Are you ready for Born of Water, Curious One?
WOW!!! This first book in the Elemental Origins Series by A.L. Knorr blew me out of the water!! No pun intended! Full of mermaid lore, old shipwrecks, sea-life communication and a reveal of powers, I had the hardest time putting it down! The entire novel felt like one of the most realistic mermaid/siren lore versions out there.
I would like to start with the relationship evolution between the mother, Mira and her daughter, Targa. I felt a lot of angst when their relationship was sort of swapped. You read a lot of books with that role reversal when the characters live in a trailer. I cannot attest to that style of living, so perhaps it is the norm and I am just not as educated as I would like to think.
(I will be discussing each book in the series. Skip down to the Release Schedule!)
The Mother-Daughter Relationship
Anyways, Targa, the daughter, seems to be more the kind, thoughtful, responsible adult whereas her mother, Mira is more the carefree, live life to the fullest type. At first, it bothered me, but when it was revealed that Mira was a mermaid/siren it started to click. You realize that those sorts of traits are just what happen to mermaids who spend so much time on land. Especially when they don’t have a ‘mate’ and in Mira’s case, she lost her mate and has been living on land for 15+ years, taking care of her daughter, who has so far showed no traits or potential of carrying the mermaid gene. And that itself is apparently not normal because every daughter born to a mermaid carries the gene.
I loved how their relationship evolved. It started off as a skewed perception of obligation, disappointment, and guilt. After their time in Poland, it grew into what I like to consider a healthier, normal relationship. Even Mira’s attitude got better and kinder. She was more considerate to everyone around her, whereas before she simply didn’t care. I absolutely enjoyed reading that evolution and growth between them. It felt like one of the most realistic mother/daughter transformations I have read so far. They weren’t to the extreme, they still had respect for each other, and they trusted each other with information since Targa was born and even when they had fights they separated for a moment to cool off and got back together to keep working things out. I cannot say how refreshing that was to read.
I think the significance of Targa’s change was a little bit understated. She was completely an anomaly and had to literally drown/die before her mermaid genes showed themselves. It was fitting that it happened the way it happened after you finish the book, but the whole reveal felt a bit slow. Again, it was fitting though and I think the intensity of what had to happen to her in order for her to not only merge her mermaid genes into her human ones, but to also become an elemental. I’m hoping that some more information about the elemental lore is revealed in the following books. Even if I have to wait until book 6 to get that information, I would accept that.
Born of Water’s Realistic Drama
I will say it again….realistic! Targa’s personal evolution was pretty inspiring. Most YA novels center their entire plots on so much drama and spend more time convincing you that the drama is the juicy bit instead of what’s happening in the background.
This book literally took the drama way down to a more realistic and mature setting and was honestly a breath of fresh air!
She had drama, of course, she just left her home for the first time, met a cute guy that she liked but didn’t understand why she didn’t have more passionate feelings towards, died, became a mermaid, fell in love with said guy, sacrificed her feelings for what she thought would be a better outcome, started cleaning the ocean after realizing for the first time how dirty it really is, saved some sea life, fought with internal expectations of becoming an adult, fought with her mother about her future, found her elemental powers, fought off shark fin poachers, witnessed her mother’s wrath, almost lost her mother, healed her dying mother, inherited a multibillion multination company, and accepted the love of who she thinks is her mate who is leaving back to Poland to take care of the business she just inherited.
Ummmm, yeah, I think there is room for some teenage drama in Born of Water, but Knorr wrote it in such a way that it seriously felt like I could have been Targa’s shadow, going through this transformation with her! She also didn’t just suddenly become a mermaid and be able to do everything as if she had been this way her whole life; while on the flip-side, you didn’t have to spend chapter after chapter reading her complaints and struggles with her new reality. They came up, of course, but I cannot repeat enough times how realistic this whole novel felt.
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More Knorr!
I genuinely am in love with the writing style and etiquette of A.L. Knorr. I can’t wait to get moving onto the second book! The story of Sybellen was beautifully articulated as well. Touched on just enough to give you questions and wanting more information about the mystery. The Sybellen is a ship that they are excavating for the Polish business owner, Martinius. It was revealed that Mira either is Sybellen (who was the wife of his ancestor, making him her bloodline) or that Mira/Targa are the descendants of Sybellen herself. It left a lot of room for curiosity and kept you wanting more and more. I will get more into the discussion of the Sybellen when I finish reading the companion novella at the end of Born of Water, which I hope will answer some questions I have about the wreckage and the lineage in question.
Targa went through the process of losing some of her more human traits, both physical and within her personality. It was beautifully articulated and I once again cannot say how realistic it was. You feel as though this is partially a biography written by a second-hand account of their life. Truly amazing.
Book of Water’s Fresh Water vs. Salt Water
The terminology and the history! Wow! All of the facts are too many to recount here, you will just have to read Born of Water yourself to figure it all out, but the fresh-water vs. salt-water was probably my favorite tidbit. The longer a mermaid spent in the salt water the more they lost their humanoid traits, eventually becoming just like any other creature in the ocean. They forgot their pasts, their human logic, even forgetting if they had any children left on land or in the sea. It’s a terrifying beauty to have the potential to completely lose who you are and forget everything, just survival in the waters.
They combat the salt-water, naturally, by drinking massive amounts of fresh-water all day while on land and having fresh-water to drink after a swim so they don’t lose themselves forever. I hope that wasn’t too confusing for me to recap real quickly because it is an amazing theory/piece of lore that I would have loved a bit more in-depth recall or perhaps even a mini experience that Targa had with a different mermaid maybe? I’m not sure, they are pretty rare in the world of the book, but maybe it happens in a later book!
At first, I didn’t like how mermaids and sirens were grouped together as the same thing, but in the end, I think I liked it more that way. It felt as if part of the lore was that mermaids turn into sirens when in salt water for too long, like I explained above they become an animal of the ocean or maybe their siren traits are more evident when they get really angry. Mira did this near the end of Born of Water with the poachers and she had fangs, slit eyes, talons, and in general a more frightening demeanor. I honestly had a little hope that it was her mother that they encountered, but Sybellen herself. That would have been a crazy twist, right?!
Ready for the Novella – The Wreck of Sybellen!
I’m not sure how the books will play out, but I’m really hoping it tells each girl’s story before coming together in the end of book 5 or book 6 even. I am so excited! I hope your curiosity is as piqued as mine is right now and you check out book one of the Elemental Origins Series, Born of Water by A.L. Knorr on your own.
I already know my next read and it is definitely 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!
My next discussion will begin with the first novella of the Elemental Origins Series, The Wreck of Sybellen. I’d love to see you there, Curious One!
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