Being a fan of both Historical Fiction and Fantasy, I have not encountered much of the two genres crossing each other in a way that the fantasy won't overpower the historical settings. Game of Thrones has subtle elements of fantasy that does not make one roll their eyes or be too cliche 
 With the TV show and books being all hyped up, I wanted to give this series a shot, I have not watched the series yet and made it a point to read the books first especially after a friend of mine told me that the level of language and writing style is in completely different class 
 And boy was she right! 
 There were lines in this book that blew my mind! There were chapters that blew my mind with just how Mr. Martin expressed words. 
 The story is very strong and the characters, while there were ALOT of characters, the most important ones are memorable and you get emotionally attached to a lot of them 
 Characters I liked: 
 - Tyrion Lannister who is probably my favourite character in the whole thing 
 - Jon Snow 
 - Robb Stark 
 - Daenerys Targaryen 
 - Ned Stark 
 - Khal Drogo 
 - Bran Stark 
 - Sansa Stark (Yes I like her!) 
 - Ser Jorah 
 - The Direwolves 
 (don't recall at the moment more characters due to brain melting from awesomeness XD) 
 Characters I hated: 
 - Joffrey Baratheon (BURN!!!!!) This little boy has topped my most hated Character ever! 
 - Cersei Lannister 
 - Jaimie Lannister 
 (don't recall at the moment more characters due to brain boiling from hatred XD) 
 I would recommend this to avid readers, however I do recommend that if you do go into this; go into it with an open mind as there are some pretty adult elements in it including: (view spoiler)[sex, killing, incest... etc (hide spoiler)] While I was disgusted beyond limits, the story, characters and writing got me so hooked to continue and I will continue to read the rest of the story 
 In short: This book is an emotional rollercoaster full of intensity and a gripping story. I don't think I have words to describe how I felt about this book. Whatever I say won't do it justice