So, I keep thinking that this series will get – even the slightest bit – boring or be difficult for me to continue to be immersed in, but I feel that it may be impossible. A.L. Knorr has once again done a remarkably beautiful job depicting the Earth Elemental – also knows as a Wise – in her third book of the Elemental Origins series. Born of Earth has gone beyond the salty waters and fiery passion of the first two novels, Curious One and I am imploring you to find this collection and get to reading so you understand my complete and unhinged curiosity about the Elemental Origins series!
(I will be discussing each book in the series. Skip down to the Release Schedule!)
A Prologue to Kick off Born of Earth
Let’s start together real quick right at the beginning. The short prologue is a quick introduction by Georjayna, our main protagonist for Born of Earth. It is styled in a journal-type introduction into what her journal is going to entail. It then proceeds to be a complete recount of her time in Ireland for the last couple months, up until her present day where it concluded with her wishing for the sleepover with her friends.
I loved it! How many books can you say that you have read in a recount style which hasn’t gotten a present tense or past tense mix-up at least once? And on top of that, how many of those have held your attention for the entire span of the novel?! I can only think of one series off the top of my head and it was done just a beautifully and more extensive.
I’m not trying to say that Born of Earth was a miracle or anything, but it was definitely a breath of fresh air, just like the other two. I love how these novels are slowly connecting and building on each other in a way that doesn’t make you simply wish for the final book so it all makes sense. They are making perfect sense already and I get excited every time a new future potential storyline for the final book comes to light.
Georjayna, Connecting Nature and Technology
I am going to introduce you to the beauty of this novel now. Being quiet, slightly adventurous, and a complete furry animal lover myself, I assumed that once I read the Born of Earth novel, I would find the character I connected to the most. Sad to say, I have connected to each girl so far in about the same amount. Georjayna loves to capture the beauty of the world with a camera and she cares so much about everything around her that she cries when watching horses run is spot on. But her initial desire to be fully connected to technology and her slightly skewed view of the world was very hard for me to accept.
Granted, it did morph quite a bit as the powers within her grew, so that was nice to witness.
Georjayna traveled to Ireland to visit her Aunt Faith and cousin Jasher for the summer. Aunt Faith was loving and an amazing woman from the start. Jasher, on the other hand, was rude and very standoffish.
This discussion might be a bit harder to follow than the others. For some reason, I cannot organize my thoughts like usual (maybe some sleep would help…).
Ghosts and Jasher
Anyways, Jasher was adopted by Faith when he was just a boy. His mother died in childbirth and in a normal situation, he would not have survived. When she passed, he was already in the birthing canal. Because of this, the doctors couldn’t perform a cesarean and had to stand by while he was birthed from a dead woman.
It sounds like a totally creepy thing to witness, but being birthed that way gave him a unique view. He could see ghosts. His father, consumed by grief and the agony of losing his wife, believed that Jasher had to have been born of the devil himself; being able to communicate with ghosts.
Because of this, his father became abusive and eventually turned to Faith in hopes of Jasher having a loving home. She never once turned him away which caused the natural Motherly bond with Jasher. It had to have been a relief knowing someone like Faith.
She never once doubted him, even when she asked him directly if he could see ghosts and he replied truthfully. It is the kind of faith that only a woman who has a truly kind heart can provide. Especially to a little boy. Because of his ability, he had a rough time in public. She eventually home schooled him and he graduated early, began an architecture/landscaping career and was living a lonely life. He had come to accept that he would never travel or go to University or live a normal life.
The Heavy Drama Stifled Still In Born of Earth
Georjayna slowly began to come to understand Jasher. It was a relief honestly. I was not prepared to endure a drama filled novel when it came to Born of Earth. It couldn’t have happened at a better time either, when Faith had a class in a different town and would be gone for a week or two, leaving Georjayna and Jasher alone together.
While Faith was away, Georjayna had a dream. She likens it to resembling more a vision, but while she was describing it, it felt very dream-like. She was in a room with many books. She opened a book and saw drawings of fairies. She automatically could name each fairy, knowing who they were without a doubt. She woke from the dream feeling the same and as the dream faded, she completely forgot about it.
During one of Jasher’s finer moments, he shows Georjayna a collection of butterfly cocoons. She points out a purple tear-drop one, asking what butterfly it will become. He is shocked she could see it and tells her it’s actually a fairy cocoon. Of course, she laughs at that and he has to convince her of it. Eventually it ‘hatches’ and she witnesses the birth of the fairy. She even knew the name without being told. Later that night, it is storming and they open the roof of the greenhouse.
Introducing Fairies
Fairy cocoons are created the moment a raindrop begins to slowly fall off a petal and is simultaneously struck by a beam of light. The light has to be at the right temperature in order to work as well as the drop falling slow enough to stick to the leaf still. After being born, they fly off into an object to give it life.
Being a believer in faeries myself I am fully on board with this concept. It is a perfect balance between nature and magic which is exactly what Fae creatures are to begin with!
So, the rain is coming down hard and then the moonlight cuts through the clouds. It begins to create dozens, if not hundreds of little fairy cocoons! It was beautiful and I felt like I was actually there. They eventually ‘hatch’ and that is when Jasher and Georjayna share their first kiss (awww…). But after they hatch, they aren’t leaving. Jasher realizes that it must be Georjayna. He takes a few steps away from her and the faeries surround her, breathing into her. She asks them what they want and they just repeat the word Wise.
