A song of ice and fire final book

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 25: Writer George R.R. Martin of "Game of Thrones" signs autographs during the 2014 Comic-Con International Convention-Day 3 at the San Diego Convention Center on July 25, 2014 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)

Table of Contents Show

A Dream of Spring will be the final Game of Thrones book
Could a cabin be what it takes for The Winds of Winter to come to our shelves?
Is There Any Other 2022 Update?
Is A Song of Ice and Fire book series finished?
Is winds of winter the final book?
How does the book of Ice and Fire end?
When did The Last Song of Ice and Fire book come out?

Fans have been waiting over a decade for The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in author George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series, the same series that spawned the mega-hit show Game of Thrones on HBO. To date Martin has released five novels in this sequence: A Game of Thrones (1996), A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000), A Feast for Crows (2005), and A Dance with Dragons (2011). While the wait between earlier installments was much shorter, it’s ballooned between later novels. Now it’s been 11 years, and the ending of A Song of Ice and Fire eludes us still.

But how many books does Martin have planned for this series? Is The Winds of Winter the last Game of Thrones book?

George R.R. Martin has been pretty open about his plans for A Song of Ice and Fire, so as things stand we have a solid answer: The Winds of Winter is the penultimate novel in the sequence, not the final one.

A Dream of Spring will be the final Game of Thrones book

In his original pitch to publisher Bantam, Martin envisioned A Song of Ice and Fire as a trilogy. However, the “tale grew in the telling,” as Tolkien would say.

The first of the proposed books in the trilogy, A Game of Thrones, ended up expanding into three books on its own. A Storm of Swords seemingly ended that part of the story, bringing both readers and Martin into the middle of his saga, but by then it had become abundantly clear that this was going to be a much longer series than originally planned.

However, it wasn’t until Martin was deep into the writing on the next book, A Feast for Crows, that the series evolved into its current format. The author had planned to have a five-year gap between A Storm of Swords and the following volume, but after spending several years writing it he decided it didn’t work. Instead, we got A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, which covered events happening concurrently in different parts of Martin’s sprawling world.

That brings us to The Winds of Winter, which was originally planned as the final volume of the series. However, shortly after A Feast for Crows was released in 2005, Martin confirmed that A Song of Ice and Fire would run for seven books, and that the final novel would be titled A Dream of Spring (a change from a previous working title for the book, A Time for Wolves).

That means that, as of this writing, there are two more Game of Thrones books planned: The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

Though it’s worth noting that Martin has left a back door for himself; the series could feasibly extend beyond A Dream of Spring. ”I’m as firm as I am,” Martin told Entertainment Weekly back in 2011 in regards to whether A Dream of Spring would be the final book, ”until I decide not to be firm.”

Martin is still hard at work on The Winds of Winter. No release date has yet been announced, so for now our watch continues.

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Fans have grown from restless to having nearly given up on The Winds of Winter release date. We are already well into 2022 and are still awaiting the book's release! Will Winds of Winter be released anytime soon, and what can we expect from George R.R. Martin?

In one of his most recent updates on 2022, Martin used his blog, Not a Blog, to share that after a case of covid he “[hoped] to wrap up the storyline for one of the viewpoint characters of WINDS OF WINTER this week. Maybe even two.”

Until the book is actually on our shelves, of course, we can't know exactly what this means - given that the main POVs are currently more than 20 - or even if the character arcs have indeed been confirmed

Back in 2021, Martin informed his fans about a trip he took Midwest. By June he was back home but delayed the post as there was a lot of admin to work on. Paraphrasing a well-known poem by Robert Frost, the author concluded:

"The woods were lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and books to write before I sleep."

Could this be an allusion to his promise to deliver The Winds of Winter to his fans? It was too much to hope, as we're already well into 2022, but maybe one day.

In April of 2021, George R.R. Martin gave an update on Winds of Winter. The sixth novel of A Song of Ice and Fire book series has been delayed quite a bit, and George gave us more bad news. In his latest post on George R.R. Martin's blog Not A Blog website, Martin confirmed he won't be finished with the book anytime soon.

"I am hugely behind right now, and the prospect of trying to catch up is increasingly oppressive", Martin wrote.

It sounds like the expectation of a satisfying conclusion to the series in addition to the toll of Covid-19 has created an environment not well suited to completing the book.

As of June 2021, the 71-year-old author has admitted that he wishes the books had stayed ahead of the Game of Thrones series.

Martin went on to update fans that he is excited about a five-year Game of Thrones contract with HBO and HBO Max for new original content.

