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

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'll believe it when it is on the bookshelves. The dead guy will still probably finish his series before GRRM's next book.

 

[Zaukrie]

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.

Awesome post!

I'll believe it when I see it. I may not read another book until he finishes or dies....seriously, I don't have time to re-read the whole series each time a book comes out, which you have to do given the time delay.

 

[Mercurius]

A Wait of Vice and Ire is almost over? I'll believe it when I see it.

I stopped reading after the first book, both because I liked but didn't love it, but also because I didn't want to deal with waiting a couple decades for the series to end. I think I'll hold off for another decade or so, at least until the last book is imminent which, at his current pace, should be sometime in the 2020-2024 range.

 

[mach1.9pants]

There is another one due after this, right? The final one?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

2 or 3 more, IIRC. Hence my skepticism.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

Hello Everyone,

I'm curious why people won't read a series until they have all been released. From my own point of view, if I liked a series, I would read it regardless of whether it was finished because:

a) I'd enjoy reading the next "chapter" of the story anyway

b) I'd hate reading something somewhere that spoiled what was happening in a book I had not read yet.

This differs for some of you out there, I'm kind of curious why?

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Starman]

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.

I, for one, refuse to read The Canterbury Tales until Chaucer finishes the damn thing. I need to know how it ends. Do the pilgrims make it or not??!

 

[MerricB]

This differs for some of you out there, I'm kind of curious why?

I'm not very happy reading something that will never be finished, especially something epic. GRRM really has to move heaven and earth to convince me that he'll finish A Song of Ice and Fire: it has taken him eleven years to finish writing this book. As he's now 62, he can't afford any more delays. (Jordan was 58 when he died, and we're very fortunate that he made copious notes and was willing to have someone else finish it; we're unbelievably fortunate that that someone was Brandon Sanderson).

There's also the basic problem that I'm not convinced that the story knows where it's going. The Wheel of Time (mostly) has a massive forward momentum, and the brilliant use of prophecy and foreshadowing allows you to understand where it's going.

Cheers!

 

[the Jester]

Hello Everyone,

I'm curious why people won't read a series until they have all been released.

I'm happy to, if it's being written and released at a reasonable pace.

For instance, just today I got the final volume in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, which I've been getting as they come out- because they come out every year or so at the most.

It's a series where stuff is happening, and where the author is actually writing them instead of, basically, making excuses for how long it is taking.

I read A Feast for Crows when it came out and realized that I couldn't remember everything that had been going on. And then release date after release date came and went while Martin kept saying, "No, that wasn't a release date, this is a release date"- and he's doing it again.

Frankly, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for this if I were you.

Now, I'm not one of those guys that thinks a given author "owes" me a story, or that he is under any obligation to finish a series. But I hate to read a cool series that never ends, and I'm also not one of those guys that thinks I somehow owe it to authors like Martin and Jordan and Gerrold to keep reading/buying them if they aren't writing what I want to read.

 

[Felon]

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.

Well, it'll be finished one way or the other. It's such a cash cow and Martin has gotten sufficiently avaricious that there's little doubt that he's sold the rights to publish more books in the case of his demise. Easy money for him, insurance for the publisher.

I recommended these books to my mother, who has grown somewhat fond of sci-fi and fantasy epics late in her life. She didn't believe me when I told her there hasn't been another book in the last five years or so. Hope this makes her happy.