WARBRINGER by Leigh Bardugo

[Pallas71]

I just finished the book and highly recommend.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....4,203,200_.jpg

[Mel Dyer]

Honestly, I'm just exhausted by all of the myth-heavy, god-heavy stories. It was fine for introducing her origin, characters important to her mythos and setting the stage for future stories, but, I long for the days, when Diana will become a TRUE adventurer, again. I long for the days, when Wonder Woman and Steve leap into bizarre dimensions or stumble onto lost civilizations, and Etta charges in with the Kanga Cavalry to topple an evil empire! I'm tired of 'god wars', with the world hanging in the balance and Diana fulfilling some cryptic prophecy.

I read the premise for WARBRINGER, and ..I'm yawning.

Furthermore, it's a reminder that we really need two WW comics, one - maybe, Sensational World of Wonder Woman - for myth-inspired adventures with the Amazons ..and Wonder Woman for everything else.

[Agent Z]

I'll take a look at this

Honestly, I'm just exhausted by all of the myth-heavy, god-heavy stories. It was fine for introducing her origin, characters important to her mythos and setting the stage for future stories, but, I long for the days, when Diana will become a TRUE adventurer, again. I long for the days, when Wonder Woman and Steve leap into bizarre dimensions or stumble onto lost civilizations, and Etta charges in with the Kanga Cavalry to topple an evil empire! I'm tired of 'god wars', with the world hanging in the balance and Diana fulfilling some cryptic prophecy.

I read the premise for WARBRINGER, and ..I'm yawning.

Furthermore, it's a reminder that we really need two WW comics, one - maybe, Sensational World of Wonder Woman - for myth-inspired adventures with the Amazons ..and Wonder Woman for everything else.

I think you have a limited idea about what adventure means

[sakuyamons]

Loved Bardugo Six of Crows book, might check this one out

[BiteTheBullet]

I flipped through the book at the book store, just to see if some of the things I knew would be gone from this iteration.

Sure enough, unless the person that read the entire book can tell me otherwise, she doesn't fly. It's instances like this, like how she doesn't do it on the film either, legitimizes peoples claim that she can't fly.

Consistent powerset, what a concept!

[Mel Dyer]

I'll take a look at this...I think you have a limited idea about what adventure means

I might have a more scholarly understanding out it, than you do.

But, what good does it do me? Not much good making references to pulp fiction, adventure magazines, Doc Savage, John Carter or even pulp-inspired Flash Gordon, if practically no one here knows or cares what the hell I'm talking about. I can post links to these references, but doubt more than a few of our fellow postors bother to check them out, ..and that limits the fashion, in which I contribute to the discussions, here.

It doesn't change the fact that Wonder Woman is a closer cousin to Hawkman, Lara Croft or Buck Rogers, than she'll ever be to Superman. In spite of the efforts of the best comic writers to change her into something else - a female Perseus or Superman - she's still a pulp-inspired creation, and her comic book stories typically come up short, because they're off-genre for her. Wonder Woman was created for pulp-styled, fantasy adventure.

How does that translate to modern comics? Maybe, a WW story should read more like a cross between Wolverine, Tom Strong and Alice In Wonderland.

[/I]So...sorry, but, under the circumstances, 'adventure' will have to do.

[Agent Z]

I might have a more scholarly understanding out it, than you do.

But, what good does it do me? Not much good making references to pulp fiction, adventure magazines, Doc Savage, John Carter or even pulp-inspired Flash Gordon, if practically no one here knows or cares what the hell I'm talking about. I can post links to these references, but doubt more than a few of our fellow postors bother to check them out, ..and that limits the fashion, in which I contribute to the discussions, here.

It doesn't change the fact that Wonder Woman is a closer cousin to Hawkman, Lara Croft or Buck Rogers, than she'll ever be to Superman. In spite of the efforts of the best comic writers to change her into something else - a female Perseus or Superman - she's still a pulp-inspired creation, and her comic book stories typically come up short, because they're off-genre for her. Wonder Woman was created for pulp-styled, fantasy adventure.

How does that translate to modern comics? Maybe, a WW story should read more like a cross between Wolverine, Tom Strong and Alice In Wonderland.

[/I]So...sorry, but, under the circumstances, 'adventure' will have to do.

Adventure: an exciting or unusual experience.

The premise of Warbringer reads thusly:

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.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...5-wonder-woman
Two women facing enemies of all manner of origins to save the world? Yeah that’s an adventure. And not even dissimilar from pulp stories. I also don’t even see how this makes her a female Superman. Lara Croft and Hawkman also get involved in world saving stories all the time.

[Frank]

I enjoyed it. I particularly liked Diana's characterization. The big reveal is a bit inelegant, and the climax is a little messy, but I particularly like the way the ultimate villain was taken down, and Bardugo conjures up some mean images of minor gods.

This may not be for those unwilling to read changes to the mythos, but I don't mind the changes in this, and I especially like the connection Bardugo creates between all of the Amazons. It was also interesting to see the integration of tiny bits from many comic writer's runs. One of my favorite bits is how Bardugo, clearly influenced by Simone's vision of the lasso (I say that because of the acknowledgements in the book, even though Simone's vision was a deepening of the way Perez portrayed it), runs with how afflicting an experience the lasso of truth can be:

"She tried to look calm as she let Diana loop the lasso gently over her shoulders. Its fibers were cool against her skin, and Alia felt a curious lightness overtake her. She saw that she feared the lasso because she feared everything. That she was afraid of the world in a way that Theo didn't seem to be, or Nim, or Jason. That she loved Nim but resented her ease with people. That she feared Nim would tire of her, stop wanting to be her friend, go off to have adventures with someone more fun. That Nim would never forgive her the trauma of the last few days. That Alia was simply not worth the trouble All these truths passed through Alia's mind in the barest second, horrible in their clarity. Every small lie she'd ever told herself torn away to reveal something ugly but unburdened beneath."

The trance state dates back to pre-crisis, when the lasso of truth was really the lasso of "you will do whatever the holder of the lasso wants you to, even lose your memories," but the discomfit and potential distress of having truths suddenly forced on an individual is, I think, one of Perez' best innovations, and I'm glad Bardugo kept it in the novel.

Anyway, I'd be up for a sequel.

[Largo161]

Clay or a bio dad? Anyone care to divulge?

[Frank]

Clay. "Daughter of Earth."

[Largo161]

Clay. "Daughter of Earth."

Really now? In that case I’ll give it a look-see. Thank you!

[Largo161]

Yes, I’m super late to the party, but I just want to go on record saying how much I like this novel. I’m three-quarters through it—right now at the point where Diana lets her new comrades play play Truth Or Dare with the lasso. Great stuff.

[Frank]

Woot! Late to the party is just fine. :-)

[LordUltimus]

Isn't there a graphic novel version coming out in a few months?

[Largo161]

Yes, there is. I'm trying to finish the novel before it drops.