This is the moment she is given power. The faeries literally breathed life into her! After that, she begins experiencing new things. She can touch a plant and know what its name is, what it does, and how to utilize its properties. She can even touch it and draw that property into herself if she needs it. For example, she was almost run off the road by a crazy driver. She wrecked her bike and the road ate up her arm. She touched a plant with specific healing properties and she knitted herself back together.
She had done research on an ancestor that had disappeared. The ancestor could also talk to the faeries and was given the power of earth as well. Georjayna wanted to find out what happened to her ancestor. It just so happens that if she touches some earth, she can witness an imprint of an emotional moment that happened there.
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Cursed Land for a Cursed Man
After some time passes, she runs into Jasher’s father. He is ‘possessed’ by bat-like creatures that are made of a black or gray powder. They literally puff in and out of his body. Georjayna realizes that the land he just bought is ‘cursed.’ She sees him again on the streets and he is in much worse condition. He looks almost skeletal. She follows him to his house and see’s it. The earth is blackened in a circle around the property; a contrasted line between the lush, green earth and the blackened, poisoned soil of contamination.
Georjayna calls Jasher up and he comes to help his possessed father. Georjayna says her ancestor’s name and she appears as a black wraith. He has a moment of stubbornness, where he enters the blackened soil to help get his father off the poisoned land.
Hell Hath No Fury…
Using her new powers, Georjayna grabs a fistful of black, chalky earth and witnesses what happened. Believed to be scorned and cheated on by her one and only love, her ancestor felt such hatred and anger that she slowly killed him; desiccating his body until nothing but dried up, brittle bones were left. The once luscious land surrounding his home was now the barren, black, sick and cursed land they were currently on. Realizing what she did, she cried in agony and tried to flee, only to be trapped by an invisible force within the circle of her destruction.
This was when Georjayna realized that just as she could give life and health and beauty with compassion and love, she could take it away with anger and fear. Knowing this now, she went into the circle of death.
Her feet began to root and she slowly grew into a beautiful, massive tree. She grasped Jasher and his father in her branches while they were dying and brought life back into their bodies. She had a power struggle with her ancestor before finally winning; returning her to peace and erasing the cursed death and pain from the circle of land. She was slowly brought back to human form by Jasher who now looked even healthier and better than before.
Due to the expelling of so much energy, she passed out and Jasher took her home, where she slept. He told her that he could no longer see ghosts, that she had literally healed him from his birth and showed her a picture he took of her while she was using her powers. She wasn’t actually a tree, but it was a powerful image.
Unintended Consequences In Born of Earth
The next morning, she got a call from her mom’s secretary. Her mom had been taken to the hospital and Georjayna needed to come home early. When she got to the hospital her mother told her that the doctors didn’t know what was happening, just that she was dehydrated and ageing in a rapid advancement and they couldn’t stop it. However, Georjayna knew what was happening and instantly, guilt overcame her. She was killing her mother…
A quick back story on their relationship. It doesn’t exist. Plain and simple. Ever since Georjayna’s father left, her mother buried herself in work, work and more work. She likened their relationship to ships silently passing in the night and I couldn’t agree more to that metaphor. They didn’t have a relationship. Georjayna had more conversation with her mother’s secretary than she did with her mother and after she left, her mother called her, wanting to know if she would come back early. This, of course, made Georgie livid. The first time she was having a good time, the mother who never cared before suddenly wants her back? They had a few fights and each time her mother got worse and worse.
You see? By being angry and holding onto her pain, she was killing her mother. After she realized this, she of course healed her and they had a real heart-to-heart. Of course, nothing is fixed overnight so that will be her biggest struggle with her new powers. Not killing people who make her angry or break her heart.
Born of Earth‘s Cliffhanger
Since she returned home earlier than her friends, she was expanding on her new powers one night. She took her shoes off and dug her toes into the dirt. Four bright lines of intersecting light lit up the town. Ley lines. Saltford had been built on four ley lines and they intersected right underneath the high school. Another set also intersected deep in the Atlantic.
Ley lines are “an undetectable matrix of energy lines criss-crossing the earth…linking sites of supernatural significance…rich with electromagnetic power…they attract supernatural activity.”
So the question is, what do these ley lines connect Saltford to? And what is the significance of it?
I hope you find these answers with me, Curious One, as I keep reading the Elemental Origins series! Born of Earth was remarkable and please, if you haven’t yet, give them a search. See if they spark your curiosity. They deserve to be found by as many curious readers as possible. Have a wonderful day in this warm weather! I’m going to succumb to my curiosity and move right on to the next book in this series.
It’s calling my name, which means…it’s time for another book…
Curiosity Release Schedule for Elemental Origins Series
Book 1: Born of Water – August 30th, 2020
Novella 1: The Wreck of Sybellen – September 1st, 2020
Book 2: Born of Fire – September 4th, 2020
Novella 2: Pyro: A Fire Novella – September 6th, 2020
Book 3: Born of Earth – September 9th, 2020
Book 4: Born of Aether – September 12th, 2020
Book 5: Born of Air – September 15th, 2020
Book 6: The Elementals – September 18th, 2020
I really hope you follow me along my journey of curiosity with the Elemental Series by A.L Knorr. I loved it and I hope to see some other curious faces visit my thoughts.
Make sure to visit A.L. Knorr’s website or her Twitter @ALKnorrBooks!
My next discussion will begin with the fourth book of the Elemental Origins Series, Born of Aether. I’d love to see you there, Curious One! Subscribe to my blog to get an email when a new Curiosity posts!
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