Wonder Woman meets YA? Could this be DC comics grasping at straws for their franchise here? Possibly. But that doesn’t mean that the first issue in the new DC Icons series isn’t any good. If you’re like me, you’ve probably grown tired of mainstream YA (or YA in general, let’s be honest. Teen problems seem much too small to us now.) but sometimes, something comes along that you just HAVE to read on principle. This was one of those things for me.
One of the things I noticed immediately when I started reading the first few chapters of this book was how nostalgic it felt. How? Why? Back in the day, Percy Jackson was where it was at and I was a huge Rick Riordan fan in general. This book reminds me SO much of the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series that I couldn’t help but like it from the get-go. But, as the chapters go on and the story unfolds, this is where author Leigh Bardugo definitely surpasses Percy Jackson.
Besides the fact that (obviously) the main protagonists are women, the entire main cast of characters are POC. The story follows a young Diana and basically places her origin story in a modern day setting. But instead of a dashing Steve Trevor washing up ashore, young Diana saves Alia Keralis, daughter of multibillionaire scientists known around the world. It’s a wonderful story that is not only the classic hero’s tale we know and love, but one that is inclusive to POC, LGBT, and even empowers curvy women (Nim is a goddess to me. Enough said.)
With everything said, this book isn’t one with the most “WOW” factor in terms of plot (not bad at all, just not astounding) but it is definitely a stand out in my YA collection for its incredibly empowering characters and always-inspirational protagonist. She reminds us humans that we can all be Wonder Woman too.