Review: 'Captive of the Red Vixen' by Royce Day

In command of his family's star freighter, foxen noble Lord Rolas Darktail finds himself a captive of the infamous pirate, the Red Vixen. Drawn to her easy freedom, he finds himself torn between staying with her, and honoring his duties to his family, who must escape the cruel countess they serve.

Come along with Rolas as he experiences love and adventure in this science fictional take on a traditional Age of Sail romance novel.(blurb)

It's rare that I come across a story that not only makes me get massively pissed off at a character or laugh out loud in public, but Captive of the Red Vixen by Royce Day did that and so much more. Day has crafted a wonderful story that contained every element of a story I personally look for and enjoy in a tale. It also reminded me a lot of what brought me into the furry fandom to begin with.

Amazon Digital Services, Inc., August 2011, Kindle $2.99 (106 pages).

There are a number of things that Day does right with this story. One of them is the world development, presented in just the right increments. At no point does Day present too little or too much information. Politics, ethics, it all comes along at the perfect pace and as it is needed, usually presented through conversations.

Day's characters are another reason I enjoyed this story as much as I did. Each is complex, believable, and holds true to their character as the story moves along. Their personal flaws come across strong and clear, upping the readers ability to relate to each of the characters, even the antagonist. You can reason out their individual motives and see why each and every person chooses actions that they do.

One of the things however that struck me as out of place within this story was a dream the main character has about the Red Vixen. It comes out of nowhere and adds nothing to the storyline except to potentially ruin events that occur later on in the story. Part of the reason this comes across as being so jarring is that it's the only dream sequence of the main character we are privy to and thus when it comes up it feels unusual and out of line with the rest of the story. Thankfully, the dream is extremely short the main story continues fairly quickly.

The action sequences in Captive of the Red Vixen are handled with a flare and skill that makes them both realistic and blood pounding. Day includes the fact that these are anthropormorphic animals in these confrontations, involving the use of their natural weapons, instincts and abilities. This added to the feel of each battle and thus helped the suspension of disbelief.

Captive of the Red Vixen, though marked as an adult book, contains only a smattering of adult and/or sexual themes, and these are mostly behind the scenes and in the above mentioned dream sequence. They are in no way the main theme or element of the story, which is a fresh touch in a fandom that often has adult stories containing harder erotic scenes.

I highly recommend this story to anyone looking for a furry or science fiction story to read. Though a quick read, it's also one that has gotten the most emotional responses from me in the last while and one that I will be reading again in the future, as well as taking a look at Day's other works. Pick it up, and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I have.