Yea, with only ten episodes and so much story cut as it is, I'm glad they didn't waste time on battles. Everyone in the books is younger than in the show. Eddard Stark is only 35 in the book. They also summarized things like Petyr's motivations during the lesbian prostitute scene (yes there was actual talking during that scene), and characters like Roz the prostitute weren't in the book.
I just started book 5 after finishing book four for the third time, and the show definitely does the books justice....except for Renly. The show butchered Renly. The show portrays him as kind of a skinny whiny gay lover of Loras Tyrell. Where in the book Renly is jovial, teases people, laughs all the time, is loved by generally everyone in the realm and really embodies a snap shot of what Robert Baratheon used to be like back when he killed Rhaegar on the Trident. Sure, he's gay in the books too, but they never outright come out and say it, it's just kind of quietly hinted at by several characters multiple times.
Renly's fame and personality when he declares himself King is what draws people to him, and is necessary to contrast him with Stannis, the mean bastard who actually legally has the true claim to the throne.
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It is no measure of health to be well adjusted
to a profoundly sick society. - Jiddu Krishnamurti
