"Winds of Winter," the sixth book in the popular epic fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R. R. Martin, has been rumored for an imminent release, although the renowned author himself has not confirmed anything yet regarding the book's development. So far, it seems that the new target release date of the novel will be sometime in 2018, but Martin is not in a rush to meet this deadline.
The seventh season of HBO's epic fantasy series "Game of Thrones" wrapped up last Sunday and is based on the original writing of Martin in "A Song of Ice and Fire." However, the TV show has already overtaken the timeline of the book series. The recently concluded season was no longer canon to its source, and some fans blame Martin and his slow progress in writing the books for this. Nevertheless, the author revealed his own reasons for having the "Winds of Winter" delayed.
In Martin's recent interview with Metro US via Express UK, he revealed that he is not forcing himself to finish "Winds of Winter" to meet the deadline. He defended his slow progress in the book, saying that the length of the sixth "ASOIAF" book is longer than other fantasy novels. Martin, who is now 68 years old, also added that his old age is contributing to the delay.
"These are not 1.5k pages like mine, but, for example, 500. In addition, I have not become younger. Age does not add enthusiasm," Martin said. To note, the "Winds of Winter" author has worked on his latest book for six years, as the latest book in "ASOIAF," "A Dance With Dragons," was released in 2011.
As for the difference between the book series and the previous events on its TV counterpart, Martin spilled in an interview that some characters already killed in "Game of Thrones" are still alive in "Winds of Winter."
"About 20 of them have died already, which are quite alive to me and will appear in a new book," Martin revealed. This major difference should already be expected as "Game of Thrones" and "A Song of Ice and Fire" novels have already gone on separate ways since the fourth season of the HBO series.
