Review: Theta

Theta
The Draconyma Cycle Book 1
Sasha Fox

Snowfox Press
August 2013 (2nd Edition August 2026)

Print Edition $17.00
Ebook Edition $2.99

There’s a loose (very loose) sense in which the milieus of grand space operas follow one of two paths. The first takes the politics and aesthetics of ancient empires into sci-fi, with kings and queens, strict hierarchies, and a mysterious or even mystical overtone. This vein runs from Barsoom through Dune, Jupiter Ascending, and the quirky TV adaptation of Foundation. The second starts with the modern world—whatever that may be at the time of its creation—and pushes it forward into planet- or system-wide states, some in coalition and some in conflict. Star Trek is the most obvious pop culture example, but you see it everywhere from Larry Niven’s Known Space series to The Expanse and Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy.

Theta is a grand furry space opera that melds those two paths. Originally self-published in 2013, the novel had a second edition released this year to coincide with the release of a new book in the series.

We start aboard the commercial space liner OCS Freeta, following Chief Steward Jale Bercammon, a ferret in her mid-thirties who’s been with the company nearly two decades. She loves her job to the point where she no longer even maintains a residence “downside” (e.g., on a planet). Naturally, we’re meeting her at the point when her settled, precisely maintained life goes to hell in a hand-basket: the Freeta has taken on refugees from a civil war on Brynton, a planet ruled by morally bankrupt warlords:

Faceless and infinitely corrupt, the Brynti elite obeyed no standards of decency shared by the known universe. Peopleq were bought, extorted, manipulated and sold, and the only protection you had on Brynton was that of your house, which was as capricious as its Lord’s whim.

Jale starts in the ordered, non-mystical milieu; Brynton, from its leaders to its refugees, pulls her into the other. One of those refugees is a mysterious, possibly brain-damaged young fox, the titular Theta. The crew has been given precise instructions on Theta’s care, including feeding and drug injections. It’s not much of a spoiler to reveal that one of those drugs is inducing Theta’s condition—and that despite the drug, Theta is starting to remember his past. As he remembers, the novel’s point of view shifts between his and Jale’s.

And, then the pirates show up, looking for some kind of incredible treasure they’ve been told the ship’s carrying. They don’t find it—so they think—but they take some of the passengers and crew as slaves, including Theta. While Jale thinks her adventures will be over after the Freeta pulls into port, but she’s only pulled further into mystery, dealing with the Brynti Lord Knoskali—who owned Theta, banished him, and both does and doesn’t want him back. (They have a complicated relationship, to put it mildly.) Theta is much more than what he first appears, and even as he begins to remember his former role as a “dancer,” mysteries linger.

Theta packs a punch in its writing both stylistically, with sharply drawn characters and solid world-building, and structurally, which is no small thing: the pacing is excellent, the stakes and tension grow throughout, and the conclusion is satisfying as a standalone work. (The descriptions of other books in The Draconyma Cycle suggest they’re not continuations, but rather other novels in the same setting.) This is one of the best space operas I’ve read in a while, in or out of furry—if sweeping science fiction epics are your jam, you need this book.

(Note: Theta is available on other ebook platforms like Kobo and Nook; as of this writing, it’s not available at furry-specific distributors.)