I watched the show first and it turns out the adaptation is pretty great. While the book is much tighter, something I was looking for as the series felt like it could have had much better pacing, the book does not have one of the love interests but has every story beat the show had. It’s also as fun as I thought it would be to read when she’s thinking strategically in game.

If you thought the show had a bit too much padding, the book is certainly the way to go. But, I do feel like the additions in the show flesh out her character a bit more and make it less... cold. Yet why shouldn’t the end of her story be more about chess and less about the peripheral characters, one of whom is pretty much not in the book. I’m not sure if he was even mentioned, honestly.

Without that additional storyline from the show, I’d say the show is exactly the same as the book, often verbatim. I would have liked to have gotten even more from being in her head, but mostly the chess matches have a different feel (as you’d expect).