Games of Thrones book The Winds of Winter won't arrive this year

It’s (more) bad news for Game of Thrones fans – the long-awaited sixth book in George R.R. Martin’s celebrated fantasy series will not arrive in 2018.

Via the writer’s blog, he’s confirmed that the book won’t be published 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,” he wrote.

However, fans of his A Song of Ice and Fire series, on which the HBO series Game of Thrones is based, will be getting something to get their teeth into.

Martin revealed that Fire & Blood, not a novel he is quick to stress, but an ‘imaginary history’ of the world of Westeros, will land on November 20.

The hefty tome, which will weigh in at nearly 1000 pages, will cover ‘all the Targaryen kings from Aegon I (the Conquerer) to the regency of Aegon III (the Dragonbane), along with their wives, wars, siblings, children, friends, rivals, laws, travels, and sundry other matters’.

“For those not up on your Westerosi history, that’s Aegon I, Aenys, Maegor the Cruel, Jaehaerys I (the Conciliator), Viserys I, Aegon II (and Rhaenyra), and Aegon III (the regency). Oh, and there are dragons too,” he adds.

It will perhaps provide some comfort for those who have been waiting seven years for Martin to follow up A Dance With Dragons, published in 2011.

That novel left the cliffhanger of Jon Snow’s mortal wounding for book-readers to mull on, however, the TV series, having now overtaken the events of the books, has rather spoiled the plot there.

Martin has let show-runners David Benioff and Dan Weiss in on how the saga will wrap up, so they are now working towards the same goal, but perhaps in different ways.

He wrote back in 2016, on informing fans of further delays: “The Winds of Winter is not finished. 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.

“I am not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over. The deadlines just stress me out.”

No kidding.

The final series of Game of Thrones on HBO is nearing, however. Six feature-length episodes will land in early 2019.

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