This book reminded me in a way of Tolken's Lord of the Ring saga with the rich background materials. GMMR has spent a lot of time and effort creating a deep world for the reader to explore. However, Tolken had exciting action and interwoven plot lines, but GRRM's novel has a slow moving plot with little action (at best one could say there is a lot of suspense).I would characterize the novel as a fantasy suspense novel or fictional political drama. Definitely not an action/adventure story. Entire chapters seem devoted to describing a historical incident.I like an exciting story with many plot twists, so I cannot recommend this book