1.  His characters are incredibly real. Almost immediately, you realize that you care what happens to them. Their wants and needs, likes and dislikes become yours. I think this is because they aren't heroes--or villains, for that matter. Martin's world is a world of grays. Eddard Stark, for example, is noble and virtuous--almost foolishly so. He allows his ideals to obscure his reality, and he suffers for it. Cersei Lannister is arguably an evil woman, but Martin very sensitively portrays the disappointments and struggles that shaped her. In real life, no one is all good--or all bad. One man's hero is another man's villain--it depends on your point of view. Likewise, in real life, no one is static. Rather, who you are changes in response to what you experience. "Good" people turn "bad", and visa versa. Jaime Lannister's entire outlook on life changes after he suffers a catastrophic loss. If we're lucky--or unlucky--life occasionally presents you with an opportunity to critically examine our own shortcomings. A hero who soldiers on, consequences be damned, is unrealistic; you can admire him, but you can't identify with him.

2.  Martin is a master of complexity. I think the miracle, here, is not so much the incredible profusion of characters, plot twists, and ideas but the fact that they're all comprehensible. Often, authors who attempt such a high degree of complexity end up with nothing but confusion. They beat some ideas into the ground with the proverbial "hammer of fire," while they totally forget about others. Martin, however, consistently gives you a world that completely draws you in. And, much like real life, it keeps you guessing. His ability to world-build--and I say this without reservation--is without match in today's fantasy market.

3.  He doesn't fall in love with his characters. This problem is a personal pet peeve. The classic example is Dorothy Sayers and Peter Whimsy. It's patently obvious, when you read one of her books, that Peter Whimsy is her "Mr. Perfect." She never met him in real life, so she created him. A non-threatening man who never has a weak moment, says an angry word or does something thoughtless, he's as thrillingly one-dimensional as most fantasies. He speaks numerous languages, has numerous erudite interests, and he always prefers going dancing to staying at home and burping. Honestly, what a bore. You feel like writing her a letter explaining that men are just people--and real men are a lot more exciting than pretend men! Peter Whimsy might be interesting to her, but he's not interesting to the rest of us. When you fall in love with your character, it's not real love--the kind of love that encourages truth. When you genuinely love someone, you accept the worst in them, you criticize them for their own good, you see the best in them and you refuse to accept anything less. This, however, is more hero worship. When you put someone on a pedestal, you put them far enough away from you that only their general outline is visible. You can admire them, in the general sense, without having to face their flaws. If you fall in love with your character, then you lose your power over it--and, subsequently, you trade in your role as creator for a new role as a sort of dance partner, whirling around in an endlessly banal waltz.

4.  Martin builds on a solid foundation of real life issues. I'm so sick of authors who confuse "high fantasy" with torpid high mindedness. People don't, in fact, always do things for the "right" reasons. "For the good of the realm", "for honor", "for love", they're just crutches. Honestly, some authors seem really out of touch with the world around them. Or maybe they have messiah complexes. Or maybe they just don't like real people all that much. Kingdoms rise and fall over stupidity and pettiness just as often as over noble sentiments--and the interplay of these differing motivations creates its own problems. Through his characters, Martin weaves level after level of intrigue, each of which masterfully exploits them.

5.  Another personal pet peeve is homogeny. Different "cultures" that all speak the same language, share the same moral code and worship the same gods is a total cop-out. Martin, meanwhile, gives us a world full of different languages, beliefs and religions. "Good" people in one culture are "bad" by the standards of the next. Social issues are a constant undercurrent, even though they never drive the main plot of the story. Disability and disease are a fact of life. Several of his characters have physical and mental challenges; people are mean to them, they suffer, they survive. I think Martin must know someone, perhaps a family member, who has some challenge, because his portrayals are dead-on. Not to be a total social warrior, here, but someone I love has physical and mental challenges and sometimes peoples' attitudes about them really bother me. I feel very positive about Martin's inclusion of characters with challenges in his books, because it affirms the fact that they belong. The challenges his characters have are just a fact of who they are--they don't define either their experiences or their role in the story. Ultimately, our differences make life--and books--interesting.

If you want an author who expertly blends high fantasy and epic intrigue with real people, then George R. R. Martin is the author for you.