I had very high expectations from this series and I believed that it will (like most TV series) absolutely ruin the book. And I couldn't have been more wrong! Where do I start...

THIS IS NOT LORD OF THE RINGS

Now that I got that out, I can continue. The very idea behind the series is a lot different. It's based around great families on different sides of the world, the stories their members have to tell and the secrets they hide. 

And there are many secrets...

 You will have a chance to witness small portion of them in the first episode. If you cannot follow the story just yet, don't worry! It's meant to be like that, you will eventually get to know all the characters and get involved in the story so much you will BEG for next episode just to see what happens.

Amazingly well thought through

'Game of Thrones' may belong to the 'Fantasy' genre, but the world of Westeros and its surrounding lands has been so amazingly well thought through and is inhabited by characters that are so well drawn and credible that everything you watch feels real. 

Every "country", every city, tribe or family has such a richly detailed history and even mythology that it just never feels like it was made up. Of course, that was all already there in the books – but translating that so perfectly to a TV-show and with such care as was done here really is a rare achievement.

The intro music is very memorable

The series revolves around Eddard Stark and his family

The cast is great, though not amazing with one exception - Sean Bean is perfect for the role of cold master of the North, Eddard Stark. The setting, the atmosphere is perfect and not boring at all! Some scenes are just amazing and are exactly as written in the book - for example the scene where they find the wolves, the nature and the dialogs are just as they should be.

Fresh and Exciting

For all those Nay-Sayers out there: If you don't like the series, then you probably have never read the books or watched the countless behind the scenes trailers that helped those who didn't understand the complex storyline. Yes, this story is complex, its original, its fresh, and it is very exciting. The story line gets better with each episode. You also have to keep in mind that this story is an adult story, and as I said, it is complex. Simply put, HBO didn't dumb the story down, but rather remained true to the core of this epic fantasy. For those who have never read the books and found the pilot interesting, trust me it gets better and better. Stick with it.