Title: Thoughts from a reader who is not much of an "epic fantasy" fan
Product review: I generally lose interest in epic fantasy novels, due to the habit most writers in the genre seem to have of including WAY too much dialogue about nothing, repeating the same ideas, concepts, and emotions again and again, simply for the sake of filling up a few extra hundred pages. For the most part, Martin does a great job of avoiding that pitfall. Although there is a ton of dialogue in this novel, most of it is actually quite interesting, and it likewise serves as legitimate character development and plot advancement. It still got a little slow for me toward the middle, but overall, this is a great ambassador for the genre. It's intelligent, deeply layered, and written with a gifted hand. "A Game of Thrones" starts strong, and finishes REAL strong. Looking forward to the next one.
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