winter is coming

i've always been a sucker for fiction, an lately i'm kind of obsessed with martin's a song of ice and fire book series.
i know it's kind of popular all over the world at the moment, but there are still a lot of people who disapprove of it, as it's supposed to be 'childish and unaware of the issues of today's world'. since i work in a literature house, where mostly 'serious' literature is discussed and read, i hear a lot of that. however, i think that martin has much more courage that many of the so-called real writers. he's not afraid of taking giant turns in his plot, or killing the characters the audience loves most, or revealing every dark side of their personalities there is. the chapters are written from a selection of characters' points of view, and that really gives the reader the opportunity to see them in full specter, not just black and white. he generously describes their motives and succeeds in keeping them very alive.
i'm not saying it's gold, i still prefer some other pieces of fiction, but it's quite alright. it has some loose ends, i don't deny it, and it's set in a medieval-ish magical world, wich sometimes makes it really hard to believe, but martin's skill of character buliding is just awesome.
fiction is really one of the best ways to escape the real life :)