I have to agree, Arry. The characters just didn't grab me the way I expected them too but as I mentioned in another post somewhere, I found it very interesting to see how Martin was developing his characters way back. For me, he's one author that really gets how to make fictional people human by introducing complex motives for their actions, and not deciding what a character should be and sticking with it forever. They are fluid and always changing, and I found that to be missing in this book.
That being said, the atmosphere of the book was fantastic. Well-researched, obviously, but not in an "in-your-face" sort of way. Every time I picked up the book it was like going into a slower, darker world, and I loved that. Again, the plot moved slowly, and sometimes I don't mind this, but personally I think I would have liked there to be a bit more meat to it. The inevitable comparison to Westeros is that this book moved in a very linear fashion, and had only one or two main story lines to follow, where Westeros has a great many. I would argue that for this type of story, a simple plot works, but as a reader, I prefer more.
Overall an enjoyable read, but it's not likely one that I will go back to (and I do re-read a fair bit).
