I have never read the books so have nothing to compare it with. But never mind a poor man’s GoT, so far the first episode feels like a poor man’s The Witcher, which is not much of an endorsement. Still, very early days of course.
It doesn’t bode well for me that one of the young men fin this episode, who looks like is going to turn out to be one of the main male characters if not the main protagonist, keeps reminding me of Anakin Skywalker at his most Attack of the Clones detestable, but to be fair to the series that’s entirely on me