The best book I've read is A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire#1) by George R.R. Martin

What?
It tells a story of several houses in a period where summers can last decades and winters much longer. With more characters than the typical novel, I think the heart of the story of this novel lies with the Starks of Winterfell. The story begins with a mysterious attacks of unknown forces to a group of rangers of the Night's Watch beyond the kingdom's wall in the North while in the South King Robert's Baratheon trusted adviser died of questionable circumstances. Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell, was summoned to serve as the king's hand and when he was doing his duties, his family was put in the center of the deadliest conflict in the kingdom: the game of thrones.
Among the important events that occurred in this particular installment are the following:

1. Jon Snow joining the Night's Watch and together with his albino direwolf with red eyes (Ghost) saving Lord Commander Mormont's life from the Other.
2. The fall of Bran Stark from the tower and his dreams of the Three-Eyed Raven.
3. Death of Eddard Stark by execution and the marching of the Lords of the North to the South to avenge the former's death and in the process declaring Rob Stark as the King of the North not to mention his successful capture of Jaime Lannister.
4. Arya meeting Yoren of the Night's Watch and the start of her own journey.
5. Sansa's pretense to the Lannisters while she was being held in the KIng's Landing.
6. Marriage of Daenarys Targaryen to Khal Drogo up to the rebirth of the former as the Mother of the Dragons upon the death of her husband.
   Whew, it was pretty tough to make a decent synopsis of this installment because this book is really full-packed.

Why?
This series, particularly this installment made an impression on me because what's not to like when you have all the elements of a good story in one book: great and unique characters with perfect names, well built settings with perfect names also and plot with the right mix of mystery, magic, reality, politics, family and even love. I see this series particularly this installment with all the elements of my other favorite series put into one such as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Harry Potter and other mystery/thriller books that I've read. I really see the brilliance of George R.R. Martin in creating this kind of story with the right balance of admirable, flawed, hateful and disgusting characters and settings built from out-of-this world imagination.

I especially love this installment because this is when I fell in love with the Starks of Winterfell and their direwolves and here they are really depicted as a house with great honor and with so much more talent, skills, mystery and secrets. This book made me read all the parts of this series and is impatiently waiting for the Book 6 of the series.

I read this book right after I give birth to my first child in 2013. Because I was on maternal leave and my son was very behaved and slept a lot, I have enough time to watch the Season 1 of Game of Thrones TV series and when I could not get enough of the TV series, I started reading Book 1 and the rest followed.