The books are long, but none are close to 5000 pages. The books are outstanding, particularly the first 3. I'd advise against investing the time at this point, that fat ******* GRRM is never going to finish the series.
Good first episode, opening was epic. I figured this would be a set-up type of episode. I enjoyed most of it outside of that ridiculous Ed Sheeren scene.
On another note, first season of TD is all time classic