allysunsun's review against another edition
4.0
This was such an interesting poetry collection, beautifully done prose and such simple but stark illustrations. Not only does it check those boxes but it was also informative! Many of these species I recognized but like who knew there are eels in Minnesota? Certainly not me.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!
melhara's review against another edition
2.0
This was a collection of 21 poems with each poem dedicated to a specific invasive species that can be found in Minnesota (hence the name of this book).
To be honest, I didn't know many of these species (such as the Brittle Naiad, Edodea, Sea Lamprey, and many more.) which I think affected my understanding of the poem (I didn't understand most of the poems).
Of the 21 poems, there was really only two poems that I quite liked - the Norway Maple and the Trapdoor Snail.
I think reading the Author's Note first, before reading the poems, helped me understand and appreciate the poems a bit more. Ultimately though, I think I would've enjoyed this book more if I was more familiar with the Minnesotan landscape and environment, and if I was more familiar with some of these invasive species.
*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
***#20 of my 2021 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge - Read a book of nature poems ***
To be honest, I didn't know many of these species (such as the Brittle Naiad, Edodea, Sea Lamprey, and many more.) which I think affected my understanding of the poem (I didn't understand most of the poems).
Of the 21 poems, there was really only two poems that I quite liked - the Norway Maple and the Trapdoor Snail.
I think reading the Author's Note first, before reading the poems, helped me understand and appreciate the poems a bit more. Ultimately though, I think I would've enjoyed this book more if I was more familiar with the Minnesotan landscape and environment, and if I was more familiar with some of these invasive species.
*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
***#20 of my 2021 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge - Read a book of nature poems ***
bookishmisfit's review against another edition
4.0
Akin to the Romantic poems, this collection gives us a look into the world we have made and the world we are making.
lindats628's review
4.0
Beautiful Surprise!
I won the Kindle version of this book on a Goodreads giveaway and I couldn’t have been more surprised! It is a collection of speculative, brilliantly imaginative poetry that includes beautiful prints of invasive species. It seems like a strange combination, but as you read, it becomes less and less strange and more of a welcome experience you didn’t know you needed.
I won the Kindle version of this book on a Goodreads giveaway and I couldn’t have been more surprised! It is a collection of speculative, brilliantly imaginative poetry that includes beautiful prints of invasive species. It seems like a strange combination, but as you read, it becomes less and less strange and more of a welcome experience you didn’t know you needed.
tomatocultivator's review
adventurous
challenging
sad
fast-paced
4.75
Alienating and beautiful, this small collection of poems inspired by invasive species imagines a barely-seen near future where environmental changes affect more than just the landscape. Shades of VanderMeer's Annihilation trilogy and the Fungi from Yuggoth worm into your heart and plant something new.
dsnake1's review
5.0
Netgalley and the publisher, Interstellar Flight Press provided a copy of this collection.
Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota is a near-future poetry collection, set roughly 20 years from now in a world where our climate has gotten worse and the invasive species currently living in Minnesota have also gotten worse. Said invasive species have been mutated via pollution and climate change, adding eye stalks to carp amongst other things. The poems do a good job of showing the general sense of dread, as ice becomes rare to see, turtles grow fur, and the planet is irrevocably changed in a short time.
There are also illustrations, one for each poem, and they match really well. They're done in a traditional field guide style, and combined with the style of some of the poetry, it really gives off the field guide vibes inspired by the title and cover.
The collection is also really well put together. The beginning two thirds of the poems are solid poems, and one of my favorites, Garlic Mustard, falls in that chunk, but each poem builds on the last. When we get to the last third, the poems get really special. These are the strongest in the collection, and the back seven are poems I'll revisit, even if I'm not reading the full collection.
At this point, I've read the collection twice, and it definitely came through more cohesively the second time, but I'm not sure if that's because I know more about the setting or if it's my current state of mind.
If you're looking for an interesting, SFF poetry collection, this is a good bet. It's short, it's sweet, and near-future climate change SFF is a great setting for a poetry collection.
Field Guide to Invasive Species of Minnesota is a near-future poetry collection, set roughly 20 years from now in a world where our climate has gotten worse and the invasive species currently living in Minnesota have also gotten worse. Said invasive species have been mutated via pollution and climate change, adding eye stalks to carp amongst other things. The poems do a good job of showing the general sense of dread, as ice becomes rare to see, turtles grow fur, and the planet is irrevocably changed in a short time.
