Jack Bloodfist: Freelancer by James Jakins
Review by Noelle Nichols
Freelancer is the second novel following the character of Jack Bloodfist, fantasy’s most humble half-orc, half-goblin character. It’s another enjoyable read from James Jakins that shows the growth of the author—with a story that expands the universe and storytelling on grander scale—while still staying true to the core of this story.
For someone who doesn’t read much Urban Fantasy, it’s been interesting being introduced to such a vast world with so many supernatural beings. At times, I found it a bit overwhelming. I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoy a story where we center around one character, with a strong character-arc, so this one felt a little more distant in the sense that we see the story being played out from different points of view and writing styles.
However, this is a matter of taste, and there’s certainly lots of scenes where you get to experience Jack’s witty banter and commentary that you feel close to the characters, so much so that you wish you could just pop over to play a few games of Mario Kart. (Which would be awesome, btw).
This is a different book than the first one, but I liked it for being different, and I appreciated the author keeping me guessing at where the story was heading. When I picked it up, I certainly was not expecting where it was going, which is always a pleasant surprise as a reader.
As with the first book, I enjoyed the bits of humor and pop culture references, one of my favorite being a little easter egg for writers where he calls out the info-dump coming. I laughed at that part, and was smiling through a lot of the others witty scenes and humorous lines.
As for the main plot is starts off with the spear of destiny and spirals out from there, adding in a trip to the fae world, a run-in with some werewolves and a trip to New York city. All in all, an enjoyable tale that expands on what the first book created, with new and old characters.