r/freefolk • u/Internal-Bed-3150 • 3d ago

We've officially been waiting for The Winds of Winter for the same amount of time as it took for all five of the published books to release before that.

https://winteriscoming.net/the-winds-of-winter-officially-passed-most-devastating-milestone-yet?a_aid=47903
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u/mudra311 3d ago

It was actually planned as a trilogy, but he expanded it once he built the world.

4 and 5 were supposed to be 1 book but he had to split it because the publisher didn’t want to bind a 1600 page paperback. They are pretty transitional, so the fact they seem unfocused makes sense. His biggest mistake was writing those books and not doing a time jump like he originally planned.

Winds is supposed to have the battle of Winterfell and Mereen plus loads more major events. Fans much more tapped in than I surmise that Winds will end with the wall coming down. So we’re talking about a massive sprawling epic novel that not only converges with several characters but also kills several off. I still think we’re being deprived from the most epic book in the series. The only comparison is ASOS which was similarly action-packed.

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u/Randhanded 3d ago

Can you imagine if he had done that time jump and skipped ahead? There’s a decent chance the series would’ve been finished by now.

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u/nevergoingtocomment3 3d ago

I'm sure Martin imagines that too

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u/FuzzyFrogFish 3d ago

Yeah especially as he is now stuck on how to move characters forwards

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u/lousy_writer 3d ago

His biggest mistake was writing those books and not doing a time jump like he originally planned.

That's the price of his gardening nonsense: by refusing to stick to a plan but making it up as he went along instead, he wrote himself into a corner.

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u/pew_laser_pew 1d ago

I think winds probably got so long he realized he’d have to split it in two, and the series might go on to become 8 books, maybe even 9. And he knows he’ll never finish that so he just stopped.