Think about the perfect story ever. With great, layered characters, a menacing villain, determined, lovable and almost mystical heroes, amazing politics, twists and turns, decades spanning narrative, rich lore, dialogues like poetry, unpredictability at its best and a garnish at the top with *Dragons*. A story which you’d never wanted to end, a story we’re all familiar with regardless whether we’ve been a part of it or not. The title of the story fits it the grand scale of its narrative- A Song of Ice and Fire or in layman’s terms – Game of Thrones. This gift for humanity was written by who is known as the Tolkien of America- George R.R. Martin. The first book of the series was published back in 1996 and has since become a global sensation. HBO adapted a show from Martin’s books and it took off with the audiences right from the beginning.
The show never wavered in quality until its very end that resulted in an abomination of a finale that no one was able to fathom and has not been able to cope with. The show was on the verge of becoming the best show ever to air but the finale is what let it down. However, the disappointing end was not the story’s fault as the Martin had written only 5 books and the show caught up with the story of the books in its 5th Season. When the show went past the books into a story of its own that is where it really started to struggle until eventually dropping as low as the finale itself. Martin’s last Game of Thrones book was called A Dance with Dragons and it came out in 2011. It saw Jon Snow being killed by the men of his Night’s Watch and Daenerys flying with Drogon escaping the Sons of the Harpy.
Fans have waited long enough for Martin’s next book and he has given us many release dates in the past. However, he has never been able to live up to his promises. The wait for his next book is even higher as he has made it clear that the books will have different end than the show and also because he is 74 years so the clock is ticking…just kidding. In the past, Martin had stated that due to him failing to keep with the deadlines, he has stopped talking about the Winds of Winter, however, during a podcast to talk about House of the Dragon’s finale, Martin has given a really promising update on his next that will lighten up fans who have been desperately waiting for the next instalment in the Ice and Fire book series.
Game of Thrones: Winds of Winter is 75% Done says George R.R. Martin!
Winds of Winter, the upcoming book in the Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire) series gets a much awaited and needed update from series author George R.R. Martin. The author in a live stream arranged by Penguin House following the season finale of House of The Dragon, Radio Times reports; revealed that he is about three-quarters into the novel. Martin clarified a lot of air around the new book by giving a solid update on the 6th book of the series. Even though he provided us with a great update, he denied us of a release date for the book.
The reason for the same is that he has previously failed to live up to his own promises and doesn’t want to disappoint restless fans anymore. Martin also mentioned that Winds of Winter would be the longest installment in the Ice and Fire book series and could run the risk of being split in half by his publishers. Amidst these positive news, Martin did slip in some bad news. The author mentioned that he has not yet begun work on the presumed final installment, A Dream of Spring. So, we might have wait much longer for the concluding chapter of Game of Thrones.
Just to be clear, we don’t only have to wait for Dream of Spring but also for Winds of Winter as despite being 75% done, it is unlikely that the book would be able to hit shelves until late 2024 at the earliest. Martin would need sometime to finish the remaining 25% of the book. However, assuming that he does that rather quickly but after that too, the book still needs to be finished and go through an editing and printing process. Until then, audiences can find some satisfaction by going back to the beginning with House of The Dragon.
All 8 Seasons of Game of Thrones and Ten episodes of House of the Dragon Season One are currently streaming on HBO Max or Disney+ depending on the region where you live.
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