I thought you didn't watch the show?
Before I start I believe DnD did a great job as they brought people together and got us to discuss about it. I started following the series first and then read the books.
Yes they diverged a lot, but it happens a lot that series are contrained by costs and less indepth knowledge about characters, so they don't have that unlimited resource that you can put in a book.
I believe they messed up most by making the timelines more confusing, especially in season 7. Anyone can be anywhere the next time you get to see them. But I give it to them it's not easy making the series from books if there is no more material to go on.
I love it up til season 3 . And yes I did give up on it. I have been pretty active in the thrones YouTube community so even not watching Jed easy to say caught up. As odd as I feel saying it by the end I'll be defending DnD. Trying to get it all out there but on a single 4 mile long post lol