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I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole with this, because its existence is baffling to me.

Until I read the Kindle sample, I was convinced that this is AI slop, because every indication points to that. The sample made me question that (as I will explain later), but still, there is so much about this that is sketchy that, even if it is not generated by AI (and I still suspect that it might me), it seems like its very shady.

This book just barely exists outside of Amazon and by extension GoodReads. (Also on Kobo technically, for twice the price as it is on Amazon, but with no less sketch.) It's the only book published by the author on Amazon and the author's page is completely blank.

I did some note sleuthing after someone mentioned that it has a website; it technically does, hosted on Netlify (side note: the creator isn't even paying for a domain name, which adds suspicion), but it is even more suspicious.

First off, its copyright is attributed to "Unconscious Memory", which is bizarre, because that would have to be a legal entity. Secondly and relatedly, there is no mention of the author's name at all on the book's site. Thirdly, the entirety of the text content of the site is just the Amazon description copy pasted. Fourthly, the site's navigation is broken; "Blog" and "Tags" just take you to the homepage. Fifthly, the Twitter it links to in the footer is to an account that has made 0 posts and its bio is just "Book" and a link to the Amazon page. Sixthly, the YouTube Channel it links to (seriously?? A YouTube channel??) Has one 20 second video that shows a [I would wager stolen] animation of an eye flipping then a static screen with the book's title, author, publication date, and saying it is on a Amazon.

The two reviews for it on Amazon (US) say that it seems like an AI generated scam, though one said they had not read it. It suspiciously has 18 five-star ratings on GoodReads, but the only two with reviews are 16 words and 3 words, neither of which actually say anything close to mentioning what the contents actually are. ("Very cool book!")

I found a review on AbeBooks that says that the author says they wrote it while in high school which, after reading the sample of the book on Kindle, is false; the "author" says they "started first thinking about first thoughts" when they were in high school. The review ends calling the book "a definitive masterpiece" which makes me extremely suspicious as to its validity. Especially considering that review is the only post that user made.

All this is extremely shady and lead me to believe it was AI slop. The biggest evidence that this is not generated by AI is that the grammar is very poor. That points more toward English not being the author's first language than being generated by AI, but maybe it was generated and then translated, I don't know.

What is going to make me give it a hard pass is that in the Preface, the author openly states that he "never read other books or done research not to be inspired by others". While I understand the logic behind this, I think that it means the book just becomes self indulgent nonsense. It means everything is idle speculation and when you're speaking about things that can be objectively observed and studied (e.g. the source of kinks), that means it is required that your own "thoughts and observations" are insufficient.

I'm not saying that nothing in this book is true. I'm saying that you cannot know what is and is not. It tries to take us back to before psychology was a hard science. So much of what Freud did was biased speculation, but at least he was a professional with years of experience. Who is Terrell Bainsbridge? We don't know, and (unless "About the Author" is stuffed into the epilogue) Terrell doesn't seem to think it is important to tell us.

@ivory444 A local store? I cannot find any evidence that this book or author exists outside of Amazon (and by extension GoodReads). It's the only book published by the author on Amazon and the author's page is completely blank.

I found the website for the book which makes me even more suspicious, enough that warrants its own comment.

ngl I was expecting more fantasy than thirsty characters

not saying its bad, I'm still invested, Im just surprised at how little has actually happened plotwise, halfway through the book

I also feel like my view is tainted by having read the Clocktaur books not too long ago, which i enjoyed heartily by the end. The thirstiness in those books was very present yet subordinate to the plot, but —especially on the side of the paladin— is a lot the same, which may make feel like it's already getting old for me.

I like the characters, I really do. The paladins seem like basically the same person, but I do like that person

My point is I want to learn more about the plot because I love Kingfisher's plots, and while I am a hopeless romantic and enjoy the "will they, won't they" it also makes me feel lonely af. that's very personal tho

Saw this while browsing in Libby and I'm a sucker for a good story about corn stalks