Fantasy is one of those dime-a-dozen genres in fiction, especially in literature. And over the years it has developed its share of conventions, most of which have grown tired and been overused by run-down writers looking for a crutch. Enter Game of Thrones. Its a fantasy world that has one foot in the fantastical and one foot in the real world. Writer George R. R. Martin has done away with most of the expected conventions with his epic, sprawling fantasy best-seller novels. Instead of fantastical spells and mythical races (still there but in much softer focus), Martin chose to hone our gaze onto the political intrigue, moral ambiguity and most importantly the deep, multifaceted human characters that occupy the cut-throat land of Westeros and beyond. And HBOs ridiculously budgeted, phenomenally successful TV adaptation is no different. In its first series, it seized the world and effortlessly occupied our collective imagination with its incredible, on-location photography and refreshingly unique story (or stories should I say, for there are more than one). In its second series it upped the ante again and dropped us even deeper into the intrigue, ending on such a cliffhanger that many of us havent been able to resist opening the books up. With season 3 on the way (and it cant possibly arrive too soon) we thought itd be wholly appropriate to compile our list of ten reasons that you should be as excited as we are. Be advised, Ive read ahead of the series but while this article contains mass spoilers for seasons 1 and 2, Ive been careful to avoid leaking anything about the potential plot of upcoming series.