‘Winds Of Winter’ Release Date: It’s Always Like This

By Apolon Published 09/14/16 EDT

Fall has come again and still there are no signs of Winter. Winds of Winter, that is. The next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series is probably the most fiercely awaited novel in the world, and certainly the scarcest: We have all been waiting for the book for years, since Dance With Dragons came out in 2011. It’s been a long time, but guess what? It was a long time last time around too. Because this has all happened before.

Winds Of Winter Release Date: Déjà Vu All Over Again

George R.R. Martin will continue to work on his A Song of Ice And Fire saga at his own pace. HBO's Game of Thrones reaching the end before hime won't speed up his creative process. winteriscoming.net

Have you ever had that feeling that something has happened before? That life is cyclical? That the ancients knew more about the world than we give them credit for? O ye who are not students of history, take heed and listen to thy elders: Winds of Winter is not the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire to be super freakin’ late.

Once upon a time, way back in the aughts, before the Winds of Winter release date was even a glimmer in thine eye, the world yearned for a book called Dance With Dragons, the fifth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. They had waited for a long time. The book came out in July 2011, right on the heels of the first season of Game of Thrones. It has been over five years since then, and still there’s no Winds of Winter. But it’s not unprecedented.

For there was just such a wait for A Dance With Dragons. The fourth book in the series, A Feast For Crows, came out in 2005—back when people were born in the ‘80s were still in college. The ‘80s! It was nearly six years until Dance came out… despite nearly constant reports that it was just around the corner. It was just supposed to be the partner to Feast, supposedly a quick, less-than-a-year task to complete after the previous book. It wasn’t. We waited, and waited.

But the wait for Dance With Dragons wasn’t the beginning of this post-centennial malaise. Feast For Crows itself took a long time to emerge from the ashes of Storm of Swords, which came out in the first heady days of the millennium, in August 2000. It was more than five years until Feast, five and a half more years until Dance… and now six and counting for Winds of Winter.

George R. R. Martin wrote the first three books very quickly, sure. That was, quite literally, in a different millennium. Taking half a decade is very much the norm for George R. R. Martin now—no matter how much he claims otherwise, as he often does. Don’t freak out. This is totally normal for him these days. The Winds of Winter release date probably can’t be in 2016 anymore, but could be right around the corner, or a ways down the road. But don’t fret. This has all happened before and it will end the same way—with the release of Winds of Winter and then a really, really long wait for anything more.