Yeah, it's certainly not for everyone. The first book was a generic LOTR style quest-to-save-the-world adventure that had been imitated countless times. The later books weren't as cliche. The author vastly expanded the world and opened up the plot into an epic, albeit ponderous, story. Lots of non-european style cultures and lands gets explored.

The show is growing on me with every episode (the 4th episode was awesome). Hopefully it finds an audience beyond the book readers, as I am really interested to see how the writers whittle down the labyrinth plot

I wasn't impressed with the first episode but I'm glad I stuck with it. It's getting better with every episode. As others have noted with the 4th episode it's really picking up steam. I never read the books but I read plenty of sci-fi and fantasy as a kid.

Oh man please let this run the full 8 seasons. Seeing the Aes Sedai fighting in that little skirmish is just a hint of the Last Battle. So many awesome moments I can't wait to see on screen.

I am not impressed with the warders. First Lan allows someone from hundreds of miles and days behind/across a major river with no boat to find them and put a sword to his throat. Then they all decide to have a campout/lounge around instead of looking out for danger. They allowed a bunch of Logain’s army to launch a surprise attack instead of them scouting for danger. . They all would be dead if not for Nynaeve

That's good to know. I haven't read the books. I'm two episodes in and I am definitely getting a "poor man's LoTR" vibe. I was tempted to quit but will stick with it to see where it goes.

I watched the first two episodes and I like it so far. A friend warmed up to it as well. He mentioned that the first part of episode 1 looked sort of like Hercules in Xena - meaning it looked cheap. Once the army of Krampus' show up it was fucking badass and brutal.

I looked it up and season 1 of this cost 80 million, so not a gigantic budget, but that's 10 million per episode. Also Rosamund Pike is a producer on the show, so she is actively involved in the series besides being the main actor in it.

I read an article on Screen Rant this morning that said the show is already too far devolved from the books and is more violent than the books to attract the GoT crowd. That and the aging of the main cast to make it not appear like a young adult series. Book readers seem to be pissed.

Ok..the last ep got good when the shit hit the fan. Though I did have to start it over due to falling asleep when i tried to watch the 1st time.

For some reason Screen Rant posts about this show keep showing up in my Facebook feed. I haven't clicked through to the articles, but their click baity takes in the posts are garbage.

Any book reader who was not expecting some major changes is delusional. Robert Jordan's writing is not without fault (he would've benefitted from more heavy-handed editing) and the series is just way too bloated. Cuts and condensing were to be expected.

Anecdotally, I have three friends who have read the series. They've noticed the changes and for the most part either think they were smart tweaks or they just shrugged and accepted them.

It will be interesting to see how much it opens up. There are minor characters that have been introduced so far that are MAJOR characters later on. And whole groups of characters that haven’t even been mentioned yet.

Like there were tiny throwaway shots in episode 1 that haven’t even been referenced since that are big deals.

I have appreciated the condensing so far but they are dumping a lot in quick moments of dialogue. For example, my wife was unclear on the Ajahs and their colors because they blasted through it - but then they backtracked and explained it a bit more.

There are things I know they have glossed over that I am interested to see if they come back to or if they just leave them as Easter eggs for the book fans.

Overall I am enjoying it. Makes me want to do another reread of the series too.

That ending of ep 4 was fucking dope. I can't remember how they got Logain in the book, so I was surprised to see him get gentled. Nynaeve's reveal of being able to channel was awesome as well. Still enjoying so far!

I did break down and start re-reading book one again, so we'll see if the differences bother me more with them fresh in my mind.

Some things are minor annoyances, like Logain's shield being an actual physical barrier that an axe would get stuck in. It's just supposed to be cutting off his ability to touch the source.

Episode 5 was another solid installment. I imagine book purists are in agony with how the plot is deviating from the novels. I'm halfway through the season, and I'm already wishing it was longer than 8 episodes.

Loial show up and I half expected to see him real tall , just barely a bit taller than Rand.

I didn't care for the 5th episode. Dropping the ring in lava, how much more LOTR can you get? I'm happy to see drunken Aragorn go. The series has some great actors (mainly the older women), some good ones, and some that need help from the makeup department to sell their angst.

Drunken Aragorn??

The guy that led the hobbits away from the orcs. I never read the books and I'm trying to know the characters by identifying them with LOTR. Gandalf is the best in this one too (so far).

it only mirrors LOTR fir a little bit longer, then becomes was different and much karger

I believe you and will keep watching but it always makes me laugh hearing the orcs called trollops.

It always makes me laughs when someone calls the monsters "trollops" instead of trollocs.

I'm sorry I just roll my eyes with anyone watching that can't be bothered to learn the characters names.

The mega fanboy is so butthurt

I thought ep 5 spent too much time on funerals and the mourning of characters we barely knew.

I liked the stuff with the 'Way of the Leaf' people and how when he was being tortured the one guy somehow summoned wolves. 'Child Valda' is a bit too cartoonish of a villain, and I assume he's not dead, only injured.

So I guess the one guy is a werewolf and doesn't know it? Maybe born that way or did it happen when the wolf licked his wound? I can't recall if his eyes had changed prior to that or not. But being able to call on the wolves to help is a nice ability to have.

Child Valda definitely lives though.

Episode 5 was decent, but I’m disappointed in the look of Loial. My memory may be faulty, but it feels like his size was fairly important to the character. I’m also feeling like the changes to Perrin are for the worse and seem pretty arbitrary. Still enjoying the show, but it feels like they have a lot of ground to cover in the last 3 episodes of the season. It will be interesting going forward to see what they trim. The books had a lot of fat on them, but cramming more than one book into a season seems like a tall order, though I guess they could have seasons with more episodes.