[ADWD SPOILERS] After ADWD, how big is your anticipation for the next book?

[denstorebog]

After finishing ADWD, I've come to realize that I'm not really actively looking forward to the next book. Don't get me wrong, I want to read it when it comes out, but it's not really something I think I'm going to think a lot about until it actually happens, the way I was looking forward to AFFC after ASOS.

To explain, I thought ADWD was okay, had its moments, but at the same time, it didn't really do anything for me emotionally. Too many characters I'm not interested in, to little development. And I've come to realize that ASOIAF as a series may not be something I connect as much with as I did with books 1-3, which has affected my anticipation of the next books.

Anyone else share this newfound attitude of 'it'll come out when it comes out', or is everyone still as hungry for the next developments as they were before ADWD?

[aktarian]

I anticipate it eagerly to see plot moving on.

[JalenTigh]

Very eager... to many cliffhangers... gotta see how they go.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

More, actually.

We knew that ADWD was going to cover largely the same period of time as AFFC. So it seemed likely to me that nothing truly earth-shattering was going to be happening, else characters in AFFC would have been aware of those things.

The story arc in the North really ramped up, with Ned's old bannerman showing loyalty, Rickon on the verge of re-emergence, and the Freys and Boltons about to get the smackdown. That looks to me to be fun as hell going into the next book. And I doubt Danaerys will be spending the entire next book in the east, which will be an improvement as well.

[acadia]

Yeah, I can't do another filler book, if that happens I'm going to put the series down. A good author knows how to leave the reader with a sense of completeness, while still maintaining that the story must go on.

That's what made Tolkiens LoR so good, is that each book even of itself forwarded the story, we knew what the journey was , but each time we felt like the characters were moving one way or another, and at the end you felt a bit exhausted, and ready to relax before going on.

With ASOFAI, I'm startying feel like I'm getting bogged down in the story. Instead of leaving cliff hangers he should have wrapped up the story.

If stannis is defeated, then show the defeat, and call it a day, we still would wonder ok what's next, now that Stannis is done, leaving us with was Stannis defeated or not, just is stupid.

We don't need to see what happens with Dany, give another chapter, if she convinces the horse lord, to join her cause, and destroys the Yunkai, great, and if she meets Tyrion end it there. As opposed to having her ending it meet with Jhaqo. We can find out what happens with Tyrion and Dany in the next book, but atleast have them meet, if they are going to or not, so we can feel like ADWD completed some aspects of the journey.

We don't need a Jon cliff hanger, this isn't a comic book, if he is in the wolf, then leave it at he is in the wolf, the next book can be about jon as a wolf. There was no need for this cliff hanger either.

I think the comic book writing is effecting his style of writing, a novel is not a comic book, it should tell a story, it's not a soap opera, a comic book comes out 1 time a week, or pretty frequently, cliff hangers are good, but after 1000 pages of reading and 6 years, readers want plot completion and opening into the next plot, not plot incompletion.

He's overusing the cliff hanger literary device.

[awesome possum]

I'd been eagerly anticipating ADWD for more than a decade. The result was disappointment, as nothing could have met the expectations I had. Or well, this certainly didn't.

I'll definitely pick up the book when it's released, but I won't be eagerly counting down the days towards completion. Nothing good will come of it.

[Selmy]

I expect GRRM to start tying plots together and I'm obviously eagerly anticipating it. It can't take another 6 years though. I'll go insane.

[Antillean]

I'm like the OP. Maybe it'll change when a sample chapter comes out, but at the moment I'm nowhere near as excited about Winds as I was for any of the other books that I had to wait for.

[Chaostics]

Probably more excited for WoW than I was for ADwD. WoW has so many important storylines coming up, assuming it covers everyone. I cannot wait another six years for the next book. Time for a medically induced coma.

[Raylan Stark]

On a scale of 1-10, my eagerness is... eleventy billion. ;)

If the book came out tomorrow, it wouldn't be soon enough for me.

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Certainly far more than for ADWD. I was really apathetic about it, since for several years I accepted the series will probably never be finished and the last book we will get is AFFC, or perhaps ADWD, if we are really lucky, but after all those cliffhangers I really don't want it to end like this.

[tozka]

Wait?! Isn't the Winds of Winter out already ? Where is it? I totally wanted it yesterday!

[Jon AS]

I am very eager for the next installment. Probably more so than after ASOS or AFFC.

[Crow's Eye]

I was disappointed with the resolution (or lack thereof) for some of the storylines in ADWD, and I felt that some chapters could have been condensed or eliminated to make room for more meat. But I thought it was a far stronger novel than AFFC, and by the end I felt like the overall story was moving forward again. Aside from those complaints, I thought the book was masterfully written.

My expectation was always that the real story (i.e., the Others) wouldn't really come to the forefront until TWOW anyway. And I expect that the story will kick back into high gear at that point. So my anticipation is pretty high.

[Topher]

I'm absolutely stoked. The benefit of not having a satisfying climax, is that the next book is going to be all out epic plot advancement from the outset. It may be disapointing, but the (unintended?) consequence is that the anticipation for the next book is through the roof. At least for met at is... In fact, I think that the entire point of AFFC/ ADWD was to slow things down a bit initially and then set up the plot to be blasted into hyper speed. Which they do.

If GRRM released books as regularly and efficiently as say, Joe Abercrombie or someone, these cliffhangers would be much more exciting and much less... Frustrating. For me though, I'm not totally obsessed with everything asoiaf, so the wait, while annoying, doesn't lower my anticipation at all.

[Rex]

Yeah, right now I don't care too much. Nor do I think I will ever care as much as I did when waiting for Dance. Those "cliffhangers" were all but.

[The Human Abstract]

I can't wait. Sincerely hope that it's less than 2 years, as the editor optimsitically said the other day.

[cteresa]

I am a bit afraid of tWoW. I loved this series for so long. The wait is not the big deal. But tWoW not being as good as the first three, the story getting no where fast. Or tWoW not being as good even as AFFC and ADWD, that scares me a bit. Meaning, I would much prefer to wait and have it be as awesome as ASOS or AGOT than have it in 2014 and be disappointed.

[Sun]

Not really bothered. I'm enjoying the speculation on this forum a lot more than I enjoyed reading ADWD, so I'm alright as I am.

[Delta1212]

I'm focusing my anticipation on the show for the time being. That has a set timeline that isn't likely to change. I came to the series late enough that I haven't had to wait long for any of the books, and having had series that kept me strung along for years waiting for the next book, I'm just going to avoid thinking about it too much and enjoy what I already have and what I can expect relatively soon.

This will probably change when and if Martin gives an estimation of TWoW's publication date, but after ADwD I don't think he's going to be venturing many guesses until we're very close to release.