| A Stitch in Time is a desultory account of the life of Elim Garak, the Cardassian expatriate living on Terok Nor, better known as Deep Space 9(DS9). Garak's story is told by Andrew Robinson, who actually plays the role of Garak on the popular DS9 TV show. It reasons that he would be more then capable of accurately portraying Garak as an enticing literary character and his novel certainly supports this.
Normally, I steer clear of DS9 fiction as the genre never interested me that much. I love the Star Trek universe, but for some reason DS9 never really captured my imagination. I do find some of the characters in it interesting, particularly Odo and Quark as well as the enigmatic Garak, which was one of the reasons I decided to read this book.
By all accounts, the book does a good job of chronicling Garak's life up through his return to Cardassia following the Dominion occupation. The book jumps back and forth from the present period to past flashbacks which reveal some of the tapestry of Garak's life. The earlier descriptions of his training at 'Bamarren', a prestigious Cardassian training institution, are quite compelling and make for interesting reading. Robinson then goes on to describe Garak's entry into the Obsidian Order, Cardassia's elite intelligence agency.
Robinson keeps the plot moving fairly well and I enjoyed his insights into the history of Cardassian society. I always found Cardassians to be somewhat 1-dimensional with their belligerent attitude and militaristic tendencies. Robinson's novel presents a more well-rounded view of their society emphasized through the social interactions between Garak and his colleagues and family. It was also enlightening to gain a better understanding of Cardassians' perceptions of the Federation and their customs.
The novel also explains the circumstances surrounding Garak's exile on DS9, removing some of the mystery around him that exists on the show. The story wraps up nicely with Garak returning to a ruined Cardassia to help his people rebuild their society.
I can find a good many things to say about this book, but for whatever reason the story never really captured my imagination, hence my somewhat low rating. This is probably more a reflection of my relative disinterest in the DS9 genre then any shortcomings on the book's part. I would say that if you are a fan of the DS9 show or are just interested in finding out more about Cardassians, you will find this book a worthwhile read. |
