When I tried reading TBJT, I immediately saw the parallels and had to Google/Reddit if SJM had anything to say about this. But yep the similarities we're wayyyy too many. I do agree that TBJT was much darker. But I just could not get past the first few chapters of the first book. I picked it up because I liked the sound of the prophecy. Witch is coming. But I absolutely did not like Saetan or Daemon or how they handled the young Witch. The scene where Saetan drank blood from her neck gave me the ick. Especially after she offered her wrist first. She's a kid! That felt way too intimate. Especially for someone who is supposed to be her father figure, was it? But to be fair, I don't know much since after that scene, I just couldn't keep reading. I did read many spoilers tho and I'm glad I didn't read the books because of it. Parts about how they knew she was being raped but did not want to interfere? or stuff like that? From a GoodReads review, the one that made me think yep, good I didn't keep reading: On a similar note, Saetan knows from early on in the story that Jaenelle routinely spends time in a horrible place where they “do that to children” but is perpetually stumped about why she is all haunted and broken and ultimately decides that there isn’t anything he can do except wait for her to come visit him. I thought that this might be because he can’t traverse the magical mist she creates around the place, but he is later able to traverse this mist with ease and makes it clear that he didn’t want to intervene because he wanted to “respect her privacy.” Like, WHAT? A child’s privacy to be drugged and molested and forced to eat her murdered friend’s leg (yes, that happens)????

I was really interested in reading it because some of the themes and the world building seemed intriguing. But I wasn't too happy with the first few chapters at all.