Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

She hated hearing her sisters' names, her mother's name, on his lips. Diana raised a brow. "A wise warrior learns from her mistakes." She adjusted her stance. "And you're forgetting who taught me to fight.”

 I'm not quite sure where to start, I guess I should first let you know that I don't read a lot of contemporary, fantasy has always appealed more to me than almost any other genre. That said, when this book first came out I was frantic to get it and when I finally got a copy I must admit I was very excited, I had such high hopes for it, unfortunately it just wasn't my cup of tea.

 The book's narration is split in two, on one side is Diana, my favourite Amazon; however, she is not Wonder Woman yet, this incarnation of her is still a girl, gorgeous and strong and bright but a little insecure, struggling to find her place among her sisters and come to terms with her own existence on Themyscira, the island of the Amazons. On the other side is Alia, the last of the Warbringers, an ancient line of cursed woman destined to bring conflict and war into the world, the first of which was Helen, as in Helen of Troy. The two girls join forces and try to reach a magical spring which will clean Alia of her curse and stop World War Three before it begins.

 The thing is, I was so excited for this book I failed to read the description first and so the setting caught me completely by surprise, because of course this book is basically Contemporary with Fantasy elements. I found myself disappointed from the beginning almost, when I realized that the beautiful island of Themyscira and the world of the Amazons wasn’t going to be explored anymore than as backdrop for the first few chapters, while the rest of the story progressed in Alia’s world, surrounded by Alia’s friends and obnoxious brother Jason.

 And the thing is, I didn’t like Alia very much, she felt very basic and her friends, though funny, failed to reach the category of epic in my mind, unlike in Bardugo’s previous Fantasy works. I should mention though that I loved Diana but felt like her role was relegated to the back and that didn’t sit very well with me.

 Last but not least, I really wished the author hadn’t given Diana a love interest, which was very obvious and more than a bit tedious (even with how everything turned out in the end). All things in consideration, beyond the occasional epic quote, Amazon ass kicking and delightfully feminist air the novel has, the result felt kind of plain and very honestly, a little bit boring.

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