There is no Winds of Winter release date, not yet. You know that. As soon as there is one, the whole world will know… heck, President Obama will probably call a press conference. It’s that important. But there are signs in the air that Winds of Winter will indeed come out in 2016. The biggest one is that the Game of Thrones season 6 production team was spotted sporting copies of the manuscript. And his own editors have accidentally leaked the news. I think it’s really happening, folks. And that means this is not a drill—we need to get ready to start rereading.
Start Rereading A Song of Ice and Fire Before Winds of Winter
It’s been a long time since A Dance with Dragons came out… much longer than anyone, including George R. R. Martin, expected. Since 2011, the books have been partially supplanted by the show, which is more popular than ever, is changing the books more than ever, and is moving into uncharted territory beyond the books… or very different from the books.
If you haven’t read any of the series since A Dance with Dragons came out, as I haven’t, the true memory of the books has begun to fade. And I think the Winds of Winter release date merits a full re-read of the series… whereas Dance just required a reread of Feast, at least for me.
Winds of Winter is the book that changes everything. The first three books were about, loosely, the leadup to the War of the Five Kings, the war itself, and its aftermath. Winds and A Dream of Spring are about something else entirely—the return of the Targaryens, already begun, and the return of the Others, already begun. The first five books were a high political fantasy; the last two will be a political epic fantasy.
And I think that means we need to have all our ducks in a row. We need to remember not just all the characters who didn’t make it into the show—that’s easily fixed using the Wiki of Ice and Fire—but the feel of the books, the tone of them. We need to reread Dance in context with Feast… and with Clash. We need to see the whole picture so far before George R. R. Martin unveils the next corner.
And we need to start now. A Song of Ice and Fire books are very long, although they somehow manage to be pretty quick reads anyway. If the Winds of Winter release date somehow manages to happen before the next season starts—unlikely, but not impossible—we’ll only have a few months for a reread. You don’t have to actually start yet, but get your books handy, or get new copies if you need them. And get ready to start the race in January or so. Get ready to reread Game of Thrones.
