Books to Read if You Like Wonder Woman
My introduction to Wonder Woman was the animated Justice League TV series. She was my hero. I mean, she’s such a badass in that show, constantly swooping in and flying a grumpy Batman around. Should I confess to having dreams where I’m Wonder Woman, flying and fighting and saving the world? Oops, too late now.
If you’re wanting more badass women like Wonder Woman in your reading life (and why wouldn’t you?), here are 15 books to read if you like Wonder Woman. They feature Amazonian warriors, gunslingers, and feminist fighters of many stripes, and in many genres.
Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo. This is the most obvious pick. The author of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows writes the first Wonder Woman novel in the DC Icons series. To be released August 29th.
Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen. Born an Amazon, Jenna chooses the warrior’s path. Is she the one foretold in prophecy? Will she change the lives of her fellow Amazons, and if so, in what way?
Six-Gun Snow White by Catherynne M. Valente. A gunslinging Snow White treks across the west to escape her evil stepmother.
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. A retelling of events from the Mahabharat from a female perspective, Panchaali, the wife of 5 brothers, is destined to cause a world-destroying war.
The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen by Hope Nicholson. A history of women superheroes, that of course also features Wonder Woman.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Vasilisa Petrovna’s independent and adventurous spirit sets her apart in her patriarchal Russian village. But as fairy tales turn into reality, she may be their only hope.
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor. A very readable and well-researched history of badass early women rulers in England.
Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson. A young Tan-Tan loves to pretend to be the Robber Queen, but when she’s stranded on another planet after her father commits a crime, she really becomes the Robber Queen.
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Breq, a starship’s consciousness in human form, seeks revenge. But as she encounters people and memories from her past, her revenge turns into something more complicated, more like protection. This is the first in a completed trilogy.
The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis. In an apocalyptic future, Elka flees across a landscape straight out of a Western in order to escape her serial killer adoptive father and the woman who hunts him.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik. After being chosen by the Dragon, a magician, Agnieszka is forced to live with him in his tower. As her own magical powers develop, corruption spreads in the woods surrounding her village. Can she protect her people?
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. A fantasy romp set in Regency era England, where two magicians — Zacharias and Prunella — try to discover why England is losing magic. But even though Zacharias is meant to be the teacher and Prunella the student, her magic far surpasses anything he’s ever seen.
Forgotten Queens of Islam by Fatema Mernissi translated by Mary Jo Lakeland. A nonfiction history of some of the awesome, powerful women in Islam.
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black. Hazel has a secret only she and her brother Ben knows: she’s a knight who fights evil fae creatures. When the mysterious horned boy trapped in a glass coffin disappears, strange things start occurring, even more strange than usual in this town where the fae and humans live side by side.
Want to read a Wonder Woman graphic novel? Charles Paul Hoffman has suggestions.
What books would you add to this list?
