The Winds of Winter – Is the Wait Finally Over?

There have been promises made, broken, and hinted at, deadlines set, passed and thoroughly ignored. The TV series has caught up and passed the books creating their own plotlines and endings and yet still we loyal readers wait, hoping against hope that The Winds of Winter the final book in the epic series A Song of Ice and Fire will eventually be published.

Could this be the year that the holy grail of  books lands on our shelves we wonder, could it be true? Is the wait finally over? Could Winter really be coming this time?

2016 was in Martin’s own words, an awful year, he hated it, too many people died and he says 2017 hasn’t started much better titling an entry in his LiveJournal blog written on January 9th Doom, Despair, Defeat after his beloved football team lost and Game of Thrones did not win a single award at the Golden Globes.

As is the norm from Mr Martin The Winds of Winter was not mentioned at all.

So what makes us think that perhaps the wait for the finale might finally be over? Well Martin is notorious for his refusal to reply to any fan queries about the progress of the final book in his Song of Ice and Fire series and yet one fan’s comment seems to have sneaked through his usually impenetrable wall of silence and we may just have some positive news.

A fan named J Snow (yes we got it) wrote a comment on Martin’s blog post and very politely asked the author if there was any news on the penultimate SoIaF novel.

“Even if its as simple as, ‘not done yet, but ive made progress( or not),’ or ‘it’ll be out this year (or not).’ Anything(or not). Either way, have a great new year, and thank you for, imo, the best fantasy series out there.”

And gasp! Martin replied.

“You really think statements like that would make a difference? Ah, you sweet summer child. I have years of experience with this that tells me otherwise. But okay, I will try it your way. Not done yet, but I’ve made progress. But not as much as I hoped a year ago, when I thought to be done by now. I think it will be out this year. (But hey, I thought the same thing last year).”

So, is this the year we will finally discover what is happening in our favourite family feud?

I don’t know about you but I’m not holding my breath.