You do realize that the show has been diverging from the books since Day One and even more than usual with this season right?
And TV shows aren't books...a book can meander for chapter after chapter but a TV show needs to actually give the audience some movement on storylines.
and most of the changes, by their own words, are to move the story faster and cut down on confusion with too many people
i'm not trying to single you out... everyone complains
but they have a budget, they can only pay so many actors, they can only build so many sets, they can only afford so many special effects, fight training, storylines, etc
i'm sure they'd love to put down 10 eps of non stop amazement, great characters and new/more exciting stories... but i'm sure every writer/director/producer wants that.... then the people with the money come in like

not gonna be able to do it
a book doesn't have these constraints.. but because of the books, they can't just start cranking out complete made up bullshyt with ultra cool characters and shyt... who's paying for that? and while you paying for that, you still paying for the other actors under contract that you now aren't even using that much