Game of Thrones

See that face? She's sad 'cause everybody dies.

We all have our guilty pleasures. Mine (besides Diet Dr. Pepper and booty-shaking-techno music) is fantasy fiction. It all started when I was young. Unlike today's youth (Potterheads), I cut my literary teeth on C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia and I've just never gotten over it.

I know it's silly that the only movies my husband and I get babysitters for have been Harry Potter premiers. It's just something about the escapism of discovering another world (with relate-able characters) that's always held my attention.

Reason #564 to love Colin Firth.

I've always sort of stuck to the "classics" of fantasy literature-- L. Frank Baum, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis (ever notice the prevalence of initialed names for these authors? What's the deal?) and the like because frankly, I'd rather not be stuck reading a crappy fantasy novel full of poor dialog and two dimensional characters, hoping it just gets better. 

YOU know what I'm talkin' 'bout.

So, when The Game of Thrones premiered on HBO and everyone was all, "You'dloveitYou'dloveitYou'dloveit!" I bought the book. Little did I know George R.R. Martin is not like these  other authors.

*Spoiler alert*-- don't get too attached to characters. Martin ain't afraid to kill somebody off. Despite being in a fog for a couple days afterwards due to my favorite characters being the tragic characters, I truly enjoyed the novel. In fact, I sent it to my niece (who has moved from Rowling and Lewis on to Tolkien and has more patience than I do for his meticulous description) and purchased the next one.

Seriously. This should be the title.

I've taken a peak at the prologue, though I'm reading something else for next week (you don't want to read about my geek fest two weeks in a row, I'm sure) and I'm already hooked. I found the novel a lot quicker-paced than the series as well (that never happens, right?), so if the series was too slow for you, try the book.

Do you know of any good fantasy or even sci-fi novels I'd like? I need suggestions!