There are also illustrations, one for each poem, and they match really well. They're done in a traditional field guide style, and combined with the style of some of the poetry, it really gives off the field guide vibes inspired by the title and cover.
The collection is also really well put together. The beginning two thirds of the poems are solid poems, and one of my favorites, Garlic Mustard, falls in that chunk, but each poem builds on the last. When we get to the last third, the poems get really special. These are the strongest in the collection, and the back seven are poems I'll revisit, even if I'm not reading the full collection.
At this point, I've read the collection twice, and it definitely came through more cohesively the second time, but I'm not sure if that's because I know more about the setting or if it's my current state of mind.
If you're looking for an interesting, SFF poetry collection, this is a good bet. It's short, it's sweet, and near-future climate change SFF is a great setting for a poetry collection.
kyatic's review
3.0
(Review of an ARC received via Netgalley)
I'm not sure how to feel about this one! In many ways I loved it, and in many other ways it left me a little cold. Gorman's use of language is beautiful and every poem is obviously very carefully crafted, not a single word wasted, which is a nice contrast to a lot of the more raw and unedited poetry that we tend to see these days (which is its own separate art form and in no way inferior!) I really loved some of the poems in here, particularly the first one, Brittle Naiad, but then others just didn't really resonate with me at all, perhaps because I didn't have a reference point for them, living halfway across the world and being entirely unfamiliar with the organisms she was writing about. I actually read the Author's Note first and I feel like this helped to give necessary context to the writing, but I wish that hadn't been necessary; without that context, a lot of the poems really didn't mean a lot to me.
I did really like the sci-fi / dystopian element that Gorman wove into the natural world, and thought this was particularly effective when she didn't make it explicit that the poems were set in the future. I liked the duality of the poems that could either be set in our time and our world, or on another planet entirely; for me, those best encapsulated the inherent oddity of nature, and really brought home the alien characteristics of many of the things we consider normal.
This is a strong collection of poems by a writer I'll definitely be looking into in the future, and I really do think that its main drawback is also its biggest strength; it's just so niche that there are going to be some people who absolutely adore it, but for those of us who are coming to it without the weight of pre-existing knowledge, it's not the most accessible.
I'm not sure how to feel about this one! In many ways I loved it, and in many other ways it left me a little cold. Gorman's use of language is beautiful and every poem is obviously very carefully crafted, not a single word wasted, which is a nice contrast to a lot of the more raw and unedited poetry that we tend to see these days (which is its own separate art form and in no way inferior!) I really loved some of the poems in here, particularly the first one, Brittle Naiad, but then others just didn't really resonate with me at all, perhaps because I didn't have a reference point for them, living halfway across the world and being entirely unfamiliar with the organisms she was writing about. I actually read the Author's Note first and I feel like this helped to give necessary context to the writing, but I wish that hadn't been necessary; without that context, a lot of the poems really didn't mean a lot to me.
I did really like the sci-fi / dystopian element that Gorman wove into the natural world, and thought this was particularly effective when she didn't make it explicit that the poems were set in the future. I liked the duality of the poems that could either be set in our time and our world, or on another planet entirely; for me, those best encapsulated the inherent oddity of nature, and really brought home the alien characteristics of many of the things we consider normal.
This is a strong collection of poems by a writer I'll definitely be looking into in the future, and I really do think that its main drawback is also its biggest strength; it's just so niche that there are going to be some people who absolutely adore it, but for those of us who are coming to it without the weight of pre-existing knowledge, it's not the most accessible.
venneh's review
4.0
Interesting premise - poetry extrapolating out from a field guide into a speculative sci-fi setting. It eases you into the sci-fi aspect, but ends a bit too soon and it doesn’t get to fully spread its wings in my opinion. Chapbook though, so obviously there’s only so much it can really dive in. Existing invasive species, but extrapolated out to dystopia and chaos. Solid premise, would love to see more. (Also, maybe move the afterword to be a prologue, and do a bit of editing there?)
bonnievanner's review
5.0
Poetry about how invasive species' role in a near dystopian future? Yes please!
I got this as an E-ARC via NetGalley.
