What's so great about "A Stitch in Time"?

[Elemental]

I'm currently a fair ways into this book and while it's been interesting, I haven't yet hit anything that I think qualifies it for the gushing I see here, but that's not to say I don't expect it to be coming. Without spoiling anything, I wonder if someone could explain to me what it is about this book that has made it the fan-favourite it is?

 

[21Spike65]

Personally, while I enjoyed the book, I never understood the high acclaim it seems to get around here. It was a good book, especially since I love the character of Garak, but I've read a lot that I enjoyed more.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I wonder if someone could explain to me what it is about this book that has made it the fan-favourite it is?

Maybe a lot of people were prepared to dismiss it because it was written by an actor?

I thought it was a solid, interesting, witty, value-for-money ST novel.

 

[The Grim Ghost]

I think some of it comes from people being surprised that an actor could turn out such a good Trek book. It probably got a little more attention than it deserved due to that.

I tend to agree with the above opinions. A very solid and enjoyable book for sure, but not the best by any means. I thought it got a little heavy handed at times. I think anybody who is a big Garak fan would really enjoy it though and I would recommend it to anyone who is a DS9 fan and interested in seeing the beginnings of Cardassian reconstruction and the fallout from the Dominion war.

Also I have to take this opportunity to break out my "Are you there God, its me Garak" joke again!

 

[DeVario]

I enjoyed this book so much because a) I like Garak, b) I like Cardassian stories dealing with the aftermath of the war, c) I like how Andrew Robinson wrote it, sort of non-linear and like a series of journal entries, and d) it stands apart from the blandness of the other numbered novels (though The 34th Rule was another good one). Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to The Never-Ending Sacrifice.

 

[JD]

THat pretty much somes up my feeling too, although I haven't read any other numbered DS9 novels (including The 34th Rule, which I do hope to read eventually) for comparison.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I enjoyed this book so much because a) I like Garak, b) I like Cardassian stories dealing with the aftermath of the war, c) I like how Andrew Robinson wrote it, sort of non-linear and like a series of journal entries, and d) it stands apart from the blandness of the other numbered novels (though The 34th Rule was another good one). Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to The Never-Ending Sacrifice.

You beat me to everything I was going to say!

 

[Smiley]

It was one of the first (maybe the first) post-finale DS9 books published. It also boasts a rare narrative structure for Star Trek novels. On top of all that, it's just a very entertaining story.

 

[William Leisner]

It was also the first real in-depth examination of Cardassian life and culture. We'd only gotten little snippets and peeks on TV; what AJR gave us was a great work of worldbuilding, with depth and history that had only been vaguely hinted at before.

 

[Elemental]

Well, thanks for the info guys. I had assumed there must have been some incredible new revelations or character developments in the story with the way people have spoken of it. While I really want to progress further in the DS9 relaunch (only read Avatar and The Lives of Dax besides this), I've hit a bit of a snag as I've been trying to catch up with some other series (Voyager, Titan and Enterprise), in preparations for their upcoming novels. I guess I had just expected ASIT might have grabbed me a bit more by this point, what with all the positive opinions I've heard of it. The only reason I'm reading it now is because it's considered a part of the DS9 "relaunch", so the fact that it might be the best of the "numbered novels" doesn't mean a whole lot to me.