This one is sure to go over well with fans.

With each successive book of the popular A Song of Ice and Fire series, fans have had to wait longer and longer. The first three books, A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords, came out every two years starting in 1996. A Feast for Crows took five years, and was released in 2005. People complained about the ridiculously long wait for A Dance with Dragons, which came out in 2011 (six years later), but now, The Winds of Winter has long since taken the cake for longest awaited novel in the series.

As of this writing, fans have been waiting just short of seven years to see this one come to fruition, and with each passing year, readers become all the more ravenous for the next entry in the epic story that launched a multimedia franchise.

If you were hoping to see The Winds of Winter this year, now’s the time to re-align your expectations. According to George R.R. Martin himself (via his blog), the book will not be hitting bookshelves this year.

“No, winter is not coming… not in 2018, at least. You’re going to have to keep waiting for THE WINDS OF WINTER.”

Luckily, fans will still be able to venture into Westeros for Fire & Blood, which tells the history of the Targaryen kings of Westeros. It sounds as though Martin has been spending a lot of time on that book, so fans can’t be too mad.

In addition to the 989 manuscript pages of content, the book will also feature illustrations by Doug Wheatly. But is it worth it? I guess you’ll have to read it and find out for yourselves!

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SOURCE: George RR Martin