Song of Ice and Fire - Official Book 5 Pub Date!

[Crothian]

Isn't he a Mets fan? If the Mets have a bad start to the season will that interfere with this? What about the NFL issues? We know he's a Giants fan and this could cause him delays. Thank goodness there are no real elections between now and then or this could be delayed for years more.

 

[Fast Learner]

Woot! I'm super-excited and eagerly look forward to it!

Time to start reading them through again from the start, as I do before each new one comes out. Westeros here I come!

 

[ssampier]

Isn't he a Mets fan? If the Mets have a bad start to the season will that interfere with this? What about the NFL issues? We know he's a Giants fan and this could cause him delays. Thank goodness there are no real elections between now and then or this could be delayed for years more.

George R.R. Martin has never set a day before, so I'm pretty confident book 5 should be released at or around July 2011. Now for book 6, we have an U.S. Presidential election in 2012. We may see book 6 in 2020 or so

 

[the Jester]

Well, this is cool and all, but I have to admit that my enthusiasm has cooled. I no longer feel any urgency about getting it- heck, I'm going to have to reread the series to remember what's going on.

Sadly, Martin has put himself in the category of "wait until the series is finished before I bother" for me.

 

[Dausuul]

George R.R. Martin has never set a day before, so I'm pretty confident book 5 should be released at or around July 2011. Now for book 6, we have an U.S. Presidential election in 2012. We may see book 6 in 2020 or so

Keep in mind that he has a TV show to keep up with, now. Assuming "Game of Thrones" runs 1 book per season and doesn't get canceled, he has a deadline of 2016 to release the sixth book (and 2017 to release the seventh). And in practical terms, it's probably more like 2015/2016, given the amount of planning that goes into a TV show.

 

[Blastin]

I really have mixed feelings on this. Part of me REALLY wants to get it and read it day one, while a little voice is saying "why bother...it'll be 5-10 years before you get the next part anyway..."
What to do....what to do....

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Between this news and the forthcoming HBO series release, I think us lovers of fantasy are getting a real treat. Fantastic news!!!

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Umbran]

Meh. It's been too long for me - I can't remember what happened in the last book and I don't want to read them again. I won't be bothering with this.

I read the first book, and set it down and decided to wait until the series was done before I read any more, so I knew I'd avoid what you're experiencing (and the possible Robert Jordan effect of the author dying before he was done with the series).

I will believe it when I see it on the shelves. I will worry about it when the last in the series hits the shelves.

 

[Fast Learner]

Despite disturbing the poor, dead horse, I'll go on record again to say that I really don't care if it's ever finished, I've enjoyed each book so much that the pleasure of simply reading them has far, far outweighed any concern over final resolution. They're so drastically better than any of the hundreds of fantasy books I've read that the sheer reading pleasure is more than enough.

I appreciate that not everyone feels the same and that resolution is a big deal for a lot of folks, but it sure never stopped me from loving and sharing Firefly long before Serenity, for instance.

 

[Pour]

Awesome news, but I'm right there with Jester. It's been far too long, and though I'll definitely purchase this hardcover, my passion for the series has cooled quite a bit. Given the usual complexity of his plots, and the fact he's had, what, 6 years to compound that, I'm going to have to reread the series to have any grasp of the E through Z plots (I think I have a firm enough grasp on A, B, C and D plots...).