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

[The Human Abstract]

That would be great. If you find that comment, let me know.

It was in one of the interviews right after the book was released. But I do think she was being optimistic.

But I can hope as well.

[tipopellet]

I'm not going to go back and dig up the comment or anything, but the editor said she thought he might be done within 2-3 years.

His fastest written book took 20 months and he isn't even going to start untill some time next year. 2 years is out of the question I think. I'd say 4 is the most optimistic estimate at the moment.

I just don't see why people object to getting a closer look at the world we're moving through and the people we're moving through it with.

I don't think that's what people really object to. I think they mostly object to being bored to death while reading. The way it was written "a closer look" just hasn't worked for many readers, because what they "saw" wasn't fascinating and engaging enough.

[Hielo y Fuego]

I am also disappointed by the slide of the series further and further into fantasy. The political intrigue of the first three novels was what drew me in -- Varys, Littlefinger, Walder Frey, the Lannisters.... As the books deal more and more with dragons, zombies, and shapeshifters, my excitement diminishes.

Are you serious?

This series has been filled with magic and fantastical creatures from the moment the Others are introduced in the very first pages of AGoT to the moment Drogon flies high overhead in the Dothraki Sea in the last few pages of ADwD.

[Brucolac]

I'll get it it the day it comes out and I might be excited about it during the last week, but I don't really care about it. GRRM seems more concerned about adding new threads then finishing old ones. The more POVs he introduces, the less time he spends on the established ones and the more convoluted the books get. This is great for pouring over details and conspiracy theories, but it makes for bad reading. The increase in POVs in 'Storm of Swords' was slightly off-putting, but he is now completely out of control. I doubt this series if it is ever completed will be viewed highly overall unless he gets a reigned in by a good editor.

The cliffhangers he left us with in ADwD all seemed forced ways of creating drama. Yeah you want to know what happens, but the way he closed most of his threads just made the book seem unfinished and were off-putting. If you take FoC and DwD together, the only POVs that seemed complete, were Arya, Cersei(which had to be added to show Kingslanding), Samwell, and possibly Theon. The three mains ones were were all exposition until their last chapters, were he went to full speed only to leave the story right before you hit the wall-really just a gimmicky way of writing. Other older POVs were abandoned before they ever went anywhere, Bran and Davos.

GRRM is like that older musician whose music you really like, but when you go to a live show he only wants to play stuff off his new album that you hate. I'll get back to actively wanting to read his work when he starts writing something that is special again, probably never.

[Grip]

I certainly look forward to the next book when we will hopefully see more action back in Westeros, the east while interesting just doesnt compell me as much as Westeros does. In any case I am waiting with anticipation though one must be realistic and just admit that it will take time and perhaps not live up to everyones expectations, then again that could be said of any book..

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

The only cliffhangers i didn't like were Bran's and Tyrion's. Brans becuase it didn't feel like a end of his story and Tyrion's becuase unless it takes 5 chapters to convince the second sons to switch sides, it could have been moved up a few pages.

[Branna]

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.

Mine's eleventy-MILLION billion.

That said, I seriously need to take a breather and try to enjoy some other books in the meantime. I can't handle the excitement.

[Honey Badger]

Hopefully all of the Mereenese Knot and Kong and five year gap is now done and we can get back to what made books 1-3 so awesome. That said, it is rather shocking it took 2000 pages in Feast and Dance to contain what is a whole lot of waiting and meandering so everything can be set for Winds. There was also plenty of waiting and catching up in the first three, but tempered with less POV's to keep it fairly tight. I'm hoping all the POV's haven't made the story unmanageable for George. How is he going to juggle all of the Feast + Dance characters at once? I hope he's not splitting them up again.

I will keep hopeful optimism that the George of old will resurface. Call them middle books or filler or whatever; they just weren't as good as the first set. I've seen some crazy assertions that Feast/Dance is a better set than Game/Clash/Storm, and I just shake my head at that.

Also, I think the series is now decidedly high fantasy. A lot of magic and dragons now, whereas earlier there was fairly little of it, and we got to see the court intrigue play out. I wonder whether more prominent magic is a good thing or not.

