R.R. Martin - Ice & Fire.

Sup /book/. This is my first time here, so I wouldn't know whether or not you can hold a fairly decent discussion in here, or if this board, like almost all other 4chan boards, is just a means of holding a shitstorm. Hell, let's give it a shot.

So I just started reading the first book in R.R. Martin's Ice & Fire series after a ton of people recommended it to me.

I don't know how many pages I've read, as I use an electronic dictionary to read it.

Is it just me, or is the book total shit? Does he really expect us to remember 500 names of people and places that are given such a poor introduction and are often introduced far too fast?

I thought I was about to read a fantasy book, but it seems I am really reading a trivia of how well you can remember useless and uninteresting information. I wonder if there's a question sheet in the back to confirm my suspicions.

I would also like to read more fantasy books but I hear comments of excessive fluff after the first three or four books of any series, so the amount of progression per page would be better spent on some other fantasy medium like games.  If the pages consist of dense but enjoyable material then it's much better.