Declaration of Conversion George R.R. Martin.... oh my God, this man can write.
I've been putting off reading his books because they're long and take lots of investment, unlike the cheap hilarious romance novels that I brightened my summer with, but I picked up "A Game of Thrones" the other day, and I'm now almost finished "A Clash of Kings" and I've bought the next two. They are brilliant, but if you've already read them you'll know that. If you haven't, go read them.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect, because I'd heard they were dark, and 'dark' in fannish terms passes for 'lots of blood and sex and weird religion.' A lot of fantasy authors try to be 'dark' just for the hell of it, and they don't build up very believable societies around those three themes. Martin's definitely dark, plus he's got the blood and the sex and the weird religion, but he also knows what he's doing.
( Small spoilers under the cut for the first two books )