I increasingly see that question on other forums and it drives me up the wall. That question is a perfect storm of two things: ▪︎the mindless consumer fanboy-ism that has destroyed all major film franchises ("it contradicts the lore, is objectively miserable, and an active waste of my time, but it has Star Trek in the title, so I'll watch it.") ▪︎developmentally stunted inability to fill in any blanks whatsoever
I promise you, Pee Pee Poo Poo: The Musical: Season 1 has absolutely no key nutrient you have to absorb to comprehend season 2. In fact, if we're talking one of these shows that go through three showrunners a season, it might be more comprehensible if you skip the earlier stuff.
Mostly just cut some of the fat out of it. Bloodlines could either function as it's own side series, or not translated it at all. From there you could have a trilogy of Betrayal/Tempest, Exile -> Inferno, Fury -> Invincible. It's been years since I read the books, so not sure about exact cutoffs.
Also I'm not sure about having Mara die still but I do notice that the EU tries to kill off at least one or more major characters each big series (e.g. Chewy in New Jedi Order), which was a common trope from the original saga.