As we correctly predicted a few months ago, there'll be no new book before the sixth season of Game of Thrones kicks off.

George RR Martin, the author behind the best-selling series, took to his Livejournal last night and offered a pretty depressing update on the status of The Winds of Winter, the novel this season of Game of Thrones will be based upon.

As Martin explains it, the idea was to have the novel finished and ready for Hallowe'en for it to be published around now. However, with little hope of him making that deadline, his publishers pushed it to January 1st with the book scheduled for release on March, a month before the release of the series.

Sadly, it's not to be. Martin explained himself in a lengthy blog post, much to the disappointment of fans.

"Believe me, it gave me no pleasure to type those words. You're disappointed, and you're not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me. For months now I have wanted nothing so much as to be able to say, 'I have completed and delivered The Winds of Winter on or before the last day of 2015'. But the book's not done."

So, what will that mean for us? Realistically, not that much. Martin had mapped out both The Winds of Winter all the way to the end of the series itself for HBO so it'll be more or less the same between them. Granted, there'll be changes between the two as there has been already.

As to specifics, nobody can be sure. Martin has, of course, been tightlipped about anything relating to The Winds of Winter or the fate of its characters. Despite giving snippets of text from the novel, there's been no word on the fate of Jon Snow, Daenarys or any of the characters that were left on cliffhangers from Season 5 or A Dance With Dragons.

Season 6 of Game of Thrones kicks off in April, however there's no set date on when The Winds of Winter will be released. Martin discusses his writing process, how lengthy it is and, most importantly, how he wants it to be perfect before it's released.

You have to give him credit for his commitment to that, blowing through deadlines and pressures from fans and publishers alike. It's just... God, we want the next book SO BADLY.

 

Via Livejournal