George R.R. Martin hints completing WINDS OF WINTER.

[Locke141]

One can only hope.

http://www.westeros.org/ASoWS/News/Entry/GRRM_on_Season_5_Cancelling_Appearances

[shponglefan]

I've long given up on Martin finishing Game of Thrones.  First Robert Jordan, now R.R. Martin... never again.

[SavannahLion]

I've long given up on Martin finishing Game of Thrones.  First Robert Jordan, now R.R. Martin... never again.

Ditto. After noticing a severe degradation in plot development and quality of editing, I had to stop reading Jordan's books. I think his wife took over as editor and it really showed.

When Stephen King really went the extra mile to crap on his readers with the Dark Tower books, I finally vowed never to start another unfinished series unless the Author was dead or well... the series was done. In Kings case I'm waiting until after I die.

[Vigo]

I finally vowed never to start another unfinished series unless the Author was dead or well... the series was done.

I'm with you there. Although, Game of thrones is bigger than Martin. If he doesn't finish it, HBO will. 

[Hoopz]

He better start worrying about his diet.  He may not have 10+ years left for the next couple of books.  And if he bumps it to three more, he will never make it.

[SavannahLion]

I finally vowed never to start another unfinished series unless the Author was dead or well... the series was done.

I'm with you there. Although, Game of thrones is bigger than Martin. If he doesn't finish it, HBO will. 

I lost interest in GoT when HBO picked it up and I haven't picked up the first book yet.

It doesn't bother me that HBO itself picked it up, I just find it annoying to hear everyone talk about this or that that happened in the most recent episode. Not in a, "you're spoiling the plot," way. More like, "you talked about that damn show for a week now, won't you shut the ---fudgesicle--- up," way.

[pbj]

I made it through two episodes before the needless sex scenes turned me off to it.

He's donated most of his papers to Texas A&M which is fairly random but hey.

 

[Locke141]

I'm a little surprised at the reactions. I've had the same concern that GoT would be unfinished.But like how Robert Jordan left wheal of time to a trusted source to finish Marten has shared the the rest of the story with the HBO producers. It sound to me that the last two planed book exist in some unfinished form and the next one is pretty close to finished.

[CCM]

I lost interest in GoT when HBO picked it up and I haven't picked up the first book yet.

Huh?  The first book was published in 1996... you must not have had much interest before HBO picked it up either.

[SavannahLion]

I lost interest in GoT when HBO picked it up and I haven't picked up the first book yet.

Huh?  The first book was published in 1996... you must not have had much interest before HBO picked it up either.

I finally vowed never to start another unfinished series unless the Author was dead or well... the series was done.

[nitrogen_widget]

Jordan could of finished his series with less books.
There were a few books in there that seemed to of been published just to generate sales because is just dragged on.

on the plus side, I did discover Branden Sanderson & enjoy his books greatly.

[knave]

I've long given up on Martin finishing Game of Thrones.  First Robert Jordan, now R.R. Martin... never again.

Ditto. After noticing a severe degradation in plot development and quality of editing, I had to stop reading Jordan's books. I think his wife took over as editor and it really showed.

When Stephen King really went the extra mile to crap on his readers with the Dark Tower books, I finally vowed never to start another unfinished series unless the Author was dead or well... the series was done. In Kings case I'm waiting until after I die.

The later books of the Wheel of time series are a hot mess...but the earlier books are still enjoyable.

The first book of Game of Thrones (which I read before it was cool) is at least worth a read...I found the grit refreshing at the time.

[pbj]

The Harry Potter books certainly got screwed up because she started writing them like screenplays towards the end.  So I agree it's better for the cycle to be finished before they start moving it to other venues.

[Locke141]

The Harry Potter books certainly got screwed up because she started writing them like screenplays towards the end. So I agree it's better for the cycle to be finished before they start moving it to other venues.

