I loved the TV show so much and was so disappointed when it was cancelled.
I picked up the whole series when it was on sale on Humble Bundle. I will warn you, most of my initial reading will be comparing the book to the show.
The first thing I found out, is that the current versions of this book have an extra prologue that takes place when Egwene is nine years old. And in that prologue, one of the first things that we find out is that Egwene has the job of carrying water for the villagers who are working and she is going to be the best water-carrier ever. So I know that the show absolutely nailed her character.
You get much more description of the village residents in the books and there is definitely more attention paid to the side-characters. Rand is much more central to the story, it focuses on his journey through the woods with Tam for example, instead of on the (much more visually exciting) battle that takes place in the village. They also made Egwene the same age as the boys, which made it less clear which one of the four friends was the Dragon and added some intrigue to the first season.
I use the term “friends” loosely, because although the boys were all friends Egwene and Rand seemed to barely know each other. In fact there seemed to be a big divide between the men and women of the village in a way that seems frankly weird to me. Having different “Counsels” OK, having different jobs, sure that’s not unusual… but to never even talk to each other? Socialize at all? Maybe that’s what the maypole was for, I dunno. In spite of that, the matrons seem to be all about fixing people up together. Everybody was saying that Egwene and Rand would be getting married already when she was only nine. And Rand learned to avoid the women of the town because they would immediately start trying to get his father to meet somebody.
I liked how Padan Fain was barely there at all. It makes his return all that more shocking.
Thom reads as a different character too. He’s less “mysterious travelling man with secret skills” and more court jester.
(more to come)