Rating: 
Summary: You love Garak? You're going to love this book!
Review: I don't want to repeat everything the other people said who wrote a review. But let me tell you this: this book makes great reading material, and I wish it would get turned into an audio-book. The story is complex but one doesn't get confused by too many plots or characters. The style is great too, and ..hey, what can I say?... it allows you to meet Garak on a much more personal level than the series DS9 ever allowed you to. Oh, and of course it makes you wish there would be another stich to read from.
Rating:
Summary: What DS9 fans have been waiting for
Review: Exactly what DS9 fans have been waiting for. All secrets of the mysterious Elim Garak are revealed. Andrew J. Robinson, the actor himself, proves no one understands Garak better than he does. DS9 the series hints at Garak's past and answers little. "A Stitch in Time" puts together all the pieces, telling not only WHAT happened, but HOW and WHY it happened. Garak's childhood and family, harsh Cardassian education, life in the Obsidian order, exile to Terok Nor/DS9, and even life on the post-Dominion War ravaged Cardassia are chronicled. This is one of the few novels that should be considered as equal a part of the Star Trek universe as the shows and movies. And the first person writing is great too!
Rating: 
Summary: A fine development of Garak and Cardassia as a race.
Review: An actor turned novelist is hard enough, but when the character and the story you tell is about your TV persona and it is your first attempt you would think it impossible to craft a likeable tale. Not so for Andrew Robinson. As a second string character and your favorite Cardassian tailor who began to gain in notoriety far to late in the Deep Space 9 series, Garak is an intriguing, mysterious, and likeable addition to the cast. A Stitch In Time was a masterful crafting of the character and filled in many of the blanks that have been asked over the years in regards to how Garak came into his position aboard DS9 and his role in the Obsidian Order. Not once does the author break character, but only enhances it and made Garak even more believable than before. You not only read about his triumphs over the years, but also his many, many setbacks. Did Garak ever find true peace before, during, or after the wars? Who were his parents? Did he ever fall in love? Where did he 1st meet Dukat? How did he come to the Obsidian Order and DS9? What were his first impressions of Odo, Kira, and Quark? All these are answered here. The book itself is a bit odd to explain in layout. Garak is more or less writing a letter to Dr. Bashir after the Dominion war has ended, but it contains journal entries and personal account written in both the 1st and 3rd person over the history of his life. The book is divided into three main time frames, or significant events in the life of Garak. 1) His life as a youth and an introduction to his parents, his friends, his way of upbringing and his outlook to Bajor and the Cardassian way of life. 2) Training in a military academy where what he learns in betrayal, friendship, combat, survival and love take him to the Obsidian Order. 3) Events that 1st place him on DS9 under Dukat, then under Federation control, and then back to Cardassia after the war. There really is no conclusion as he reveals the events of his life so far are still playing out and new avenues will be discovered. The book is more on the spirit of 'humanity' and what he identifies in himself is not much unlike those people on Bajor, or those in the Federation. The novel is funny at times, and gives a great narrative of the Cardassian way of life. You will appreciate them much more and get to understand them deeper than you ever would have in the TV series.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, insightful, excellent
Review: Wonderful insight into one of my favorite "supporting" characters within DS9. Andrew did a fine job in "opening up" Garak to the rest of us. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Well-written
Review: Excepting a couple of proof-reader's errors, this book has a lot going for it, especially for Deep Space 9 fans. The author articulately provides the reader with a history for Garak as well as some history for Cardassians in general, all of which he weaves into an interesting story. The biggest disappointment is that the Cardassians, except for phenotype, don't seem alien, and are no different from paranoid humans living under a military government.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and profound character study
Review: Andy Robinson gives us a deeply personal and internal narrative on the life of his character in this book. Garak is my favorite Trek character, and this novel has fundamentally altered and enriched the way I see him. We learn a great deal about his early life, and get a look at what the future holds in store for him. The heart of the novel is the story of a soul defined, enriched, and damaged by the culture he is born into, the life he lives, and the choices he makes. It's a deeply affecting journey, one that left me staggered for days after reading it for the first time. Robinson also uses the heavily symbolic narrative to consider the larger questions of friendship, difference, culture, isolation, and the effects of an unimaginable disaster on a people.
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Character Novel
Review: Cardasia is in ruins in the wake on the Dominion but the people begin to build again, this time, they hope, without the government corruption. Garek is at last home and takes his place in picking up the pieces of society and also writes a letter to his friend Dr. Bashir on DS9. This novel is Garek's letter in which he describes who he was as a child, a young man, on station, and now on his broken planet. The novel truly shows and explains Garek. We find out his story- what happened to him before he came to DS9 and how he was exiled, who he has lost and how he is changing. The writing is well organized and interesting and the story clearly defined. This has got to be one of the best Star Trek novels I have ever read. I could include it in the top few except it is only about one character. Otherwise, I would include it almost near Imzadi and Q-in-Law. I can't wait to read Robinson's next book!
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best
Review: I usally don't like books like this, but this one was so well written and the character so great that I finished in a week despite having two young kids. I read allot of star trek books and I usally like the books with allot of action like "Vendetta", but this was great without allot of action. I highly recomend this book to any fan of star trek.
Rating:
Summary: Andrew Robinson IS Garak
Review: This truely is the best "Trek" book I've ever read! Robinson fleshes out one of the most intricate and compelling characters in all of Star Trek. I only hope that Mr Robinson continues his work as an author, and revisits Cardassia on a regular basis. For anyone who loves DS9 or Trek in general put a day aside for this book, you'll have a tough time putting it down.
Rating:
Summary: Cardassia Revealed!
Review: What an excellent book! I can only echo what's been said already...Mr. Robinson is an excellent writer as well as a first-rate actor. When the show was running, many things were left unexplained about the alien Garak; for example, why did Gul Dukat hate him so much? And how did the son of Enabran Tain, head of the Obsidian Order, come to be abandoned on an space station as it was turned over from Cardassian control to the stewardship of the Federation? Mr. Robinson had a lot of explaining to do, and he did it in 432 pages which I found hard to put down. I was sorry when I finished the book because there was no more left! I want to go to Cardassia to help them rebuild! (Of course, they probably wouldn't <want> help from a spineless hu-mon...)
|
