2. A Game Of Thrones
This book is perfect and no one will ever dissuade me of that opinion. In terms of tension, in terms of action, in terms of the characters, the setting, the attitudes and the risks it took, this book is perfect. This was one of the first books in epic fantasy to take the characters that are normally the sidekicks and make them the heroes. Bastard son Jon Snow, dwarf Tyrion Lannister, whole new types of characters were created here. And while many people say Ned getting caught was rather predictable, no one can say the way his life ended was. All the actions of this book have later repercussions and while all of the characters aren't exactly likable, they're all interesting. Subtle set up for things that will come later is all over the place. Jaime's hatred of the Starks (particularly Ned), the kidnapping of Tyrion, the attitude of Renly, Jon's treatment at the wall. This book is the one that introduced us to the Starks and made us fall in love with them so that when the sword fell near the end, there wasn't a dry eye around. Even people who say Ned was stupid to act the way he did bawled when he died. Because even if he wasn't always the smartest man around, he was honorable, and people could love him for that. That was also the moment that the audience realized that anyone was expendable. A lot of books make this claim, but this is one of the very few that holds itself to that. It made the readers genuinely fear because when their favorite character got in trouble, there was absolutely no guarantee that they would come out. Building that kind of tension is very hard to do, but Martin did it here and created a whole new world, full of different people, cultures, and places that continues to captivate millions 20 years later.