Sci-fi/fantasy author George R R Martin has announced a release date for A Dance with Dragons, the fifth installment in his magnum opus A Song of Ice and Fire: July 12, 2011.
FINALLY! Though I'll only believe it when I'll be holding it in my sweaty, quivering hands (after which people will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands ) After almost 4 years, I do think I'll reread the series in its entirety, just to make sure I've refreshed it all. I do have two worries about this one, though: - Often a sequel years in the making suffers from Neil Jordan syndrome. As in: larger books, but the scope is still the same, leading to ever more wordy descriptions of minor details. - At the current pace, I'm honestly fearing whether the series will be concluded before Martin passes on. Then again, I'm excited just to find out more about Daenerys, Arya and Theon, and any more stuff on the priestess of Rhllor woudl be highly welcome too! Yeah, either the publisher made him an offer he couldn't refuse, or maybe he was just in a good writing mood after working on the series...
I share both of Filip's worries. I was disappointed with Feast for Crows, though being disappointed by Martin is like being pleasantly surprised by almost any other author, because it seemed a bit disorganized and introduced too much incidental material. Also, I'm sick of Martin working on his Wild Card series while ASoIaF languishes.
I'm really close to joining you all in waiting for years before a new book is published. I'm both excited and afraid haha
FFC had to grow on me. I think it's pretty good as a resting point after all the action in the previous three novels, with the Brienne chapters showing us what the effects of the war were, and Jaime getting more character development. Also, Dorne and Iron Islands politics are awesome. That said, it wouldn't have hurt to get some Tyrion or Daenerys chapters in there to pick up the pace. I think Martin is an unfortunate victim of his own success. Too much opportunities, and it's always more exciting to write entirely new material than to give form to a story you already know the details of (as I'm sure he has most of the remaining SoIaF material already mapped out in his mind). I didn't mind him working on other material (got to flex those creative muscles), though his endless blog posts with sports analysis drove me mad. Now there's time that could have been spent more productively!
I can vouch for the need to write something new everyonce in a while. I am currently editing a manuscript, and working with readers and editors to find ways to fine-tune it... and I also am fighting the urge to jump into three other stories that I have swirlling around in my head, and starting to fill up my harddrive in notes. But if you have already started a series, it just seems prudent that once you publish it, keep it your priority. yah, you can play around and write other books, but finish what you started before you start publishing more.
