Unfortunately, the ratings info suggests they underperformed on audience size. The show would have had higher numbers if they chased the book audience.

Agreed. I do not think the intent was to make a good WoT series. They wanted the name and then wanted to write their own story. They do not care about internal consistency even within their own interpretation.

I completely disagree. The majority of changes have nothing to do with the internal monologues. They flat out change the plots and characters. We did not need all the Logain stuff in season 1. We did not need the Warder funeral. We did not need any of the Tar Valon stuff. It did not quicken or advance the plot of Eye of the World. Those items were sheer waste of space in an 8 episode season. Also, there are plenty of books that can be largely relegated to an episode or two (Book 10 for instance). There are huge sections that can be cut out and have zero effect on the plot. Rafe chose to cut out the good sections and fill it with his fan fiction.

Amazon may not have the movie rights so there are options. It just depends on how things are structured.

For a serious fan, Rafe seems unable to understand the source material. His adaptation changes things radically and not just to fit it on the screen. His team makes up a lot of content that never appeared in the book.