re: Game of Thrones Season 5 In the Books vs. In The Show, spoilers

I haven't found that the changes from the book are that bothersome. Some I think were very good choices (deleting Young Griff and all the Shy Maid stuff for example). Some I am neutral on (leaving out Lady Stone Heart for example). Some I would have liked for them to keep closer to the book (Frey Pie for example).

But overall I think they've done a pretty good job hewing close to the books but not making the mistake of trying to do an impossible exact match with them.

However, I do think that they have made some missteps in execution which are kind of worrying for future seasons. For example, I don't mind them having Stannis on an arc to where he burns his daughter (and Selyse to where she tries to stop it) but for me it was done clunckily with sudden jarring reversals of character for both of them. Same with Allister Thorne with the whole letting he wildlings in and THEN deciding to kill Jon. If they wanted Thorne as part of the "For the Watch" scene, ok. But they just didn't execute it well in my opinion. Even the threat of the Sparrows and the Faith Militant wasn't done convincingly IMO.

And tons has been written and said about Dorne. I'm not sure what happened there. I'm guessing some time in the future we'l hear about a 2nd production unit or something that was not up to snuff.