Is "A Game of Thrones" the best fantasy adventure book ever written?

I recently finished reading an awesome book that I would highly recommend to anyone in the reading audience, especially to fans of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Frank Herbert’s sci-fi series, “Dune,” and Tom Clancy.

A few days ago, I finished reading “A Game of Thrones,” which is the first book in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.

I won’t be shocked to hear that some of you have already read this book because it, as well as other books in the series, have soared back on to the best-seller lists during the past year thanks to the hit HBO adaptation of the series of novels.

As of this Thursday, “A Game of Thrones” was sitting at No. 6 on Publishers Weekly’s mass market paperback best-sellers list. That’s not bad for a book that was originally published in August 1996.

I’ve heard “A Game of Thrones” described as medieval fantasy and as epic fantasy, and the book fits nicely into both categories. The winner of the 1997 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, “A Game of Thrones” is set for the most part on the fictional continent of Westeros and follows several members of the royal houses of the land as well as a host of other characters.

The book reminded me a lot of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy as well as Frank Herbert’s award-winning “Dune” series. Its fantasy, sword-and-sorcery elements were similar to those seen in Tolkein’s Middle Earth, and the royal intrigues of the vying royal houses in “Dune” smack of those same intrigues among the noble houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. “A Game of Thrones” also reminded me of a Tom Clancy novel in the way that it shifted character viewpoints throughout the novel to tell the entire tale.

If you’re planning to read “A Game of Thrones,” be prepared to invest some time because it’s a long book. The paperback edition that I read contained over 800 pages. With that said, I’m going to have my work cut out for me to read the rest of the lengthy books in the series. The other books in the series include “A Clash of Kings” (1998), “A Storm of Swords” (2000), “A Feast for Crows” (2005), “A Dance with Dragons” (2011) and an as yet to be published sixth novel, “The Winds of Winter.” That is not to say that I’m not looking forward to them because if the rest of the books in the series are as good as the first, then I’m in for a treat.

In the end, I really enjoyed “A Game of Thrones” and would count it among one of the best books that I’ve ever read. I definitely plan to read the rest of the books in the series as well as watch the entire HBO series as soon as it becomes available on NetFlix.

How many of you have read “A Game of Thrones” or any of the other books in the series? What did you think about them? Which did you like or dislike? Which would you recommend and why? Let us know in the comments section below.