House of the Dragon is not a worthy prequel to Game of Thrones. Just like the latter part of Game of Thrones, all of Season 1 of House of the Dragon felt like HBO did not want to do the series.

The first 8 episodes are incredibly boring, even more boring than. Amazon's Rings of Power. You keep waiting for something to happen, and when it does, there is no surprise in it. There is almost no real tension, the intrigues are obvious and the acting mundane. There just really is not an actor or character that stands out, there is nobody sympathetic, it is just plain awful.

The CGI effects are often mediocre and are reminiscent of 20 year old tech.

If you have watched GoT, then you already know who the survivors can't be. That really whittles down the surprises.

At least opening credit scene is probably going to improve. It can't be worse.