The wait for “Winds of Winter” is far from over, and even though many fans have been asking George R. R. Martin to share any kind of information about the new book, he has been completely quiet on the issue. Not only that, but there have been several delays in his work that have made fans quite worried over time, with some currently afraid that they might not even see the next installment in the series at all.
This is due to reasons like the advancing age of the author and his notoriously slow working pace, combined with the huge popularity of the book series and the associated large amounts of attention focused on Martin at the moment. Many of his fans suspect that the author might be feeling the burden of his own fame, as he has been backed into a corner trying to meet expectations that might be impossible to satisfy.
And while Martin has been mostly quiet on the current progress on the latest book, he’s recently made some peculiar statements to his fans. While one would expect that the author addressing his audience would actually get them excited, many people were actually even more worried by his new claims.
According to Martin, the newest entry in his book series is going to end on a major cliffhanger – possibly even more than one – and fans should prepare for an important twist at some point. Now, this would normally be exciting news for fans of “A Song of Ice and Fire” – after all, the series is partly built on cliffhangers.
However, many have come to the conclusion that even the release of “Winds of Winter” would be a miracle at this point, so seeing the franchise continued beyond that is under a huge question mark. And with that in mind, does it really make sense for Martin to leave so many loose ends?
It’s probably a bit of a grim way to look at things, but the author’s health has been deteriorating, and sooner or later he might not be able to continue working on his books. Fans of “Wheel of Time” have bitter memories of a similar situation, and Martin should probably not see himself as immortal. It would definitely be in the writer’s best interest to get the situation under control right now and bring something out as soon as possible, even if he’s not perfectly happy with the final result.
That could actually be one of the problems contributing to the slow release of “Winds of Winter”. George R. R. Martin is known for a perfectionist attitude towards his writing, and that may be preventing him from putting the finishing touches on the book. In fact, it’s highly likely that he’s gone through multiple revisions and is finding it hard to reach a specific version that he likes.
Reports indicate that the author plans to complete his entire series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by 2023. That seems to be a bold prediction at the current rate, as it’s taken him so much time to even get “Winds of Winter” out.
But if he actually manages to stick to that plan and brings out the rest of the books in time, that would potentially make him one of the most memorable authors of the current decade. Martin is already enjoying quite a lot of recognition for his work, but leaving his most important series unfinished could definitely have some negative implications on his reputation.