In a 2019 post, A Song of Ice and Fire Author George R. R. Martin gave his fans explicit permission to lock him up in a cabin in White Island if he had not finished The Winds of Winter by July 2020, when WordCon was supposed to take place. With the in-person event in New Zealand canceled due to the ongoing pandemic, Martin, who had given little indication of being closer to completing the sixth A Song of Ice and Fire book, seemingly escaped that fate.

Little did we know that the imprisonment he jokingly suggested would become more than a joke. In another blog post, published on June 23, 2020, Martin admitted he is no stranger to the cabin fever that has plagued many of us since March. However, in his case, the first part of the phrase is quite literal.

Could a cabin be what it takes for The Winds of Winter to come to our shelves?

Over the years, many fans have yearned for Wind of Winter updates, wondering why Martin is taking so long to finish writing it. In a turn of events, fans would never have been able to foretell a few months earlier, George R. R. Martin informed them that he was spending quarantine in an actual cabin… and it looks like something good might have come out of it. While reasonably tired of living in isolation, the 71-year-old author mentioned that he is keeping a regular, if a bit dull routine and tries to stay healthy. It looks like this might finally be paying off.

With most distractions removed, and journeys abroad replaced by Zoom calls, Martin had plenty of time to spend with his characters. The ones he was focusing on, as of June 2020, were enemy siblings Cersei and Tyrion Lannister, Ser Barristan Selmy, Asha Greyjoy (known as Yara in the HBO TV series), and Areo Hotah, the captain of the Martell guard. Arya Stark was also mentioned, and, as always, she intends to kill someone.

Over the years, Martin has released several Winds of Winter chapters from multiple points of view.

Martin teases the release of Winds of Winter

While Martin has yet to find the impressive writing pace he had maintained in the late 1990s, when he worked on the series' third installment A Storm of Swords, producing about 150 pages a month, there is still reason for fans to rejoice. The author revealed he is sad about his canceled trip to Wellington. Still, expressed his intention to visit it in 2021, when he hopes "that both Covid-19 and The Winds of Winter will be done."

For fans of the books, many of whom were greatly disappointed with the TV series conclusion, this might be the best news they have had for some time.

Since this announcement, Martin has written two additional posts with updates about his writing, both titled "Back to Westeros." In the first one, published in August 2020, the author described a steady routine, which, thankfully, involves a lot of writing. As of November 2020, Martin mentioned that he was still spending a lot of time writing about the Lannister siblings and Dorne, the Martells' seat of power.

While Martin, who rarely encourages his fans to keep their hopes up about his eagerly anticipated book, has been known to work on many side projects such as the Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, his return to a steady, undisturbed writing routine was perceived as a good sign.

While waiting for The Winds of Winter, Game of Thrones fans can enjoy the other 5 A Song of Ice and Fire books if they haven't already, or try other must-read books by George R. R. Martin.

Is There Any Other 2022 Update?

As of November 2021, Martin mention that he was working on The Winds of Winter among other projects. Several other posts followed since then, but there has been no mention of the hot topic, that is, the release of the sixth ASoIaF book.

Rumors have recently circulated the internet, suggesting November 2023 as the possible The Winds of Winter release day, supposedly leaked by the author. However, Martin's website does not suggest such a leak, and there is no official resource suggesting it. If the author has commented on a new release day, he must have done so privately.

In March 2022, Martin shared another update whereby he confirmed that he is still making progress on The Winds of Winter, though 2021 was not as good a writing year as 2020. The author also pointed out that the world of A Song of Ice and Fire has become about more than just The Winds of Winter. While true, this isn't exactly encouraging for fans.

As of July 2022, Martin has confirmed that The Winds of Winter, along with the next book, A Dream of Spring will be different from TV show's final season.

Martin isn't exactly a plotter; while he knows of big plot points, he's open to things changing as he writes, but, as the author wasn't happy with Season 8 of the tv show, so he confirmed, in his blogs that the books - if and when they come out, will take a different approach.

Even for big-name authors, it is hard to predict a comprehensive publication timeline when the book isn't even close to completion. After the manuscript is handed in, edits will likely be required. Only when the manuscript is officially completed, can we begin the countdown, until the book reaches our shelves.

With the House of the Dragonfinally on our screens, interest in The Winds of Winter is bound to intensify but to what effect? Martin's involvement to HBO shows doesn't hasten the writing process and many fans have given up by now.

Related: That Shocking Game of Thrones Twist Was Part of George R.R. Martin's Plan All Along

Is A Song of Ice and Fire book series finished?

However, with A Song of Ice and Fire series evolving into the biggest and most ambitious story he has ever attempted writing, he still has two more books to finish as of 2022.

Is winds of winter the final book?

So, will this be the last GOT book installment? No! Even though there was a very long gap between the last book and this one, Martin still plans on this being the penultimate novel, with the series conclusion titled, A Dream of Spring.