The novel has been a long time in the making, with the TV series it inspired – Game of Thrones – having long overtaken it in narrative terms.
Now, as fans continue to wait for confirmation of when exactly TWOW will hit shelves, Martin has at least made one thing official: it will be out after companion book Fire and Blood.
Replying to a comment on his blog, Martin said: “The first volume [of Fire and Blood] should be completed soon. The second is hardly begun.”
And when a reply to that read: “Just out of curiosity: will Fire and Blood be released before or after Winds?”, he responded: “F&B will be in two volumes. Vol 1 before, vol 2 after.”
This has all taken place on Martin’s blog, under a post he published last week on the Hugo Awards.
A small comment he made there – a little “we hope” as he reaffirmed that A Song of Ice and Fire will be seven books long – ignited speculation that Winds of Winter could end up being the final book in the series.
Either that, or there will be more than seven – and the subsequent instalment A Dream of Spring will not be the last.
Whether or not TWOW will still be released in 2018 remains to be seen, but given the pace of Martin’s releases in recent years it seems a big ask to expect two books before the year is out.
Fire and Blood will still be exciting for fans, though. It’s a complete history of House Targaryen; originally intended to be one volume long but now set to be two.
The Game of Thrones TV show, meanwhile, is currently in production for its final season.
With that set to air next April, will it arrive before TWOW?