I recently read George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire” on the recommendation of avva. It's a famous fantasy series by a famous sci-fi/fantasy writer.
What I liked: the plot is epic, the language is rich, there are a lot 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 too many not-so-important events too, making it hard to take in. For some reason, the plot twists don't seem all that twisted: there seem to be a lot of them, just like the characters, but they don't evoke any empathy. Maybe it's because the main plotlines develop monstrously slowly. On top of that, the good guys have died off in droves, while the bad guys, on the contrary, are multiplying. That is, however, with the exception of the last book, where they finally deigned to thin out their ranks a bit, even if they did it with their own hands.
Also, there's somehow very little fantasy, and when it is there, it doesn't weave into the rest of the plot all that well. For example, in one place a sorceress somehow way too easily kills off as many as three people remotely at once: if it's that simple, why don't we see this kind of effective management before or after that? I do understand, of course, that an excess of pointless dragons, magic, and slaughter can easily ruin fantasy, which is exactly what usually happens. I generally don't like fantasy anyway, because the magic there is usually constructed through mysticism, but if you're already diluting knights, swords, and bows with magic, make it a bit more interesting or something.
The biggest bummer is this: there are already 7 volumes in the series, 11 are planned. The author has been writing the eighth part since 2005. For the last three years he's been feeding us empty promises like crazy, but it will probably finally 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 quite such an awesome book that I'm dying of impatience, like I do with Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Unfortunately, since I've been sick, I stopped reading System Of The World in English – you need a clear head for it, and without the pool and the gym I constantly don't have one.
Bottom line: the book is not bad, it's readable, even if you're not a huge fantasy fan. As long as you have enough patience for thousands of characters and 11 volumes.
P.S. Obviously, the coolest character is Tyrion.