I went into this book knowing nothing about it. I had never seen an episode of the show, and never read any of the books. At first it was very slow, and it took me a LONG time to get hooked. So many names, and places, it was hard to keep everything straight. However, once I got halfway through, everything started to make sense and I couldn't put the book down. It was AMAZING. So many twists, turns, and cliffhangers. 
 I also have to point out, that from a technical standpoint, this is the most well written book I have ever read. The author's writing style is, in my opinion, perfection. The world building is excellent, the character development is excellent, and he gives the perfect amount of detail in his writing, not overdoing it like a lot of authors are prone to do. I'm very excited to read the next book in this marvelous saga.