[seadragon]

Almost zero anticipation. It's amazing how differently I feel now than when I started reading ADWD.

Feast was kind of a tepid clunker but there were good reasons for that.. it was "bridging the 5 year gap", had tier 2 characters, etc etc. Just made me all the more hungry for the next book. The writing was still good and it was sort of refreshing to take a break for a more relaxed look at Westeros.

But in ADWD it is beyond obvious that something has gone seriously wrong. From what little happens, Dance and Feast could have been combined into one book easily. EASILY. There is absolutely no reason we had to have eleventy chapters of Tyrion looking at turtles and having witless conversations with Penny, or of Dany tugging her braids and doing absolutely nothing except chaining up the only sources of her power base and forgetting about them.

Worse, though - the prose feels DEAD. Ugly. Muddy. Crude. Bitter. There's always been darkness and profanity in the series, but there used to be an energy behind it, a context, a contrast to beautiful and hopeful things that were also present. Now every single POV seems to have the same tired and sour mind behind it - a mind that I'm worried is that of the author himself who just might have started to really hate the series.

In any case.. I really have no more faith in GRRM's ability to handle this series and don't feel like the next book will carry any legitimacy for me.

I completely agree with you. I’ll read the book when it comes out, but I will not wait for it so eagerly as I did for ADWD.

This one is such a huge disappointment for me that my interest has seriously dwindled. There are some good parts in it, but there’s not much that happens in it, not even in terms of character development or background to the story. Most old characters seem at a stall, and the new ones only pale one-dimensional figures. I have nothing against lengthy descriptions, if they actually help to recreate the world in which the action takes place, but how many times do we need entire paragraphs on people relieving their bladder and shaking off the last drop, putting on their socks, and their smallclothes, and their breeches? And do we really need to read about this in the first place? The same goes for the lengthy menu descriptions, at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then the repetitions: Tyrion’s regrets over Tysha – hey, we got it, after all these years his heart is still bleeding, and we’ve actually known that since AFFC, where it is repeated at length too, Tyrion’s afterthoughts at his father death, “winds are words”, Jon still knows nothing, but “must needs” learn (and half the time, there’s absolutely no need to employ this expression, archaic feeling or not). And the second Jon chapter is a 70% copy + paste of an AFFC chapter...

All in all, it feels like ADWD was wrapped up in a hurry, at the last moment, without much editing (the number of typos is just annoying!), and not like a precious art work polished for more than 5 years. I suppose it came out now, just in time to capitalise on the hype around the show. I still vaguely hope next one will be better – GRRM seems to be stuck right now in the middle of nowhere, but he is good enough a writer to get out of it with a flourish. There are actually a few paragraphs / chapters in ADWD almost as good as ASOS, so there is a meagre hope. Anyway, I’ve seriously lowered my expectations. At least, we can be sure that it will come out faster, if the shows remains successful (otherwise, I doubt there will ever be another book).

[King_In_The_North]

I am eager to see these plotlines move on:

Jon (it is known that he won't stay dead, but the 'how' and 'why' of it are still not known)

Bran (just three chapters? really?)

Davos (What will happen to him in Skagos? And how's Rickon doing?)

Stannis/Bolton (I am pretty sure Stannis isn't dead. I want to see what the Northmen will do in Winterfell now that 'Arya' is gone and what will Stannis do with Jeyne and Theon)

Sansa in the Vale

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

I'm not going to go back and dig up the comment or anything, but the editor said she thought he might be done within 2-3 years.

I heard in a interview he said he can knock out 500 or so manuscript pages in a good year, which is what? 400 pages? so seeing as the next book ought to be about pretty big, 2 years is being real optimistic. we all know that he said ADWD would be out a year after AFFC. Which given how much he said he had written about the people we didn't get in the book, was a fair assumption until he ran into the knot and started rewriting everything.

[borwin]

Yes and No the last book was a let down and really not worth the 11 years that it took to find out about my favorite character, and frankly the cliffhangers and lack of real conclusion kind of pissed me off.

