Analyzing 'Game of Thrones'

I recently got into a long discussion with some former classmates over Game of Thrones. I like the books and I like the series. Both mediums provide a lot of space for analysis. (The books more so as they're all +1,000 pages.) And I'm cool with things changing from book to film. That's the nature of adaptation, and I love looking at the changes because they're very telling. I like the books, I have some critiques/issues. I like the show, I have some critiques/issues. I like them independent of one another and in comparison.

But the one change I detest that the TV series made from the book is how Drogo and Dany's wedding night was portrayed. It skeeves me out to discuss which is better: the forced arranged marriage of a 13 year old with dubious consent or the forced marriage of an 18 year old with rape. (The moral ambiguity that Martin deals with is one of the things I like most about the novels.) So I'll just post some links to my favorite analysis/critiques of the series as a whole, but which concentrate most specifically on the Drogo/Dany change and how it does and incredible disservice to Dany, Drogo and the Dothraki as a whole.

(These won't spoil you for things past Book 1, which you pretty much know if you've seen through the season finale.)

• Game of Thrones, Adaptation, Women by Isaac Butler
  
• The Flattening of Westeros by Stokes
  
• Can I Just Watch A Game of Thrones in Peace? by Latoya Peterson
  
• GoT; first pass: yes, but... wait, what? by hth
  
• My feminist response to Game of Thrones by mkpheartsnyc
  
• Don’t Believe Your Eyes: Game of Thrones, Narration, and Adaptation by Matthew Wrather

ETA: I also can't tell you how many people have tried to convince me the TV show's version is 'better' and the rape 'makes more sense.' For the record, all of these people have been male.