A Stitch in Time

When I watched Deep Space 9 in the winter of 2024/2025, I was captivated by several characters: TV's greatest villain Gul Dukat, absolute girlboss Kira Nerys, and everybody's plain simple tailor Garak. Garak is a secondary character, but he's core to some of the show's greatest moments, such as Sisko's "I can live with it" monologue, and his own "Even the lies?" "Especially the lies" exchange with Dr. Bashir. I love
Garak, and I'm not the only one, since his actor, Anthony J Robinson, extended his supporting character with an entire novel detailing his backstory and future on the devastated post-Dominion Cardassia.

By far the best part of this book is how Robinson captures Garak's voice (I also got the audiobook performed by Robinson, so show more literal voice.) Garak is a keen observer, a perennial outsider with a desperate need for connection, and a person who will give all for the cause, any cause. Through his life, he suffers numerous betrayals: from his family, from his school, and from his profession. Meanwhile, he gains the skills to master himself, to act as a skilled agent, and to eventually do the right thing.

Truly a glorious and fun read. show less

Rather unusually for a tie-in novel, this one is written by the actor who played its protagonist—Elim Garak, Cardassian spy turned "tailor"—in the show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It's therefore a fascinating opportunity to dive into an actor's invented backstory for the character he embodies, and to get a sense of what informed the choices he made in the show. Rather unsurprisingly, Robinson is a dab hand at capturing Garak's voice, and at points he shows a flair for the same kind of wry observations that marked out Garak's dialogue in the show. It was nice to see Garak get the kind of closure as a character that an ensemble TV show couldn't ever provide.

That said, the book is a little disjointed, and you could see the hands of the show more Star Trek Powers That Be steering the narrative away from anything too controversial. Garak's bisexuality and attraction to Bashir are alluded to, but no more than that; Cardassian society seems rather two-dimensional; Garak's career in espionage lacks real nuance or a real sense of murky and layered choices being made. Honestly, the reason we're given here for Garak's exile to Terok Nor felt like a pulled punch. Still, a pleasant read. show less

In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – A Stitch in Time, author and actor Andrew J. Robinson explores the backstory of his character Elim Garak. The novel alternates between three different time periods. In the present, Garak is dictating a letter to Julian Bashir after the events of “What You Leave Behind” as he helps with the clean-up on Cardassia Prime, finally able to return to his homeworld but finding that it is no longer his home. In the recent past, Garak is struggling to decode Cardassian codes prior to the invasion of Cardassia. His meetings with Dr. Julain Bashir force him to examine what it would mean to return home while he hopes for a chance at redemption both for himself personally and for the Cardassian people after show more actions such as the occupation of Bajor. Odo similarly begins to wonder what it would mean to return to the Founders. Finally, in the distant past, Robinson explores Garak’s life from a young boy through his time in the Bamarren Institute of State Intelligence. Following the lessons he learns there, he goes on to the Obsidian Order, eventually learning the truth about his father Enabran Tain and becoming enmeshed in Tain’s webs of intrigue.

Robinson reads this audiobook adaptation himself, bringing the author’s voice to his own story and adding a touch of verisimilitude to these entries as a voice message for Dr. Bashir. Of great delight is hearing Robinson switch from his melodious voice to imitations of Julian (Alexander Siddig), Quark (Armin Shimerman), and Odo (the late René Auberjonois). In addition to the regular DS9 cast and recurring guests, he incorporates other Cardassian characters such as Gul Madred as portrayed by the late David Warner in the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter, “Chain of Command,” revealing that Madred survived the Dominion War and seeks a new position in the changing Cardassian society. Garak in Robinson’s writing does not understand Sisko’s guilt over the death of the Romulan senator – as seen in “In the Pale Moonlight” – but attributes Sisko’s breakdown at the end of “Tears of the Prophets” to a combination of these actions as well as the loss of Jadzia Dax. Seeing Garak’s side of these events is particularly poignant given the larger role his character took on in later seasons of Deep Space Nine. This novel is a must-read for any DS9 fan with the audiobook being a particular treat! show less

Excellent story and well told. I'm surprised that I can't find any other novels by Andrew J. Robinson after this strong start.

Elim Garak is one of my favorite characters throughout all of Star Trek because of the concept of the character, the writing and the nuanced portrayal by the author of this book.