So yes Im looking forward to finding out whats going to happen next but I dont think that I can wait another 4-10 years to find out what happens. If the book comes out within 2 years then thats great, but if it comes out in 11, I wont even bother picking it up.

[Grip]

Also, I think the series is now decidedly high fantasy. A lot of magic and dragons now, whereas earlier there was fairly little of it, and we got to see the court intrigue play out. I wonder whether more prominent magic is a good thing or not.

I was wondering what peoples reactions are to this statement? I for one wouldnt want to see any more magic than there already is, I would even prefer if there was less magic involved. The low-key magic elements in earlier books was really refreshing from a fantasy author and I would actually like to keep it that way. The raising of dead characters for example was one, perhaps the only, thing that I didnt care for much in earlier books.

[tipopellet]

I'm one of those who enjoyed magic present but not driving the story in the first 3 books.

But I have nothing against high fantasy so it won't ruin books for me if magic/prophecies start playing bigger role in the plot development.

[tipopellet]

ups! double post

[wolverine]

I was wondering what peoples reactions are to this statement? I for one wouldnt want to see any more magic than there already is, I would even prefer if there was less magic involved. The low-key magic elements in earlier books was really refreshing from a fantasy author and I would actually like to keep it that way. The raising of dead characters for example was one, perhaps the only, thing that I didnt care for much in earlier books.

I was also brought in by the low magic levels. The addition of magical elements has not bothered me EXCEPT the raising of the dead. I absolutely loath dead people not staying dead.

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

Magic hasn't bothered me at all. it's not like this has turned into Harry Potter or anything. while it seems to be growing bigger it's still pretty limited. there's the COTF/3ec, Red Priests, Warging(which seemed to be well known) and all the undead stuff. but it's still limited.

[The Human Abstract]

His fastest written book took 20 months and he isn't even going to start untill some time next year. 2 years is out of the question I think. I'd say 4 is the most optimistic estimate .

People keep saying this, and I'm curious what the source is.

[The Human Abstract]

I was also brought in by the low magic levels. The addition of magical elements has not bothered me EXCEPT the raising of the dead. I absolutely loath dead people not staying dead.

I kinda agree. Because we don't know the rules, and so they seem to arbitrarily exist at the author's whim. I have the same problem with superhero movies.

[Knurk]

Its really disheartening to read this quote from Martin, how can he be so clueless?

From his own words he judges success by how many books FEAST and CROWS sold in such a short time, attendance at book signings, best-seller lists, “professional” reviews and Hugo Awards?? By this definition GoT was a huge failure, he recalls going to book signings where no one attended for GoT. Is he deliberately choosing to ignore the reality that every one reading FEAST and DANCE first read the 1st three books, and it was the awesomeness of these that got people hooked, the huge fan base support, marketing hype and the HBO series for his FIRST THREE books are the reason that people quickly rushed out and bought the very disappointing FEAST and lackluster DANCE.

If the 1st 3 books were written as badly as FEAST & DANCE there would be no huge fan base, no HBO show… If he fails to realise this and is disimissing critisicsm so casually and had only listens to the fans who (ironically assisting in the decline) gushingly praise and attack all criticism.

I have little anticipation for his next book. I will hold all you sychophants, deluded optimists and "middle book" apologists to blame when WINDS is released in 7 years and is a cliffhanger riddled, travelogue, grimdark, back from the dead lamefest.

Success does not equal quality, Laday Gaga may sell a hell of a lot of “units” doesn’t mean its any good.

Where did you read that quote Grell? If he really said that the man has gone bananas and is totally delusional. He thinks all those reviews come from trolls? He really thinks a few people created multiple accounts on which they bought something and then spammed the Amazon review section? Someone inside his circle needs to set him straight. And yes George, you have a lot of detractors, but they still wanted to love your book.

Edit: I already found it on his NaB. When he first claimed the Amazon reviews were posted by trolls I already sighed, but when the negative reviews on Amazon keep coming in he surely can't ignore those.