I bought this book on the strength of other reviews here, but had to stop reading after the first three chapters (something I almost never do) due to the book's overly contrived feel. The main family, the Starks, living on their winter land -- get it?, a Stark landscape. . . The map of the world - a poor rip-off of tolkien with geographic names like "Red Bay" and "Blue Cove" . . . and the writer's inability to build true tension "He felt something was wrong," "he felt cold," "he felt forboding" . . . all conspire to make this a mediocre book and reveal a mediocre writer.Get the real thing - Tolkien, and see what this guy is attempting to emulate. . .