limbs, footsteps echoing off the stone, all of them trying to get clear of the arena at once. Then they were on the road, sprinting across the island, each runner choosing her own course.
 
You do not enter a race to lose.
 

Awards

  • NOMINEE | 2019
    Rhode Island Children's Book Award
  • SELECTION | 2018
    Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices
  • NOMINEE | 2018
    Georgia Peach Book Award
  • NOMINEE | 2018
    Missouri Gateway Readers Master List
  • SELECTION | 2017
    Boston Globe Best Book of the Year

Reviews

A Boston Globe Best of the Year Book
A CCBC Choices 2018 Best of the Year Selection
2018 YALSA Teens’ Top Ten Nominee

"Cinematic battles and a race against time keep the excitement high, but the focus on girls looking out for each other is what makes this tie-in shine."
Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

"All readers will definitely be delighted by Bardugo’s cinematic delivery and long for more stories about this epic, ass-kicking heroine."
VOYA, STARRED REVIEW

"A hero's journey times two. Alia taps into her own bravery and Diana learns about sexism, racism and something the Amazons have always dismissed: the courage, resilience and ingenuity of mere mortals."
The New York Times Book Review

“Bardugo breathes zippy new life into the story with a twisty plot, whip-smart characters, and her trademark masterful writing.
Booklist

"Wonder Woman is the epitome of a kick-butt heroine, and Bardugo does her justice with aplomb."
The Bulletin

"Bardugo’s Wonder Woman: Warbringer not only synthesizes a coherent origin and mission statement for Diana, but also makes the Amazon princess feel so fresh that she could have been created yesterday. . . . One of the best Wonder Woman stories ever."
Tor.com


"Warbringer is straight-up dazzling, every sentence waking up your senses with a 'Yeah, that's right, this is BRAND-NEW, SUCKAS!' punch."
—LIBBA BRAY, New York Times bestselling author of The Diviners

Author

© Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo is the #1 New York Times bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of Six of Crows, Crooked Kingdom, and the Shadow and Bone Trilogy. Visit her online at leighbardugo.com and follow her on Twitter at @LBardugo. She is the first author in the DC Icons series, a collection of books in which the DC Comics super hero icons are written by megastar young adult authors. The series also includes Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas, and Superman: Dawnbreaker by Matt de la Peña. View titles by Leigh Bardugo

Media

Leigh Bardugo (author of WONDER WOMAN: WARBRINGER) | 6 Second Summaries