Review: Red Sun & Kalifus Rising

The Red Sun
Rating: 4/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the author! 

After meeting a strange dwarf in his garage and finding out his substitute English teacher is a witch, twelve-year-old Sam Baron travels through a stonefire to the magical realm of Orkney where he finally learns the truth about his past: his mother is a witch and his father is a descendant of the Norse god, Odin.

"The Red Sun" is the first book in The Legends of Orkney, the spellbinding series of adventure fantasy novels by Alane Adams. It follows Sam to the realm of Orkney where witches, wraiths, and other menacing creatures cause serious peril to the unsuspecting Sam. Now, it's up to him to save his friends and all of Orkney from a cursed red sun. Can a young witch girl named Mavery help him?

Drawing on Norse mythology, this fantastical story will enthrall middle grade and tween readers with a taste for adventure. As Sam grapples with dark and dangerous elements from his past and confronts his own simmering anger over long ago events, "The Red Sun" sears with wild imagination and breathtaking moments. Follow "The Red Sun" for the high-flying magical ride of your life. 

Okay, you all know I'm a huge Norse Mythology nerd, so it shouldn't surprise any of you that I read this! The covers are gorgeous, there's a tonne of Norse Mythology and it has SUCH Percy Jackson vibes! 

The opening of this intrigued me, the story was fast paced and there was plenty of action and humour throughout the book! I enjoyed the world building, I thought it was vivid and imaginative, I really did get huge PJ vibes when I was reading, so I think fans of him will love this book. I felt for Sam, he's constantly having to choose between two sides of his family, and he's been thrown in to this situation and none of it's really his fault and he's not having the best time! I rooted for him, and I loved his group of friends, Keely, Howie, Leo and Mavery. All of them banded together to help him and I was so intrigued by all of them. This book was a lot of fun, and a quick read! 

Kalifus Rising

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of the author! 

Sam Baron just freed Orkney from the ravages of the Red Sun—but now, imprisoned by Catriona, leader of the Volgrim Witches, Sam finds the darker side of his half-god, half-witch heritage released, and he fears he might destroy what he saved. Unable to resist the witches' enchantments, Sam has become their most potent weapon, and is leading an army of monstrous men against Skara Brae. 

Sam’s only hope for salvation lies with his three best friends and a mystical artifact known as the Moon Pearl. Keely travels north in search of the pearl, while Howie prepares for the gathering onslaught. Leo seeks a powerful artifact in the underworld, and faces an ancient evil that could be an even greater threat than Catriona and her cronies.

As Sam's friends rush to save him, other forces are at work in Orkney's shadows—forces that could help free Sam, or condemn him to the darkness forever. 

I eagerly started this straight after finishing Red Sun because I was curious to see what was going to happen to Sam next, and I actually think I loved this book even more! Red Sun was good, but Kalifus Rising is even better! 

We get to see more of the world of the book, and it's even more imaginative and vivid, there's still loads of Norse Mythology, Loki pops up which I'm excited about! The start to this book with the flashback grabs your attention, and when we rejoin Sam it's been a couple of months since the end of Red Sun. There's loads more action in this book, it's action packed from the beginning, there's lots of character development. 

Sam has an interesting struggle again in this book, and I enjoyed seeing the darker side to him. We get to see more of other characters like Teren and Gael, and there's new characters Jey, Galatin and more that I'm excited to see more of in the next books! What I really loved about this book was not only seeing more imaginative corners of the world, but getting to see more Sam's friends. We get to see way more of them, they each have their own mission/quest and it allowed you to get to know them more, and you got to watch them grown and change. I think Howie's was particularly interesting because he goes from being his kind of not really heroic character who has no idea how to fight, to the hero who's swinging a sword around and summoning undead armies. But he still retains his sense of humour. I feel like Keely came in to her own as well and Leo  has the potential to be even more interesting in the next book after the events of this book! 

The ending for Kalifus Rising leaves you wanting more and I'm really enjoying this series, and the mythology woven throughout it. It's fun, it's got a lot of imagination to it and it's a nice quick read for me!