The sixth title in the series has been under construction by George RR Martin for some time now, with a release date still pending.
With the Game of Thrones TV show set to come to an end next year, many are wondering if the next novel will come out even later than that.
Writing on Reddit, user radraz26 gained over 1300 ‘points’ for answering the question “Why is The Winds of Winter taking so long to write?” by saying: “Because GRRM wrote himself into a corner with a thousand moving pieces that can’t be resolved easily.
“The introduction of dorne,Young Griff, and the ironborn really adds a lot of stuff that cannot be resolved simply.
“Not to say that these aren’t awesome subplots, but they add a lot of complexity to an already dense story.”
User jmcgit added: “I expect this is a part of it. GRRM may have been put off by the lukewarm reaction to ADWD [A Dance with Dragons], perhaps he’d rather not release a book than put out something less than a home run.
“Many readers are skeptical that it’s even possible to wrap this up in two more books, especially since the intent was originally to include the battles of Ice and Fire in ADWD (and still publish two more books).”
Earlier this month, Martin confirmed that companion book Fire and Blood – or at least its first volume – will be released before The Winds of Winter.
Earlier this year a major US bookstore listed a September release date for TWOW but this was quickly deleted – prompting speculation that it was either a leak or an error.
As more time has passed, it seems the latter was more likely the case.
Game of Thrones will return to HBO and Sky Atlantic for the final time in 2019.