Reviews

The Orville: Sympathy for the Devil by Seth MacFarlane

kelleamy11's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

j123's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Interesting to contemplate. Orville didn’t make an appearance until maybe 3/4 in (not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting at all).

ajju_315's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

flagstaff's review against another edition

5.0

Seth MacFarlane surprises me sometimes. A lot of his work is juvenile and ofen crass, sometimes works sometimes not so much. This novella was in my opinion top shelf. The world building was complete and it all fell into place in the reveal 3/4th into it. Amazed that this came out of Disney.

agnewjacob120's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

teetonytone's review

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

phillyhufflepunk's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

tksharkbait's review

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

1.0

seanpatricklittle's review against another edition

5.0

The Orville feels more like Star Trek: The Next Generation than anything coming out of Star Trek's canon in recent years. The philosophical debates and the adherence to a idea feel very much in line with the stuff Brannon Braga was kicking out in the late 80s and early 90s. There should not be easy answers to questions raised in any debate, and there is always a lot more gray than black and white.

This novella was meant to be an episode of the new season The Orville: New Horizons, but due to COVID and other things, they ran out of time to film it, so Seth MacFarlane converted the script to a novella and tossed it into the world as a fairly-priced eBook.

After reading it this afternoon, it's a shame they didn't get to film it because it would have made a helluva an episode to watch.

I don't want to give away spoilers, but even non-fans of the show are in for a treat with this one. And the issues it brings up are--sadly--still very relevant to today's political climate.

For three bucks, this is more than worth the time.

alexandraccc's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0