Review: The preview chapters for a novel follow this short story.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 24, 2011
When I selected this  short story I was not aware that M. J. Putney is the name author Mary Jo Putney uses when she writes Young Adult fiction.  As it says in the sample, her "alter ego".  This story, Fallen From Grace, is definitely a short story but it seems to lack several important elements, namely a beginning and an ending.A young boy is a student at Eaton and we see through his diary entries how he is trying to deal with the fact that he is a member of a noble English family, but he is also a mageling and that discovery causes his expulsion from Eaton.  In order to inherit the title and family wealth this young boy agrees to attend a school where he will be stripped of all his magic abilities.This wasn't really a bad story, it just didn't make very much sense given the context of a very short story.  I read this in less than 15 minutes.  What follows are several chapters from the novelDark Mirrorby Mary Jo Putney which uses the same basic magic plot with a young girl from an aristocratic family who discovers that she has magical abilities.  This story, however, is a full length novel, but if the name change is to be heeded, presented as adult fiction instead of Young Adult.  I'm sorry to say the sample certainly did not seem to change in tone very much.  Certainly it still felt very 'young' to me.I read Young Adult fiction quite often if the writing is well done and the plot interests me.  This short story and sample have allowed me to make the decision not to pursue this novel.