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I have been a Martin fan for several years now, and I have to agree with everything that's been said here. Additionally, I have an academic background as an ancient/medieval historian, so the parallels with "our" world are lots of fun. York vs Lancaster = Stark vs Lannister! Hooray Wars Of The Roses!
But what has always sold me was the characters. I have yet to read a single character, in -any- of the Ice And Fire books, that wasn't a captivating and totally believable individual. Viserys is a vicious, impotent little shit...and he's GOOD at it. King Robert is a gluttenous, drunken, whore-chasing Mr. Good Time...and he's GOOD at it. Khal Drogo is just terrifying, Littlefinger and Varys are like watching Wilhelm Canaris and J. Edgar Hoover at work, Theon Greyjoy's near-sociopathic sadism is just plain creepy. The "good guys" are good at being good, the "bad guys" are -really- good at being bad, and everybody has just enough ambiguity about them to be believable. Cersei is a lying, murderous scheming bitch...who does everything she does for her children, just like any mother would do. Caitlyn Stark is beautiful, intelligent, and loving...but indecisive, morose, and sometimes a real drama queen. And as for twisted motherhood, Lysa Arryn is the absolute archetype. Nobody's perfect, perfectly good or perfectly evil. And I love that. Even Sandor Clegane has his human sides, although Ser Gregor is probably as close to Ultimate Evil as Martin ever gets (him or a few of his minions).
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