I promise I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'm just discussing. So:
When I say growth I mean Rob doesn't really do anything until Ned dies. He's just sort of there and understood to be the leader. So when he REALLY starts having any impact on the story it's as a boy war commander. Him becoming king is cool as a reader, but isn't any real difference because Rob was already ruling. No growth. When he does start to be seen through Cats eyes, whether its his fault or not, all he does is piss people off and get murdered. Still not growth. That's just being a player in the overall story, and he's still not a main character by the definition I stated.
Everybody thinks she is the most important because literary convention has told us as readers she is. Which is what my whole post relies on, literary convention.
GRRM Isn't the best writer when you look at skill. Just being famous means jack all. Otherwise you're throwing in Stephanie Meyer, whoever the dolt was that wrote 50 shades, etc. And while each of them, and the people you listed, may be ENTERTAINING writers, they are not even great. And dude, GRRM wasn't famous until the HBO contract. Let's be real. Not anymore than any other established writer that isn't a household name.
EXCITING does not equal good. Even then, Repetition isn't even exciting, it's boring. What is exciting? Seeing supernatural dragons burn people alive, the idea of Ice Zombies and a scrounge pack of humans clash for the fate of all humanity, the mystery of what a tree wizard is gonna do. These are all exciting. Character Death cliffhangers are not the Holy Grail of writing. A combination of these things does make an exciting book series though. Which still doesn't make ASOIAF the greatest thing ever written.
If you ant famous you ain't good? That's just...no. you're wrong. I'll be confrontational with that. So so so so so wrong. So wrong. Like, more wrong than the tinfoiliest theory that has ever been tinfoiled wrong.
All this talk about his writing ability isn't to say he isn't one of the greatest, just not the best. Besides, ASOIAF is by far my favorite book series ever written. It could end as is and still be better than any piece of high literature, low literature, vague images transmitted by aliens, or whatever in terms of being my favorite. I've only read it 3 times, but it's so engrossing, the world is so deep, dialogue is amazing, it's great. But still doesn't make GRRM the greater writer, merely one of the most detailed. If details made the best art than the best painters would be the most detailed.
Name one better writer? This is personal opinion obviously but: Joseph Heller, Lewis Carroll, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, Terry REST IN PEACE Pratchett, and those are just my personal choices off the top of my head. FAMOUS equals best: Michael Crichton. Amazing writer, tons of research, could write any genre, consistently EXCITING stories, super imaginitive, detailed characters etc. Not necessarily better than GRRM, but he's close by your standards. And during his prime he was just leagues beyond the competition on any kind of best seller lists in terms of ability.
Sorry about the wall of text