8 episodes in and I’d say the series is good. I am definitely more engaged in the overall story and characters. It’s an interesting story mechanic they use to maintain continuity on a story that looks like it will last several centuries. There are a lot of interesting and open questions that still need answering. I never read the book so not sure how true to that the series is. But, I am enjoying it.
The books are very different in that the decay of the empire is almost just background stuff. I can see why the empire needed to be personified but in doing so, none of that is in the books (which means a whole 2 eps at least is made up). They are doing a good job of it with that as it fleshes out the empire so I'm cool with that. The other continuity maintainer plot line Gaal/Seldon better go somewhere, otherwise I feel that whole thing could've just been replaced with narration (though that would mean a whole lot less Jared Harris).