31 Shots of Shock: #2 – ‘The Wizards of ‘Perfil’ by Kelly Link

*Title: The Wizards of ‘Perfil by Kelly Link
Date Read: 02 October 2009
Available Online?: NO – read from Kelly Link’s published collection, Pretty Monsters (Canongate Books))
Briefly: With the land torn apart through the wars of a malicious king, a mother sells her daughter Helsa into service for the wizards of ‘Perfil, so the rest of the family can afford to journey to the distant town of Qual, where there is a promise of safety. Although separated from her family, Helsa is able to use her telepathic powers to keep contact with her cousin Onion who possesses equal powers of telepathy, and so both can chart each other’s journey; Helsa’s new life as a servant of the ‘Perfil wizards, and Onion’s exodus to Qual with the rest of the family.
Afterthoughts: On the UK cover of Pretty Monsters is a single-word quote from Neil Gaiman, which succinctly describes the collection as a whole as being unique. Unique the collection may be as a whole, but one could use The Wizards of ‘Perfil as a measure of uniqueness on its own, because in describing this story there is probably no more a befitting word. More fantasy than a tale of terror, The Wizards of ‘Perfil isn’t a particularly bad story (that’s a compliment from someone who really isn’t into the fantasy genre at all), although it does take a while to get used to the ‘chop and changey’ nature of the telepathic exchanges in the story.
Notable Quote: “Wizards are sly, greedy, absentminded, obsessed with stars and bugs, parsimonious, frivolous, invisible tyrannous, untrustworthy, secretive, inquisitive, meddlesome, long-lived, dangerous, useless, and have far too good an opinion of themselves. Kings go mad, the land is blighted, children starve or get sick or die spitted on the pointy end of a pike, and it’s all beneath the notice of the wizards of Perfil. The wizards of Perfil don’t fight wars.”

Rating:

*Story read as part of my 31 Shots of Shock reading challenge.