Field Guide to The Invasive Species of Minnesota is a fantastic collection of poetry, intersecting ecology, dystopian science fiction an fantasy, and beautiful prose. Each poem is titled with a specific species (Ex. Grecian Foxglove), which is paired with an illustration of the subject matter, field guide style. Each poem is roughly a page, some spilling over into the two page category. I was drawn to this title being categorized under sci-fi and fantasy, when I read the description I had to pick it up, and I was not disappointed. It was refreshing to read some modern poetry that is concise and takes heavy influence from more classic poetic structures and schemes.
I don't want to get too heavily into spoilers, as the poems do build on themselves to tell a greater story. However broadly this collection imagines a near dystopian future where invasive species and humanity have brought about ecological disaster. Themes of pollution, exploitation, and the fragility of ecosystems are carefully explored through this collection.
I personally loved Gorman's poetic style, there are line rhymes, and some more rigidly structured pieces, and then others that are more inventive in terms of form. The tone she captured of the haunting reclamation of nature was poignant and beautiful. The slow progression of detail - about the state of the world - building with each poem makes this collection perfect for extended analysis in any English or Ecology classroom.
It was clear that a lot of research went into this text. The entire time I was waiting for the zebra muscle to show up(as I knew it must). As someone with an education in ecology and biology this really struck a balance between art and scientific accuracy.
After reading this as the digital version I do find myself wanting a physical copy. I think that the poems paired with their illustrations on the page would make for a beautiful text, and the better way to get the full effect of the imagery at play.
My personal favorites in this collection were Curly Leaf Pondweed, Garlic Mustard, and Grecian Foxglove. Getting a more traditional feel in these pieces with hints at rhymes, as well as some of the best imagery in the collection.
I would highly recommend Field Guide to The Invasive Species of Minnesota to someone interested in how science fiction and fantasy can intersect with poetry, as well as people wanting to get into poetry but are wary of the writing being too obscure. Gorman's style is beautiful without obscuring meaning. There s a lot to love and analyze here, and that's what I look for in poetry.
Final note: Don't skip the author's note at the end. It gives great insight into the poetry and was a delightful part of the read.
I got this as an E-ARC via NetGalley.
Field Guide to The Invasive Species of Minnesota is a fantastic collection of poetry, intersecting ecology, dystopian science fiction an fantasy, and beautiful prose. Each poem is titled with a specific species (Ex. Grecian Foxglove), which is paired with an illustration of the subject matter, field guide style. Each poem is roughly a page, some spilling over into the two page category. I was drawn to this title being categorized under sci-fi and fantasy, when I read the description I had to pick it up, and I was not disappointed. It was refreshing to read some modern poetry that is concise and takes heavy influence from more classic poetic structures and schemes.
I don't want to get too heavily into spoilers, as the poems do build on themselves to tell a greater story. However broadly this collection imagines a near dystopian future where invasive species and humanity have brought about ecological disaster. Themes of pollution, exploitation, and the fragility of ecosystems are carefully explored through this collection.
I personally loved Gorman's poetic style, there are line rhymes, and some more rigidly structured pieces, and then others that are more inventive in terms of form. The tone she captured of the haunting reclamation of nature was poignant and beautiful. The slow progression of detail - about the state of the world - building with each poem makes this collection perfect for extended analysis in any English or Ecology classroom.
It was clear that a lot of research went into this text. The entire time I was waiting for the zebra muscle to show up(as I knew it must). As someone with an education in ecology and biology this really struck a balance between art and scientific accuracy.
After reading this as the digital version I do find myself wanting a physical copy. I think that the poems paired with their illustrations on the page would make for a beautiful text, and the better way to get the full effect of the imagery at play.
My personal favorites in this collection were Curly Leaf Pondweed, Garlic Mustard, and Grecian Foxglove. Getting a more traditional feel in these pieces with hints at rhymes, as well as some of the best imagery in the collection.
I would highly recommend Field Guide to The Invasive Species of Minnesota to someone interested in how science fiction and fantasy can intersect with poetry, as well as people wanting to get into poetry but are wary of the writing being too obscure. Gorman's style is beautiful without obscuring meaning. There s a lot to love and analyze here, and that's what I look for in poetry.
Final note: Don't skip the author's note at the end. It gives great insight into the poetry and was a delightful part of the read.