The release date of “The Winds of Winter,” the sixth book in the fantasy novel series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by critically-acclaimed author George R.R. Martin, has been in the rumor mill since 2014.
The initial speculations then were that the book would be released before the Season 6 of the HBO series “Game of Thrones” in the spring of 2016.
The TV adaptation was based on the fantasy novel series and most storylines in the show’s first five seasons were taken from the first five books of “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
The fifth book, “A Dance with Dragons” was officially launched in 2011, right after Season 1 of “Game of Thrones” but officially made it to the bookshelves in October 2012 or right after Season 2 of the popular TV series. So fans of “Game of Thrones” sure had plenty of spoilers from Martin’s books.
But it appears that the TV series has caught up with the sixth book, a situation which Martin describes as comparable to a giant locomotive bearing down on him and putting more pressure on him to release it soon, notes The Bitbag.
From the initial rumors that “The Winds of Winter” would be released anytime from October last year to March this year, just before the Season 6 premiere of “Game of Thrones,” it was changed to the possibility of an April 2016 release or just about the time when the TV show returns to the small screen.
At the onset of the New Year, however, reports started coming out that “The Winds of Winter” will no longer be coming out before the Season 6 premiere of “Game of Thrones” but after the show’s debut.
Now, latest reports going around the internet is that “The Winds of Winter” shall no longer be released after the Season 6 premiere of “Game of Thrones.” It will not even come out after the end of the sixth season of the TV series on HBO sometime in June. Apparently, the book is now reported to come out in 2017.
Within Martin’s timeline
According to a source privy to Martin’s writing timeline, the author did not actually say in the past that he will be releasing the book last year or this year. What he has been saying is that he is a slow writer and that he is having difficulty meeting deadlines.
The author said that when he writes his book, he usually have lots of stories to tell and many chapters to complete. In fact, the last two books of the fantasy novel series had an average of 1,150 pages, which is likely the same with “The Winds of Winter.”
Given the volume of manuscripts he had to write, it was projected way back in 2014 that Martin shall be able to complete and release “The Winds of Winter” in 2017 with the last book in the series, titled “A Dream of Spring” being released in 2023.
Since the author does not want to say that the book would be released in 2017, he just allowed the speculations to run freely, sometimes wildly, on the internet that it could be released before Season 6 of “Game of Thrones.”
Now, it is not clear if “The Winds of Winter” will be released before or after Season 7 of “Game of Thrones.” But by then, it shall no longer matter as much to fans and viewers of the TV series as they have already lost their source of major spoilers for Season 6 of the show.
When gloom started setting in
In a recent post in his blog, George Martin was quoted as saying that he still thought he could finish and release “The Winds of Winter” as previously planned before the Season 6 premiere of “Game of Thrones.” But then, it was already October and then November, and then it dawned upon him that he would not make it after all. That’s when gloom started to set in, Martin said.
The author also said in the blog that “Game of Thrones” moved faster than he anticipated. So fans and readers of “A Song of Ice and Fire” will first get to end the fantasy novel series on TV by writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss before Martin gets to conclude it through his published books, notes The Atlantic.
Is this guy serious. Why did it take hime 7 years to write the first three but 7 years ti write just one. I think its irresponisble to the show as wella s the fans. Theres nonresson why he should take on so many other projects before finishing this one
Not 7 years, if it shall be released in 2017 it would be 6 years, as well as it took 6 years to write A Dance With Dragons.
Why didnt he finish tWoW before writing The Tales of Dunc n Egg or The Dance of the Dragons all these novellas that could have waited. Its disrespectful to his fans to take on other projects like the afformentioned and Vinyl and The Skin Game. Just get on with the damn book For F Sake.
The Dance of the Dragons? Which noivell is that?