Book fan - just finished season 2 on Amazon

My wife and I just finished season 2. She’s never read the books, and I have.

Her impression is that it was a great show with good acting, beautiful costumes, and high production value. She was engaged from episode 1 all the way through.

For me, it was absolutely maddening. There were very few episodes I got through without hollering at the TV saying “that’s not how that works!” or something like that.

Ultimately, I had to completely shut my mind down and suppress memories of the books. If I convinced myself that it wasn’t a retelling of the books, but a story inspired by the books, then I was decently OK. But man.

Overall, I’m disappointed with Rand, frustrated by the depiction of Egwene, and I’m confused by where they’re going with Moiraine and some of the other supporting characters.

My question for you guys is this: did they make the show for the uninitiated? People like my wife who didn’t read the books? Because I’m not hearing much excitement around the show from people who did read them. And if my wife wasn’t really stoked about it, I would have given up before season 1 ended.