Yes, George Martin Writes Horror

Cataline makes an excellent observation I think, with the caveat that, quite obviously, GoT/ASoIaF is set in a fantasy universe. Game of Thrones is horror, and that's pretty much what George knows how to write.

I remember skimming back and forth in the first two books of the series (the only ones I read, I grant you), trying to find a battle scene and there just isn’t one. What you get are people describing the the aftermath of a battle and the key events that happened in it, (IE who died that time), but no real action.

Martin can’t write about battle and adventure. He can not write action.

So he defaulted, to his primary skill set. Horror.

I’m not really into horror but I have read some of his works and they are decent examples of the genre. Sandkings and Nightflyers, both deliver on what that audience wants.

Read the whole thing - there's more good points in there.

The same backbiting and general moral muck can be seen in the "sophisticated" Wild Cards series, and horror elements feature strongly in his Tuff short stories (at one point collected into Tuff Voyaging).

Actually the characters of Tuff would be right at home in ASoIaF. Compleat with the weakling outsmarting everyone.

Hell, I punched out of the series and rape-squared Martin before bothering to read the second book, and about the same time I punched out of Stephen King. It's obvious they are bitter, twisted people. I also get accused of not having read or understood their works. By the time I list out the major themes and plot points of a number of them they move the goal posts to different arguments.

Insofar as the finale - I hadn't seen much of it but from what I'd heard and seen I'd have to go with "as good an ending as could be managed given what preceded, this season especially, and all the threads that needed to be wrapped up." Buildings and armies are rebuilt regardless of former losses. The dragon torching the throne didn't make sense. Bran being crowned king didn't make sense. The fact that the "solution" would down the road force another struggle for the throne was completly overlooked. Hell, the entire series was a testament to what happens when there's not a clear claim to leadership, even if the king that was killed decades before likely needed killing.

I did see the scene with Tyrion and Snow in the cell. It's actually funny but that speech could, word for word, describe much of modern feminism and SJW's today. "She got rid of a tyrant and did it cruelly and viciously and we excused it because those people bad, she did good. We cheered her for it. We never put checks on her. Now look at what a monster she's become."

If only the writers looked around the current landscape and, despite their attempt to make it look like a Nazi rally, see who's obsessed with "slaying tyrants" the world over and would stop at nothing.....

As for commentary.... I find the line about Arya suddenly becoming Dora the Explorer about 13 minutes in hysterical.