Title: Freelancers: The Black Shield and the Red Fortune
Author: M.A. Frost
Publisher: PartridgeSingapore
ISBN: 978-1-5437-5954-9
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 267
Reviewed by: Arthur Thares
Pacific Book Review
Fantasy books are always fun to read because they take you to far off lands where the rules of our world don’t apply. They give the reader free license to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story for what it is, instead of comparing it to real-life experiences. Fantasy is a crowded genre, and it is easy for weak stories to get lost among the crowd. The Freelancers: The Black Shield and the Red Fortune, by author M.A. Frost is one of those stories that rise above the rest.
The Freelancers is a complex story with many characters spanning all walks of life in their world, from mercenaries to royalty. The characters are all well developed, which is great because there are a lot of them to keep tabs on. What is particularly fascinating about this story is that the characters almost play a secondary role to the weaponry. In a genre where you pretty much get a Dungeons and Dragons rundown of classes and abilities, M.A. Frost has incorporated little of that into The Freelancers world, instead opting for the hardware to wield most of the magic. This adds an element that you won’t find in other books and makes it stand out as memorable.
It is clear that this is not M.A. Frost’s first storytelling rodeo — the writing is superb and concise. There are not many superfluous words meant to fill the pages; instead, every word is a tool for creating the story’s ambiance. The characters are well put together with enough backstory to create a solid character. It is clear this is meant to be only one story in a broader world, but it doesn’t feel like a book in the middle of a series; it is its own story that happens to be part of a larger universe.
If you are a fan of similar fantasy series like Game of Thrones and The Wheel of Time, you will enjoy The Freelancers. If you have never tried a fantasy series, this is a good one to start with to see how you feel about the genre. After enjoying this book, I want to look for more work by M.A. Frost, and more importantly, it makes me hope that this book turns into a movie or TV series like similar fantasy novels. I foresee this book turning into a long running series so get in at the start so you can grow with these fantastic characters.
