Funny, the very first book that ever truly got it’s hooks into me when I was in 5th grade was The Hobbit. I voraciously read through the 300ish pages and when I finished I had this very same hangover and thought, I sure hope there is another book like this somewhere.

Imagine my delight in discovering that Hobbit was merely the prequel to LotR. That said, I recall being disappointed that Frodo replaced Bilbo as the protagonist for the series.

But we still have two books to go in ASOIAF (assuming George ever finishes it)

Totally agree. Passive consumption of video media does not stimulate the brain the way that active participation in any sort of game would. While there are certainly arguments to be made against video games in general (especially the tendency toward addictive behavior) at least video games provide a medium that requires active participation.