The chapters focus on several areas of Garak's life: his education on Cardassia, his work in the Obsidian Order, his time on Deep Space Nine/Terak Nor both before and after the hand-over to the Federation, and his time reconstructing Cardassia in the aftermath of the Dominion War.

The book really held my interest and provided more depth to an already intriguing character. I had just re-watched DS9 before reading this and didn't notice any show more contradictions; instead, it made me want to rewatch several of the Garak-centered episodes again with these new insights into his background.

I'd love to read another novel by Robinson, perhaps he could extend the Hellraiser universe (he starred in the first film)?

Gaming the book:
I like to include a recommended board-, card- or video-game that captures aspects of a book that I review.

Here, I recommend Star Trek Online, a free-to-play Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game incorporating all of the ST series and films with voice acting from about 40 of the original cast. The player is a (Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Jem-Hadar) captain (DS9-era, Original Series era, Discovery-era) playing through a series of story arcs or just captaining (eventually, admiral-ing) around the galaxy.

STO has an entire "Gamma Quadrant" story arc featuring the player's character working with Garak, Odo, Kira Nerys, Quark, Rom, Nog, Leeta, Leck, Brunt, Morn and others (all voiced by the original actors) and explores part of Klingon history, the Founders, and the Alpha Quadrant between the events of "ST:DS9" and "ST:Picard". It features a wonderful "Caper" adventure similar to a Ferengi version of Ocean's 11. Garak's animation was custom created to mimic Robinson's portrayal, including the bulging-eyed smile, the head tilt, etc. This is not only fun to play but puts a nice book-end on the characters and events from ST:DS9. show less

Fantastic!!! I used to avoid reading to Star Trek books in the erroneous assumption that they were not up to the TV series, that I considered superb. Wrong! When I got my Kindle with its assortment of low priced books within the reach of one click, I realised that to resist was futile. DS9 being my favorite series, I begun with "Twist of Faith" (five stories for the price of one). Impossible to stop reading! The next and natural step was "A Stitch of Time", about the misterious Mr. Garak, the deadly and stylish Cardassian tailor , one of my most beloved characters (the other two are Captain Picard and Mr. Data). It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me dream... A lot! Making a blend with some of his favorities expressions: "plain show more and simple... sentimentalist", in the best meaning. I found out, after my post reading research, that it was written by the same person who had played Garak on the screen. A very good actor and a great story teller!. None could make it better! A must for every serious sci-fi addicted like myself. show less

I feel bad for not giving this a five, but I'd only knock it up for Andrew Robinson's wonderful narration. I am so glad fans and Andrew were able to get the audiobook greenlit, with physical copies of this book costing sometimes hundreds of dollars, being able to listen to it while reading the kindle version really does make it a unique experience.

Deep Space Nine is truly the greatest Star Trek ever created, and as a queer man Garak has always been really important to me. While Garak's sexuality is never directly stated, and Andrew has made different comments on Garak's identity, Ira Steven Behr in the documentary "What We Left Behind" wanted Garak to come out as gay. I didn't need that to happen in this novel, and I don't think I need show more Garak to be specifically gay, but Garak and Palandine's romance, did not work for me. I understood their relationship and the dynamic of it, but I hoped to see Garak's budding sexuality stem from Pythas or Barkan. I don't blame Andrew at all for it, but the potential to explore that side of Garak, which I honestly felt was hinted at a few times in the novel, was lost for Palandine instead. Don't get me wrong those first moments with Palandine and Garak were well written and stunning, but it didn't feel right.

Overall a really enjoyable Star Trek book, and I would definitely recommend it to fans, especially because it has become more accessible. show less

This is a fascinating character study of Deep Space 9's most complex character, spy-turned-tailor Garak, written by the man who knows him best: the actor who played him. The character's memoirs are lovingly rendered, as are the complexities of Cardassian society. I mean, talk about method acting!But unfortunately, the book is a mess otherwise and could have benefited from tighter editing. Composed of journal entries that take place in three different time frames, the pacing between them was uneven and the transition between time frames consistently unsatisfying. Bizarrely, the publisher chose to use just two different fonts to serve as visual cues for the transition--we were supposed to know we'd entered the third time period through show more verbal cues (addressing the doctor by name), but often I still found myself confused. Still, for a book by a non-writer, this was a noble, and largely successful, effort. show less