“ The Iron Garden Sutra” First Impressions *No Spoilers*

[SFFBC, Ancillary Mod]

Come talk about your initial, general impressions!

Please save all discussion of particulars, details from the story, character choices, plot questions, etc. for the full spoiler thread.

User-submitted content warnings on Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/f...

(More about CWs here.)

[Silvana]

I am 40%. Murder mysrtery in space, kinda slow start. The MC had an interesting past.

[Becky, Protomodicule]

In the BLC Team Horror chat, we were having a discussion about the audiobook reader, and pronunciations, etc.

Are you reading the book/ebook or listening, Silvana?

[Silvana]

Becky wrote: "In the BLC Team Horror chat, we were having a discussion about the audiobook reader, and pronunciations, etc.

Are you reading the book/ebook or listening, Silvana?"

only e-book, I'm afraid.

[Becky, Protomodicule]

That's ok - that's how I ended up going too. I listened to a little bit of the audio, and didn't care for it. Too soft for me, and the reader pronounced VIFAI as "wee-fay" which was really distracting to me.

The conversation was around this and whether the W vs V sound was intentional as Sui is Ukrainian, etc - but it wasn't consistent as Vessel wasn't pronounced Wessel.

Anyway, so now I'm (slowly but surely) reading the ebook instead. LOL

[Silvana]

Oh interesting since in my head, I pronounce it veefay.

[Becky, Protomodicule]

Silvana wrote: "Oh interesting since in my head, I pronounce it veefay."

Same.

[Beth]

I watched a YouTube video that praised this book highly, and that got me interested. Then a week or two later, I saw it was selected by SFFBC, so here I am!

I've only read the first couple chapters, and I'm into it. Shades of Martha Wells, Becky Chambers, and even a smidgen of Ann Leckie for me. I haven't read the cover copy aside from the blurbs on the front cover, that give me hints that this will become more suspenseful and/or scary as it goes along.

[Roberta]

I just finished reading and thoroughly enjoyed the book - so many unfinished plot lines I can’t wait for the sequel.

[DivaDiane]

I’m listening to the book and enjoying it quite a lot. The narrator does give Iris a very soft voice, but I think it suits him as he’s trying so very hard to be gentle and calm. The narrator does a great job with other voices. I have to say I was slightly distracted during the introduction to Iris’ AI interface and I missed how it landed (by default) on its name. I couldn’t be bothered to go back and listen, because my hands were busy. Most of the time it sounds to me like it’s “LeFay”! I think it’s entirely possible (because that’s what I would do) that the narrator asked Sui how to pronounce names, including the AI’s, especially if it goes counter to what we would expect.

[DivaDiane]

Also, I am not getting much in the way of horror vibes yet (15%), but Iris hasn’t been on the Gen Ship for long. I’m going into this rather blind having read the blurb too long ago and now I don’t remember. There is mention of fungi and snakes though, so that may change.

[Netanella]

I'm listening to the book as well, and damn, I didn't catch the pronunciation of the name. Ofc, when you don't have print, you usually accept any type of pronunciation!

[Beth]

In the paper book, it's VIFAI for Vessel Iris's [something] AI.

[Becky, Protomodicule]

Beth wrote: "In the paper book, it's VIFAI for Vessel Iris's [something] AI."

Friendly :)

[Netanella]

I swear I heard "Buffet" a couple of times!

[Beth]

Becky wrote: "Beth wrote: "In the paper book, it's VIFAI for Vessel Iris's [something] AI."

Friendly :)"

Not effing? :D

[Becky, Protomodicule]

Beth wrote: "Becky wrote: "Beth wrote: "In the paper book, it's VIFAI for Vessel Iris's [something] AI."

Friendly :)"

Not effing? :D"

Haha - I'm sure Iris feels like that sometimes.

[DivaDiane]

Haha!