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.

What really stood out for *me* was that the deaths seemed quite clearly telegraphed, chapters in advance, in contrast to other people who'd told me the deaths of characters were surprising and shocking. But then I noticed that in reading Martin, I'd very quickly switched my genre expectations from High Fantasy to Medieval Saga. That the book "A Game of Thrones" most reminded me of was Njal's Saga, with its huge cast of characters, caught up in war and revenge, and never escaping impending doom.

So. Jon Snow's mother. By the end of the first book, I thought I'd got it, and the theory still stands as of Book II. He's the son of Leanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, I'm pretty darn sure.