I have good news and bad...

First the bad..you are correct there will be many more nations and people but really that is good as it expands the scope mightily and some of them are truly interesting.

Now the good Daenarys grows to be much stronger in the book (not the series) and really does become a powerful leader even without magic..at one point SHE decides to remove the magic for the good of her "people" in fact. As well the fire side MOST DEFINITELY gets an evil counter part for the ice oh yes...just wait...the scene in season 2 where *edited* was SOO disturbing. I have always thought the only good characters in the whole piece were killed in the first book...the starks even go arguably "bad" in later books.

As for the historical parallels they are not very tight but still interesting and more possibly come later (with Arya) and though Arya is to some extent "saved" it is because of things she did and she quickly starts saving herself and others (while remaining a realistic kid who makes quick nonthought out kid decisions) the book however does a much better job with her than the series. I will be interested to see what you think of the later books.