I recently read "A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin on the recommendation of avva. It's a famous fantasy series by a famous sci-fi and fantasy writer.
What I liked: the plot is epic, the language is rich, there are lots of details, and not too much mysticism.
What I didn't like. The writer lists way too many random names that the reader doesn't really need to know. Sometimes there are also too many not particularly important events, which makes it hard to digest. For some reason, the plot twists don't seem all that twisty: there seem to be a lot of them, just like the characters, but they don't evoke any empathy. Maybe that's because the main storylines develop agonizingly slowly. On top of that, the good guys have died off considerably, while the bad guys, on the contrary, are multiplying. That is, admittedly, with the exception of the latest book, where they finally deigned to thin their ranks a bit, albeit by their own hands.
Also, there's somehow too little of the fantastic, and when it is there, it doesn't weave into the rest of the plot particularly well. For instance, in one place a sorceress somehow way too easily remotely kills as many as three people at once: if it's that simple, why don't we see this kind of effective management before and after that? I certainly understand that an excess of pointless dragons, magic, and slaughtering can actually easily ruin fantasy, which is what usually happens. I, however, don't like fantasy in general, because the magic there is usually built through mysticism, but if you're already diluting knights, swords, and bows with magic, make it a bit more interesting, I guess.
The biggest nuisance is this: there are already 7 volumes in the series, and 11 are planned. The author has been writing the eighth part since 2005. For the last three years he's been stringing us along like crazy, but it will still probably come out this year. But he still has two more volumes to write, and we have to wait!
On the other hand, it's not such an awesome book after all to be dying of impatience, like I do in the case of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Unfortunately, ever since I've been sick, I stopped reading The System of the World in English — you need a clear head for that, and without the pool and the gym I constantly don't have one.
Bottom line: the book isn't bad, it's readable, even if you aren't a particular fan of fantasy. As long as you have enough patience for thousands of characters and 11 volumes.
P.S. It goes without saying that the coolest character is Tyrion.