It took me awhile to get into Wonder Woman: Warbringer, which is very much written for a teen audience. However, once I got into the swing of things, and once the plot kicked properly into gear, I was swept up in this book. Most importantly, the book stays true to the image of Wonder Woman that I hold dear – someone who values peace over war, someone who is deeply compassionate, and someone who recognizes different kinds of strength.

In this new version of Diana’s origin, she leaves the Amazon’s island of Themyscira for the first time in the present day. Diana is, by Amazonian standards, a teenager, and she’s frustrated because the other Amazons seem to doubt her true worth.

Diana ends up saving a human teen, Alia, from a shipwreck. She hides Alia in a cave, but the island starts exhibiting signs of collapse. The handy island Oracle tells Diana that this is due to the presence of Alia on the island. Alia is a Warbringer. She’s an otherwise ordinary mortal who carries a sort of conflict contagion. Alia herself is kind and friendly but when other people are around her they become edgy and irritable and often violent. When Alia turns seventeen the world will erupt into war not through any action of hers but just because of her existence. This can be prevented if Alia bathes in a particular spring in Greece before her seventeenth birthday, which is in a few days. It can also be prevented if Alia dies, and a heavily armed group is trying to make the latter happen.

After visiting the Oracle, Diana takes Alia off the island and back to Alia’s own island home (Manhattan). The stop in Manhattan allows the team to expand. There’s Alia’s overprotective and secretive big brother, Jason, Jason’s best friend Theo, and Alia’s best friend, Nim. Alia and Jason are Greek-American and African-American, Nim is Indian-American, and Theo is African-American. Nim is also bisexual. Canonically, Diana is also bisexual, but that doesn’t come up in this book. She is attracted to Jason but there’s not a ton of romance here.

The plot is pretty standard. There’s Diana as the fish out of water in Manhattan, which honestly I never get tired of. Then there’s the road trip from Hell as the group tries to get to the spring while dodging attacks from the group that wants to kill Alia. There’s a twist that you will probably see coming and at one point Diana (who is, after all, still a teenager) gets talked into using her magic lasso for a game of Truth or Dare, which she very much regrets. Say it with me gang: “The Lasso of Truth is NOT A TOY.”

While the plot is pretty standard stuff, this book shines when it focuses on Diana, Alia, and Nim. Whether the three are swearing allegiance to each other Nim-and-Alia-style or Diana-style, they have great friendly chemistry, a strong sense of mutual respect, and the best conversations about fashion, war, demanding parents, and the pros and cons of tough love.

Pledging allegiance Nim and Alia style involves linking pinkie fingers and chanting “Bubble, bubble, make some trouble.” The back story behind this is that when Alia and Nim were kids at an almost all-white private school, the school put on a production of Macbeth and cast the only three kids of color (including Alia and Nim) as the Witches. As retaliation, the three kids purposely said their lines wrong every single time, for which I cherish them. When Diana joins the pinkie circle you know some serious trouble is about to be made.

The Amazon oath is more flowery:

Sister in battle, I am shield and blade to you. As I breathe, your enemies will know no sanctuary. While I live your cause is mine.

Whether making trouble or being shield and blade, the relationships between women in this book are so well done, including the relationships between daughters and mothers and between friends. Plotwise, this book is serviceable but in terms of female bonding, a diverse group of characters, and an excellent portrayal of Diana, the book is a solid B at least. It should work as an introduction to the character for newcomers or as a fun alternative take on events for long-time comics readers.