I finally finished the season and can weigh in as a book reader.
Note - This season covers all of Book 1 and Part 1 of Book 2.
Overall, I found it entertaining as a summary of the books, but was quite disappointed with the original additions to the plot. I'm by no means a "book purist" or one of those annoying pendants. I didn't mind the creative freedom they took with the characters. But their original additions to the plot, like all of episode 6 and 7, just plain sucked.
I feel this adaptation robs non-book readers of the depth and complexity the author intended. The slow reveals in the book, which can be mind blowing when you realize where they're going with it, are reduced to one-liners in the show. It's almost like reading a bullet point summary of all the major plot points and spoilers.
I would cut them some slack since it would be a lot to cover in eight hours, BUT, they carelessly waste at least four of those hours on original material (which sucked) and filler.
As for positives, Episode 5 was by far my favorite. I'm writing this spoiler free, so I won't go into details, but they did a great job adapting one of the memorable scenes from the book. They keep the intensity pumping and finish strong, getting genuine "wow"s from the group I watched this with. Ep1-5 would have made a fine miniseries. Unfortunately, then it spirals off into two unbelievably shitty original episodes. Thankfully, they (mostly) return to the source material in the final episode for a decent finish to the season.
If you have even the slightest interest in the books, or audiobooks, do yourself a favor and read/listen to them before watching the show.
Review by XIIIBlockedParent2024-04-01T03:15:14Z
I finally finished the season and can weigh in as a book reader.
Note - This season covers all of Book 1 and Part 1 of Book 2.
Overall, I found it entertaining as a summary of the books, but was quite disappointed with the original additions to the plot. I'm by no means a "book purist" or one of those annoying pendants. I didn't mind the creative freedom they took with the characters. But their original additions to the plot, like all of episode 6 and 7, just plain sucked.
I feel this adaptation robs non-book readers of the depth and complexity the author intended. The slow reveals in the book, which can be mind blowing when you realize where they're going with it, are reduced to one-liners in the show. It's almost like reading a bullet point summary of all the major plot points and spoilers.
I would cut them some slack since it would be a lot to cover in eight hours, BUT, they carelessly waste at least four of those hours on original material (which sucked) and filler.
As for positives, Episode 5 was by far my favorite. I'm writing this spoiler free, so I won't go into details, but they did a great job adapting one of the memorable scenes from the book. They keep the intensity pumping and finish strong, getting genuine "wow"s from the group I watched this with. Ep1-5 would have made a fine miniseries. Unfortunately, then it spirals off into two unbelievably shitty original episodes. Thankfully, they (mostly) return to the source material in the final episode for a decent finish to the season.
If you have even the slightest interest in the books, or audiobooks, do yourself a favor and read/listen to them before watching the show.