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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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The “Back” of the Book
Here’s what the Publisher said about the book, anything I say will ruin the book (and not because it put me in a foul mood):
An original novella set in season three of The Orville—straight from the pen of Seth MacFarlane, creator of the beloved sci-fi TV show!
When Captain Ed Mercer and the crew of the U.S.S. Orville come face-to-face with one of humanity’s most vile ideologies, they must solve the moral conundrum of who to hold accountable for evil deeds real… and imagined. Occurring just after episode 308, this is the Orville like you’ve never seen it before.
The Orville
I watched all three seasons of the show this year, after putting it off since I started to hear positive things about Season 1. I really appreciated most of this not-Star Trek, although like the show it totally isn’t ripping off,* it’s not perfect.
* Wink.
One thing that The Orville surpasses its inspiration in is its sanctimoniousness. When this show gets preachy, there’s nothing that compete with it. For the most part, I could endure those episodes, but a couple of them got pretty difficult. The last half of this book was pretty much one of those episodes. It’s a lot harder to tolerate without F/X to look at.
So, what did I think about Sympathy for the Devil?
There was almost nothing about this that made it an Orville story. Maybe others can describe this without giving everything away, but I can’t. Sure, every primary cast member from season 3 is in the novella—and some characters from other seasons are mentioned—so it’s technically an Orville story, but just technically. A good tie-in story should feel like a long or an in-depth version of the source IP. This couldn’t feel less like an episode.
And the writing? It was clearly written by someone who doesn’t do prose that often—scripts, sure. It was lazy writing, the descriptions of characters were clunky, the dialogue was iffy, and the pacing was poor. We don’t see a single character from the show until the 50% point.
Would I read another novella set in this universe? Oh, absolutely. Even another one by MacFarlane. I like the universe enough to give it another try. I just hope it’s a fun, SF adventure next time (maybe even with a touch of the condescension, it’s what the viewers expect). The only thing that was clearly delivered was the message.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I almost gave up on this book. Since it starts here, it’s not much of a spoiler to say the entire first half of the book takes place in Nazi Germany. It was so much so that I checked several times to make sure that I was not reading a different book than I thought I was. While there is a point to this, I don’t know why it took half of the book to establish it. I also think there were other ways to establish the point. Since half the book was taken up with establishing this back story, I found the resolution rather lackluster.
dark
hopeful
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Murder
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was hard to get through the first chapters, but the book asks interesting questions, even though it is incapable of providing answers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Murder, War
Minor: Bullying, Abandonment
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, War
Minor: Forced institutionalization
adventurous
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-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
A really unique sci-fi conundrum with no easy answers. This story is short but impactful. I did feel like the ending felt a bit too fast, but I think it’s meant to leave you feeling unsettled, poring over how you’d solve the central issue. But it was great to spend more time with the crew of the Orville. I hope we get more stories to expand the universe!
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes