‘The Winds of Winter’ Release Date, Spoilers: Here’s Why George R.R. Martin’s Taking a Long Time to Finish Writing

Fans have been waiting for almost a decade now to read “The Winds of Winter.” While no release date has been announced just yet, book lovers are somehow getting an idea why author George R.R. Martin is taking a long time to finish writing.

A recent the Wall Street Journal report said Martin is in “hiding” in a remote location to focus on his remaining “The Winds of Winter” writing tasks. But his all-new book “Fire and Blood” also debuted last week so fans can expect him to appear for some interviews to promote the new saga.

For one, Martin sat down with Stephen Colbert where the host frankly referred to “Fire and Blood” as a “700-page detour.” The latter argued that the author should have been finishing “The Winds of Winter” instead of jumping onto a new project.

Martin responded with the same promise he has been stating recently: “The Winds of Winter” is now on top of his priority list. This leads to some speculations that the sixth “A Song of Ice and Fire” book has a great chance of getting released within 2019.

For the record, “The Winds of Winter” is the “ASoIaF” installment that experienced the longest hiatus before getting released. While talking to the Guardian earlier this month, Martin admitted that he has been struggling “for a few years.” In a way, Martin is also telling fans that it is not fair to make “Fire and Blood” the basis of comparison when it comes to the time he is taking in finishing the other novel.

“‘The Winds of Winter’ is not so much a novel as a dozen novels, each with a different protagonist, each having a different cast of supporting players, antagonists, allies and lovers around them, and all of these weaving together against the march of time in an extremely complex fashion,” Martin explained. “So it’s very, very challenging. ‘Fire and Blood’ by contrast was very simple. Not that it’s easy – it still took me years to put together – but it is easier.”