If you haven't read all of the books of ASOIF, don't read further.











So Martin just posted a new Winds of Winter chapter on his website called "Mercy", which is actually an Arya chapter. Good stuff and you can see Arya has really come in to her own as a little assassin. So far he has read or released 2 Arianne chapters, 2 Tyrion, 1 Victarion, 1 Barristan, and this Arya chapter. Few of the chapters have significantly moved the plot though, they are more setup chapters.

The more interesting thing though is some of the reports starting to circulate out there about this chapter and Martin. Apparently he wrote this chapter 10 years ago as a part of the "5 year gap" that never happened. The chapter was supposed to be an ADWD chapter.

That has also come to reveal from Martin that he apparently isn't having to do nearly as many rewrites and edits as he did with AFFC and ADWD. The real issue with those books wasn't that Martin wasn't writing, it was that he would write something and then realize it conflicted with another character arc and have to go back and rewrite it. Apparently now he is seeing where he wants to go and is hitting fewer bumps so he is just having to write parts of the story one time with minor edits instead of constantly reworking it.

Take it all with a grain of salt though because you never know with Martin. This is the first indication in a long time though that he is seeing the end and working toward it instead of being lost in a Meerenese Knot.

There was a great Tyrion chapter just released on the iphone app, as well.

These chapter releases are the closest thing to crack that isn't crack.

And the wishful thinking in regards to GRRM's writing is exactly that. We won't see this book before we see its plot unveiled on HBO.

I think we'll see this book before the show gets there, it's everything past this one that won't make it.

Are these chapters from the next book or stand-alones? If they will be included in the next book, I'll just wait.

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And the wishful thinking in regards to GRRM's writing is exactly that. We won't see this book before we see its plot unveiled on HBO.

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Highly doubt that. The frequency with which these chapters are being released of late gives me hope that we aren't far from an announcement regarding a publishing date.

This book will probably hit late in 2015, and we will begin to see the storylines feature prominently into Season 6 (2016). So this one will literally release just in time.

It's book 7 that simply isn't going to be anywhere near complete in time for the show to wrap it all up. The series will end on TV before it's ends on the page.

Who would've thought that we would see live dire wolves before we saw book 5?

AustinAg2K said:

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maverick2076 said:

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Who would've thought that we would see live dire wolves before we saw book 5?

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Bran probably saw this coming.

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Hahaha!!! I just spit out my drink!!!!

So what IS the latest on when we may see the next book? I am going to do a reread before it arrives.

AgHawkeye said:

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Tailgate88 said:

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So what IS the latest on when we may see the next book? I am going to do a reread before it arrives.

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You should probably start now, if you are trying to learn Chinese and read the Chinese versions.

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They are hard enough to read in English.

Tailgate88 said:

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So what IS the latest on when we may see the next book? I am going to do a reread before it arrives.

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Reddit (and I cringe as I say this) is a good up-to-date source for what's going on with ASOIAF. Here's a discussion on the official Martin statements throughout 2025.

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/1pk43ro/spoilers_extended_its_so_over_were_so_back_a_look/

Take that sub with a grain of salt though. All the waiting has truly made some of the community there go insane.

To get to the point, in July he said he had 1200 pages of The Winds of Winter written with 400-500 left to go.

If (my least favorite word in the English language) the book ever gets published, I don't see how the publisher doesn't split it in two volumes.

I'm being very naive here, but I just do not see how this guy won't wrap up the series and become the writer of the most captivating fantasy series ever.

Me not being naive but cynical, the guy is a filthy rich old man nearing 80 and probably can't face the truth he doesn't want to waste time stressing and just wants to spend his bajillions.

He's not planning to finish it. The ending of the HBO show - his ending - was handled so badly that he would have to write a new ending and he doesn't want to, he's tired of writing (he's very upfront about this), the plot is a mess at this point and he feels no obligation (and a lot of animosity) towards his fans, many of whom sound like psychopaths when they talk about the delay.

He probably has written 1200-1400 words, but that doesn't mean any of them make up a cohesive story. And all together now - he doesn't really want to finish the series. He doesn't care about finishing the series anymore. He and his wife have made it 1000% clear that the estate will not hire someone to finish the books after he passes, and he doesn't have any kids who will get greedy someday.

He may be convincing himself that he plans to finish it, hence the posts and interviews over the years about how much he's written and sample chapters and all the other lies about how he's working on the book over the last 14 years, but he isn't actually planning to. Much how my 13 year old will tell me she is absolutely going to clean her room and yet somehow never does any work that will lead to a clean room. Every single action regarding ASOIAF GRRM has taken in the last 10 years or so makes it abundantly clear that he doesn't plan to finish it.

It sucks, it's a great series and I would love to read the ending in Martin's words. Every time I've re-read it I'm struck again at just what a great, insanely good character writer he is and the intrigue and the worldbuilding get me every time. If I'm wrong I'll own it and celebrate. But I don't expect ASOIAF to ever be completed, by him or anyone else.