A Game of Thrones: Book versus TV Series

Having just finished reading the first book of George RR Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series, A Game of Thrones, I felt compelled to make a comparison of book and program. First, let me say how blown I was away with the sheer scope and ambition this epic has. The series was stunning itself with it's mass of characters, worlds and back story. The characters are not black and white, good or bad, or those that are end up dead. Every character's got something to hide, or a secret agenda, a motto they live by, a back story full of deceit and a shameful nickname. What impressed me was the different orders and societies such as the Night's Watch, the Maesters, the Kings guard, that make this fantasy world seem real. Even the prejudices shown in the world towards bastards, cripples and dwarfs give an air of authenticity, as if Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms could have really happened. There are decoy-heroes, plot twists that would never have happened anywhere else, there are deconstructions of fantasy and fairy tale archetypes. There seems to be everything in the series and more.
The book and series compliment each other and take advantage of each medium to tell the story; the series seems to serve the book and vice verso. For example, the book uses exposition and thoughts of the characters to explain extensive back stories and such, which the TV series can never do. The style of POV chapters means we only see events from certain points of view, which means a lot of gaps are filled in when it comes to the series. We see sides to characters like Theon, Cersei, Jaime and Robert that the book doesn't give us, that do a lot to create emotional investment in the characters. The scenes where Robert is talking to Cersei, Jaime or Barristan Selmy were some of my favorite scenes from the series, and serve as signs of foreboding of his downfall. The scenes featuring Theon serve as a reminder to the audience that he's an unpleasant character. One scene that stands out that wasn't in the book was Jaime recalling war stories with Selmy and later Jory, showing the Kingslayer to be a morally ambiguous character.
Each and every character is memorable, even those who seem similar. From the book, I liked Tyrion, although I found him to be less likable than he was in the show. Perhaps that is because of Peter Dinklage's performance and take on the character, who knows. I enjoyed his scenes, especially when he's in the Eyrie and later when he's with Bronn and Shae. Speaking of the cast, all of them are exceptional and really go for it, and some play their characters differently to how I interpreted them from the book.