"Fallen from Grace" (Dark Mirror, #0.5)
by M.J. Putney
Genre:
Fantasy/Magic/Historical
Reading Grade: Young
Adult (short story)
Publishing Type:
traditional
Publication Date:
March 4, 2011
Source: Kindle store
(freebie)
Age Rating: 12+
Allarde, a
gorgeous, wealthy noble has hidden his true nature. Discover his
diary and witness his sudden fall from grace.
My Review
In this short story
prequel to the Dark Mirror novel series, we read the diary of
Allarde, an English aristocrat with secret magical abilities. At
first, he is attending England's finest boarding school, but he
reveals his abilities in order to save a fellow student from harm.
Because he is an aristocrat with magic, not just a commoner, he is
considered evil and has to be ousted from all good society.
His father sends him
to a reform school for aristocrats where he learns how to suppress
his magic in order to regain some privileges of his former life. But,
he meets some other young people there who don't want to pretend to
be something they're not, and finds himself considering their
philosophy. Also, he meets the protagonist of the novels, Lady
Victoria Mansfield, as she arrives at the reform school toward the
end of the short story. It ends with hints at his immediate romantic
interest in her.
I haven't read any of
these novels, yet, but I doubt it's necessary to do so prior to
reading this short story. I was a bit disoriented at first, but I
found my feet after a while. Allarde is a really likable character,
even if we don't get to know him all that well in such a short
reading time, but he's an interesting character to follow further. I
purchased Dark Mirror (the first novel) prior to reading this,
and I'm so glad I did. I want to learn more about this intriguing
world of magic users, and why the wealthiest practitioners are
ostracized.
My score: 4 out of
5 stars.
This is a really interesting concept and what's better than an elite school setting? I worry about reading novellas because of the short story lines and less scope to learn about the characters so I'll have to read this one and see how it deals with that aspect.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like something I might really enjoy. And I love the cover!
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
@Lan: Well, at least you can read more since the rest of the stories in this series are all novels. It certainly was a great intro into this fictional world.
ReplyDelete@Andrea: I know, right? Amazing cover! Thanks for the compliment on my review.