A Dance with Dragons

peterlies · March 04, 2011, 01:51:07 PM

Finally a release date!

http://geeksofdoom.com/2011/03/03/george-r-r-martins-a-dance-with-dragons-gets-release-date/

GodShifter · March 04, 2011, 04:13:27 PM

I'll believe it when I see it ...

Now how long till the next installment comes out? July of 2017 (conservative estimate)?

giantchris · March 22, 2011, 01:04:45 PM

About fucking time. I bet he was done with it awhile ago and was just waiting to release it close to the show coming out for synergy's sake. He better speed his damn writing because at this rate if the show doesn't get canceled it will catch up to his books pretty quick lol.

I just hope he doesn't die before he finishes. I mean honestly everyone knew Robert Jordan was going to die before he finished and big shocker he did.

GodShifter · March 22, 2011, 06:18:43 PM

That's really pretty true, giantchris. He IS going to die before he ever finishes the books at the rate he's going. He has to be just a horrible, lazy slob that has decided to rest on his laurels for the rest of his life. Such a shame. I'm looking forward to the HBO series but I'm very prepared for being disappointed.

peterlies · March 22, 2011, 07:52:38 PM

On a positive note, Steven Erikson seems to have done the impossible and actually finished an epic (10 books), complex and killer fantasy series.

giantchris · March 26, 2011, 05:04:04 AM

Quote from: GodShifter on March 22, 2011, 06:18:43 PM
That's really pretty true, giantchris. He IS going to die before he ever finishes the books at the rate he's going. He has to be just a horrible, lazy slob that has decided to rest on his laurels for the rest of his life. Such a shame. I'm looking forward to the HBO series but I'm very prepared for being disappointed.

Not entirely what I said! The man seems to have ADD and keeps doing other projects. He's written 5 books for a Song of Ice and Fire and the first one came out in 1996! Hes the author's version of the band Tool! Thats 15 years ago!

Except since he started writing it hes published one novel, 4 novellas, 2 collections of short stories, edited and contributed to 10 books (The Wild Cards series), and written the pilot for Game of Thrones all outside of writing the main series. This doesn't include doing tours/appearances for these other projects during this time.

Look at a guy like Brandon Sanderson who is also writing complex novels. His first published work was in 2006 and since then he was written 4 novels for Mistborn, four for the Alcatraz series, 2 stand alone novels, 2 for the wheel of time, 2 short stories, and the first book of the stormlight archives. I understand that everybody works at their own pace and creating art is a very individual and personal process but with George R R Martin I always get the feeling hes procrastinating from reading his blog. As like every 8 weeks he will let drip hey I finished a chapter! While he has been posting I finished editing this book, got miniatures produced, anyone want a signed calender, the Jets won again, etc. The man is a workaholic but he splits his time between too many projects.

giantchris · March 26, 2011, 05:08:48 AM

I also wanted to point out that the Stephen Erikson series is pretty badass as well.

Also the better question is whether the Game of Thrones TV show will catch up to the books before he can finish them. I almost suspect that Martin has finished more then he lets on and is going to release a book every season or two of the show.

GodShifter · March 26, 2011, 10:01:50 PM

Okay, fair enough. All I know is what I've read on his homepage, wikipedia, and a website called "Just Finish The Book George" (I think was the name of it).

The impression I got was that he was far more into watching Jets games, keeping up with their draft, and going to conventions than doing any real writing. What do I know? I'm not a hardcore fan but I love the "The Song of Ice and Fire" series enough that I've read all four books twice. But I am not aware of anything else he's really done outside of working with Spielberg on "The Twilight Zone" or something like that ...

So my apologies for misquoting you/distorting what you said.

The Shocker · April 08, 2011, 12:31:25 PM

Never read the books and was going to skip the HBO show until I saw an article in Entertainment Weekly that said something along the lines of Lord of the Rings, but with nudity/sex. I'll definitely check that out! Is that at all accurate?

peterlies · April 08, 2011, 07:11:35 PM

That is accurate. Sex, whores, incest.

