Couldn’t get into the series, myself. Not exactly that it’s bad– I can tell you there’s much worse out there– it just seems like such typical, and to my way of thinking, tedious, “doorstop” fantasy that I really can’t see what all the fuss is about.
So for me the question is, not why would people like ASOIAF/GOT, or even why might some of them– gasp!– like it better “The Lord of the Rings”. People like things for all kinds of reasons. What puzzles me is why, out of dozens of extremely similar works to come out in the last two or three decades, *this* one has caught fire to the extent of being seen as profound, wildly original etc. (And no, that’s not just due to the TV series.) In fact I may as well come out with it now that I think it basically shows how low the bar has been set for popular fantasy. And again, I grant this is one of the better things of its kind, but in my opinion its kind just isn’t all that good.
Yep. Hateful elitist highbrow intellectual meanie snob-type, at your service. Sue me.
However, as for whether calling Martin, “The American Tolkien” is a compliment, a belittlement, or an act of sacrilege– that’s beside the point. Look at the cover of just about anything that remotely qualifies as epic fantasy, and guess who the author gets compared to? It’s just a standard thing.