It looks like the rumors about “Winds of Winter” change on a weekly basis, as just last week the main theory was that the book will have to go through yet another delay, and possibly won’t make it to the market in 2017. Now, new claims have surfaced that the author is already going through the last stages of writing the book, and will be ready to release it in early 2017.
That’s not all though – a more interesting rumor has been going around as well, indicating that George R. R. Martin may have already started work on the next installment in the series. Many fans were worried that the author may not be able to complete the current book on time, or that if he does, he will still leave the story open as there is no way he would finish the next book in a reasonable manner.
It looks like Martin has been painfully aware of that situation behind the scenes though, at least if the rumors are to be believed. The author will be wise to pick up the pace on his work, as many people are growing increasingly tired of waiting for him to release “Winds of Winter”, and reports indicate that he has actually been losing some fans lately.
It doesn’t help that we constantly keep hearing some even more worrying rumors, such as those that he had lost all his progress in a computer crash, and had no backups available. Martin himself is relatively quiet on his situation as a whole, and this leads to even more speculation among his fans who simply don’t know what to believe among the many rumors out there.
If “Winds of Winter” really is being planned for an early 2017 release, that would be great. It would be even greater if the book arrives with an announcement that the next one is already in the works and will be ready shortly after, as that would help to tone down the huge expectations fans have towards “Winds of Winter” itself right now.
Some suspect that this is actually the main reason behind the huge delay in the release of “Winds of Winter”. It’s not an uncommon situation in the world of arts and entertainment that a long-awaited sequel to an important work becomes a huge burden on the shoulders of its creator(s).
It’s what’s happening to “Half-Life 3” right now, for example, and considering how long it’s been since the last entry in Martin’s book series came out, many fans are right to expect big things from “Winds of Winter”.
However, it might be impossible for the author to deliver on those expectations right now, and the longer he goes without releasing the sequel, the more difficult it will be to please his fans in the end. It could easily turn out that “Winds of Winter” will be a huge disappointment to many fans of the series, even if the book actually turns out the way Martin had planned it from the beginning.
Meanwhile, “Game of Thrones” is still moving forward despite the delays. The show has started to deviate from the main storyline in some regards, although most fans don’t really seem to mind. The show has managed to retain a loyal following of fans and most people simply treat everything that happens in it as canon. It could easily be the case some time from now that the TV show overshadows the original books.