We love Wonder Woman (ok, maybe not that second movie, we'll just pretend like that never happened) and really loved Leigh Bardugo's Warbringer, the YA novelization of the first movie, so we dived right into these two MG books.
In the first book, the island of Themyscira quakes and a -- gasp -- boy arrives on a ship that docks with Diana's best friend, Princess Sakina, and Sakina's family. He tells Diana he's being used as a servant, a near-slave, by Sakina's mother, who is one of Queen Hippolyta's close friends, fellow leader and trusted confidant.
Diana is plagued by doubt. Would another Queen do this to a boy, a child no less? Then, every woman on the island falls mysteriously asleep -- all except for Diana, Sakina and the boy. She nicks the Lasso of Truth from the armory and learns from the boy he's snuck onto her island under entirely false pretenses.
A demon is trying to capture Diana for his own nefarious purposes, and the boy poisoned everyone to get to Diana. He did so under duress, however. The demon is holding all his loved ones hostage until he returns with Diana.
Diana will do whatever it takes to save the Amazons. But the cure is not on the island, it's on the boy's, with all the demon's hostages. Diana must leave her protected oasis, defeat the demon and come back with the cure to save her family and every Amazon she loves.
Themyscira and the Amazons guard the doors to Hades' Underworld, and a new pair of Amazons are tasked with keeping watch in case anything tries to escape.
When the ground shakes, the door shifts open, just a smidge, but it's enough to let something loose onto the Island. A green-cloaked shadow attacks Diana and kidnaps Sakina, vanishing with her in a boat. In rapid succession, alien warships attack her beloved Amazons and only a very specific cannon can bring the warships down. Amid the debris floats a list of children, and Diana's name's on it, along with the latest coordinates to Themiscyra.
Artemis, the messenger god, arrives to take Diana in what's supposed to be protective custody of the gods. But their powers are failing, because another being, Zumius, is kidnapping children of the gods, the half-gods, and stealing their powers.
Of course, Diana's dash to a more secure location goes wildly off-plan when their chariot is attacked and Diana and Artemis barely escape. Once in the gods' refuge, she's contacted by Persephone, who doesn't approve of her husband's latest plans to overthrow the gods. She reveals the children are taken to a cage in the Underworld and transported to Zumius, from which they never return.
If Diana is to save Sakina, she's got to sneak into the Underworld, make it to the cage and free her BF before she's magically spirited away.
I won't say what happens next!
Enjoy reading how Diana saves herself and her BF and makes a new ally, while the Zumius threat still looms over all the other kidnapped children.
