User blog comment:TheUnknown285/What Other Sci-Fi or Fantasy Do You Like?/@comment-2088100-20130220024355/@comment-217683-20130220055722

Yeah, I've wondered the same thing. Martin has said he's confident that the books will keep pace with the show, but the glacial rate at which the books come out leads me to doubt that. In that respect, the ASoIaF books are almost as bad as The Elder Scrolls series of games. (17 years from TES I to TES V vs 15 years from the first to the fifth ASoIaF book)

As far as characters, there are some fairly decent characters still alive and kicking, and some characters who've developed quite a bit from the start of the series. Personally, I consider it well worth the read, and I don't read much fantasy. (Besides the ASoIaF books, my fantasy reading experience is pretty much limited to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.)