Yup - there's a really strong story over the 14 books - but it's only 6-8 books worth that's been spread way too thin (I'm a fan, but in no way blind to it faults). It's why I'm excited about this; there is the potential to be a true great with judicious cutting and re-writing, whilst having the full story already told to know what's going where; and especially with the Covid delays giving the writers and show-runners not much to do beyond planning and pacing future seasons.
There was also a potentially very interesting look at a society where women are the dominant gender, and how that would turn out - but he decided not to explore that at all and made everyone puritanical with highly sexist faux-power-struggles.
The worry, of course, is that the showrunners are inexperienced, and may end up completely over their heads and cock it all up.
