One thing that made it a bit more appealing as fantasy for me were that there was nothing gimmickong about the fantastical aspects. The white walkers are introduced in the first episode of the first season and the dragons introduced in the last with nothing really magical in between, it stood one fair solid season or one book with nothing but I hint of magic and fantasy. It's fantasy but it's focus is on the relationships and power struggles more than anything else. Of course those little glimpses of the white walkers and dragons made us hungry for more and certainly helped in drawing us back for future seasons.