Uncanny Collateral (Valkyrie Collections #1) – Brian McClellan

Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 151
Release Date: April 2, 2019

Alek Fitz is a reaper, a collection agent who works for the supernatural elements of the world, tracking down debtors and solving problems for clients as diverse as the Lords of Hell, vampires, Haitian loa, and goblins. He’s even worked for the Tooth Fairy on occasion. Based out of Cleveland, Ohio, Alek is the best in the game. As a literal slave to his job, he doesn’t have a choice. 

When Death comes looking for someone to track down a thief, Alek is flung into a mess of vengeful undead, supernatural bureaucracy, and a fledgling imp war. As the consequences of failure become dire, he has few leads, and the clock is ticking. Only with the help of his friend Maggie—an ancient djinn with a complex past—can he hope to recover the stolen property, save the world, and just maybe wring a favor out of the Great Constant himself. 

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I’ve had Uncanny Collateral on my TBR since it was first released. I’ve only read the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy by McClellan and enjoyed it very much, so I was excited to see what McClellan could do with an urban fantasy setting. I can’t believe it took me this long to finally read Uncanny Collateral because it’s a fun and pulse pounding ride.

Uncanny Collateral follows Alek, a reaper responsible for collecting debts from all manner of magical creatures. Alek is aided in his assignments by Maggie, a djinn trapped in a magical ring.

What makes Uncanny Collateral work so well is Alek and Maggie’s friendship and McClellan’s humour. One of my favourite elements in any novel is when a character can communicate telepathically with another character. This allows for character growth, relationship development, and world building. Alek and Maggie work well with each other allowing for a lot of great banter.

Uncanny Collateral is also a fairly short novella coming in at 165 pages. McClellan utilizes already existing magical creatures to create a rather robust world instead of wasting time creating all new creatures. However, that’s not to say that there’s nothing new introduced in Uncanny Collateral.

Overall, Uncanny Collateral is a fun and action packed novella with interesting characters and a surprisingly robust world.

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Have you read Uncanny Collateral? What did you think?