Volume · April 09, 2011, 07:04:10 AM

I agree with giantchris, I think he's been delaying the release because of the hbo series, which looks pretty promising. If it takes off he'll be forced to finnish the books, finally.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GameofThrones

And yes the Malazan series is awsome, I'm actually reading the last book now. It's my favorite fantasy series by far, glad that Esslemont has a trilogy left in his contact and I'm pretty sure Erikson will write a couple of more too.

The Shocker · April 19, 2011, 08:30:59 AM

OK, so where do I start with this series? I saw on Wikipedia that there are prequels & novellas in addition to the novels.

Buena54 · December 05, 2011, 07:24:57 AM

Reaction within the fandom is actually mixed, from the general google, but I loved this particular guide. It has all my favorite characters, they are doing amazing things, and extremely get the tale heading once again. The Feast for Crows had been something of a letdown, coupled with very little motion, there wasn't a ton of action in Mythical beasts, and most from it only agreed to be to move items in order to appropriate locations, rather than to actually advance piece. To ensure that was poor. But there is still a great deal going on and lots of new info

And hey, Arya chapters! I really like Arya! She is with an interesting arc and i am concerned that they might lose himself. It's also tough to observe exactly what relevance she's to the story at this point, but hopefully it's going to just about all work out. To be honest, I am kinda worried the plot has a lot of threads so that it is wrapped up in just 2 more books, but at the same time, I'm not going a lot more than two simply because I would like Martin to complete the actual series currently!

Was the wait worthwhile? Truthfully, absolutely no. 6 years is really a very long time, as well as Martin's already been busy composing other stuff, it doesn't seem like he or she really cares about this particular series any longer

peterlies · December 05, 2011, 06:04:29 PM

It was better than I thought it would be after reading some reviews. Does kind of feel like the story is getting away from him though. The Connington arc in particular seems out of place. I wish he would of given a little more of how Brienne was about to hang at the end of AFFC and just shows up to meet Jamie in this one....then nothing else.

All in all, it's still one of my favorite series. Not as good as Erikson, in my opinion, but at least it's not as bad as Jordan. I'm hoping that with the popularity of the TV series he'll get to writing.

GodShifter · December 05, 2011, 10:23:00 PM

I finished it sometime back, and I was less than impressed. Yes, it's better than A Feast For Crows (how could it not be?) but it isn't great. And it's not great because, essentially, nothing happens. Yep, you get the characters you love this time but much like Feast, it's all build up and no release (so to speak). If the story continues the way Martin is approaching it now, there is no way in hell he ever finishes the thing. It doesn't seem like he's real inspired to do so, anyway.

giantchris · December 05, 2011, 10:41:42 PM

I've been so busy with work and reading The Dark Tower I haven't gotten the new one yet...Reviews seem pretty mixed some of my friends are giving me the meh. I just hope in the last book Arya returns and kills everyone.

sleestak · January 17, 2014, 02:59:39 PM

Way old topic I know but I finally finished all 5 books in the series and while I am a huge fan of the books, the lore and the TV show I was a little let down by the ending of this book. Some cool stuff happened but it's like instead of splitting book 4 and 5 into two books that kinda take place at the same time, why not just cut to the fucking chase already and get some shit happening. How long has winter been coming?

Like you guys have said above. I know this fucking weirdo is gonna fucking keel over before he finishes the final two books.

giantchris · March 16, 2014, 07:35:01 AM

Quote from: sleestak on January 17, 2014, 02:59:39 PMHow long has winter been coming?

Like you guys have said above. I know this fucking weirdo is gonna fucking keel over before he finishes the final two books.

That first line made me laugh. He's totally going to pull a Robert Jordan and die before its finished. What I want to know is even if he finishes it the TV show is moving pretty damn rapidly considering his a book every 4-5 years I don't see how he is going to finish the series before season 7 unless he has been deliberately holding a book ahead. And if he is doing that he is an asshole. I highly suspect the series is already done and he is going to release the last two books in time with the last two seasons.

MadJohnShaft · March 16, 2014, 08:12:12 PM

I wonder if writers get a lot of assistance