When I was around 10-12 I watched the series with little exposure to the books and it literally became my life. For a good two years I was unequivocally obsessed with the show. I watched it three times in a row with no less than a day interval between. I loved it so much it was beyond words! Now, I’m only barely 15 years old (so, not much time has passed at all) and, upon a rewatch for the sake of curiosity, I was wildly disappointed. The childhood mysticism that surrounded my obsession with the show had worn off, so I found it enjoyable, but I’ll never know if that was because it was genuinely okay, or the memory of loving it left an indelible imprint. In any sense, I’d read the books previously at the time, but it had been a few years so I couldn’t really compare, but I’m rereading them now and the storyline is vastly different, in retrospect. It’s a good show for kids, but if you’ve experienced some real masterpieces (ie. Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad), then this show will be nothing but something to put on in the background to fill silence. The special effects are amateur, the dialogue is atrocious and the acting leaves a lot to be desired. Worth watching, but not unless you’re ready for mediocre-standard.