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Reviewed by Makeda Cummings for Readers' Favorite
In The Pact of Exit by Her Majesty Of Ink and Exit Wounds, a thinned Queen has to find a way out of a toxic, minimizing relationship so she can finally reclaim her absolute sovereignty. She is stuck living a life of mediocre compliance and safe lies with Kevin, losing her sense of self until the quiet scribe, Velin, forces a confrontational awakening. Velin guides her through a series of old drawers, uncovering the unedited truths of her relationship’s deep neglect. Once she faces Clause IV, a permanent terms-of-disengagement contract, she has to make a real choice: either keep living a comfortable illusion or burn it all down to make a new world. To do it, she has to stop being polite and cross a narrow, high-strung bridge over to raw, unformed earth. Will she successfully make it through this painful purification to build her own uncompromising kingdom named Velinwood?
The Pact of Exit by Her Majesty Of Ink and Exit Wounds is a dark gothic fantasy allegory that does a fantastic job with its symbols and underlying themes. The writing is both sharp and lyrical, keeping the focus entirely on the emotional realities behind the fairy-tale setup. One of the best moments for character development is the introduction of Velinwood Court Decree No. XIII, which promises a dose of glittered inconvenience for anyone who asks the Queen to make herself smaller. The settings are visual and easy to imagine, especially the magical library and the living border that protects the land by moving like a regular tide. The author weaves in different objects beautifully, from a simple broken teacup to a gold thread cut from the Queen’s cloak by her Seamstress. It is also great to see the partnership between the Queen and Velin, built on equality and mutual defense, during the crossing. For readers who enjoy a deeply layered, poetic fantasy story about choosing difficult truths over easy illusions, this book is highly recommended.
