I read the first seven books way back as a preteen when that's all there was, and never picked it up again when my brother got the 8th book and told me it wasn't worth it. Been re-reading the books very slowly with my partner, we just finished The Great Hunt (book 2). Some observations (about books and show)
*The plot structure of both books can so far be described as 90% setup and 10% everything is happening all at once.
*Gotta love that early installment weirdness in the first book. Remember that talking Trolloc? Or The Green Man?
*I feel sorry for the dude who got cast as Mat because for such a beloved character from the books he gets basically nothing to do in the first few books (well he does do the one thing, in the second book, which was certainly a thing!)
*The books are incredibly funny. Nobody really talks about that, and it's the one thing I missed most from the show. Don't get me wrong, the show has a few good zingers (mostly from Rand, of all people!) Some notable highlights from the first two books:
*Perrin spends most of the first book trying to rein in Egwene and then has to deal with flirty tinkers, and regularly thinks I wish Rand was here, he's so much better with girls; eventually Rand has to deal with a flirty farmgirl and thinks I wish Perrin was here, he's so much better with girls
*No seriously sir, there were like a hundred wolves. At least. And fifty men! Or more!
*Rand's numerous bungled attempts at escape in the beginning of book 2. Especially the part from Moiraine's perspective
*Rand is, in general, a complete idiot in these books, and usually in ways that are highly amusing
*There's also a lot of good situational humor that comes from the switching perspectives and the way storylines tend to collide at the ends of the books. "Wait, was that....?"
*Even these early books have a lot of repetition. Like, I don't mind a bit of clunky recapping in a new book, that's bound to happen. But there are a lot of character moments that are just... repeated in the same book, often chapters apart. Rand is not going to be Aes Sedai's puppet! Rand questioning his father. Rand is not going to be the Aes Sedai's puppet! Rand thinking about how very pretty that weird and not at all suspicious lady they met in an alternate dimension is. Rand is not going to be the Aes Sedai's puppet! And that's just Rand's repetive stuff. I could go on but it makes too angry *tugs braids angrily
*Also the romance writing is pretty atrocious. I remember really liking Min as a teen reading this books (aka missed gender queer hint #4235 of my childhood) but that scene at the end of book 2 with her and Rand and Egwene... woof.
*That said, I have better hopes for her in the show, considering she went from "I am your destiny Rand al'Thor!!!" to "I would really rather not get involved in any of this, thank you."
*We watched the first season twice, once before we read the first book and once after we finished it. We ended up liking the show even better the second time through.
*That said, the show wasn't at all perfect. For a start it did Thom dirty. Never mind cutting his time with the boys short, that stuff's going to happen in adaptation. But the one time we see him sing and it's a funeral dirge? And where are his moustaches! The man is famous for his moustaches!
*The "who could the Dragon be??" stuff was also not particularly necessary.
*Perrin's wife. Just an astoundingly terrible decision there.
*Rand telling that lady that if he were into men he could do a lot better than Mat was hilarious, zero notes.
*The "man you meet in northharbor" is also a hilarious joke, very good show.
*The whole thing with what Egwene does with Nyneave at the end was very strange. At the very least it seems like that should've gone the other way around, from what I remember of where they eventually specialize.
*Overall though we both liked the show very much and I've never really understood most of the complaints.