Reading Epic Fantasy: George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones"

I've had a copy of A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin sitting on my shelf for probably over a year. I've heard so many great things about the book and the show, but I was still intimidated both by the size of the novel and the genre. I had a terrible experience reading Lord of the Rings by Tolkien a few years ago, mostly because I found the book to be incredibly drawn out and frankly quite boring.  So for a while I honestly felt that high fantasy was not for me.  But then at the end of April, sort of on a whim, I decided to give A Game of Thrones a try. It is a fantastic book. Finishing it gave me a real sense of accomplishment. Not only is it an 800 plus page book with super small print and a very dense text, it is an epic fantasy with a complex world, a multitude of characters and numerous points of view. I am really glad I picked it up. It definitely lives up to all the hype. I loved the world and the characters. Martin is an amazing story teller, who can write some beautiful prose. His world is based on medieval Europe with knights and keeps and jousts. It also has dragons and supernatural wolves and evil creatures called the Others (who are probably akin to vampires or at least some sort of undead beings). There is also a lot of politics, court intrigue, backstabbing and coming of age stories. Martin has been quoted to say that those who do not read live only one life. Well, reading his book, one definitely lives at least a dozen lives through the eyes of his characters. Going into the book, I was a bit apprehensive because I'd heard that Martin kills off his main characters quite regularly throughout the series. But being warned about this helped me not to get attached to any of them and just know that no one is safe in his world. I really enjoyed reading this book. It took me roughly two weeks to get through it and I had to take a break half way through to read some graphic novels just for a change of pace, but overall, I do highly recommend the entire Song of Ice and Fire series. I will definitely continue with it after taking a well-deserved break to read something a bit shorter.