TL;DR watch after you read books.

Then again, there are plenty who hate the show for not being aligned with books....

I loved Witcher 3 game, did not read books.

I am also pretty old by some standards (47) so I know my way around stuff.

The series, it's all dandy, the looks, the characters, the fights, the monsters, HC is great etc. But goddamn this politics chatter, it's ALL about that constant drivel that drives me mad. It's worse than in the real life - in RL I know the players - in Witcher, they are just names. You haven't read the books? You are about to be confused. King this, queen that, mages of interest, Elves, witches, everybody has an agenda - but nothing is explained, you are expected to know your bearings.

You seen The Crown on Netflix? It's like that, but The Crown actually bothers to get you to know what it's all about and who all those kings and princesses are. Remember the Vikings? Oh they took their sweet time to make sure you knew who's who. The Whitcher - not really. And since politics is like 75% of the show, it's like one fight then yadda-yadda-yadda + maybe another fight kind of show to me, not understanding anyone's agendas or goals. Really, too much talking about things that most people would not understand without being intimate with the books.

Such a shame, since the show itself feels and looks great.