They also suffered from using "magic" to fill plot wholes. I prefer it when magic is used sparingly or has some basic rules lade out. Other wise it just a catch all to solve ever problem. "Well Harry we'er really screwed this time. No wait, I have a watch that turns back time but I can only use it this once even though I've been using it all year but did not say anything till just now." It's like reading a mystery where in the end you couldn't have never figured it out because the character knew something you couldn't have none. 

[dkersten]

Jordan could of finished his series with less books.
There were a few books in there that seemed to of been published just to generate sales because is just dragged on.

on the plus side, I did discover Branden Sanderson & enjoy his books greatly.

Honestly, from the writing perspective, while it is fun to throw in plot twists and side plots, you quickly find yourself "painted into a corner" and the hardest thing I have found is to write your way out of it while still keeping the reader's attention.  WoT suffered greatly from this, and GoT would never have continued if HBO hadn't picked it up.  For two years Martin wouldn't work on the next book because he didn't know how to go from where he had taken it to where he wanted it to go.  I still don't think he knows how to make the transition, and the last book painted him even closer to the corner.  HBO sees this and has already laid the groundwork to diverge from the written books, either by ignoring some of the seemingly irrelevant side plots or by simply rewriting certain characters. 

The first two books of Fire and Ice were excellent, revolutionary in ways.  If you thought the series on HBO was graphic, then you didn't read the books because the sex and violence in there is ten times more intense.  Book three was good, not great, and book four started to really drag and get convoluted.  The last book just plain sucked with no resolution whatsoever and even more complications.  If anything, all it did was define how badly he is painted into a corner.  There is still great potential to pull it off, but I don't know if he has the stamina to do it.  Writing a long story is tough, and when you have a story so twisted and tangled up with plotlines that diverged so far from the main story, it is just plain difficult and boring to try to pull it back together.

WoT was good, but after the third book started to drag horribly.  In order to spice it up and keep the interest, he kept introducing new characters and sub-plots, and by book 8 it was so confusing you pretty much had to read straight from book one to know what was going on.  However, I think Sanderson did a fantastic job tying it up and finishing it off.  It would have been a better story if Jordan had cut out about 5 books in between, not to mention he would have finished it before dying. 

I LOVE a good epic story line because it means I can keep reading a story for months.  However, nobody has been able to really pull it off throughout the entire series.  Mission Earth got straight up bizarre when Hubbard got senile, and I believe the last 3 books were ghost written by someone else.  I never read the Harry Potters because I had already seen the movies and I don't want to invest that kind of time into a series where I already know the outcome.  Sword of Truth was OK, but mostly because he actually made each book a complete story on it's own.  However, now that it is finished, I tried to read his continuation and found it horrible and impossible to read.

I will continue to watch GoT on HBO, and I will even buy the next book when it comes out, although by then the series on TV might have already taken it in a better direction.  We will see...

[pbj]

The Harry Potter books certainly got screwed up because she started writing them like screenplays towards the end. So I agree it's better for the cycle to be finished before they start moving it to other venues.

They also suffered from using "magic" to fill plot wholes. I prefer it when magic is used sparingly or has some basic rules lade out. Other wise it just a catch all to solve ever problem. "Well Harry we'er really screwed this time. No wait, I have a watch that turns back time but I can only use it this once even though I've been using it all year but did not say anything till just now." It's like reading a mystery where in the end you couldn't have never figured it out because the character knew something you couldn't have none.

Meh, gotta move the plot forward somehow.

[nitrogen_widget]

 

I LOVE a good epic story line because it means I can keep reading a story for months.  However, nobody has been able to really pull it off throughout the entire series.  Mission Earth got straight up bizarre when Hubbard got senile, and I believe the last 3 books were ghost written by someone else.  I never read the Harry Potters because I had already seen the movies and I don't want to invest that kind of time into a series where I already know the outcome.  Sword of Truth was OK, but mostly because he actually made each book a complete story on it's own.  However, now that it is finished, I tried to read his continuation and found it horrible and impossible to read.

I will continue to watch GoT on HBO, and I will even buy the next book when it comes out, although by then the series on TV might have already taken it in a better direction.  We will see...

You might like David Edding's Belgariad & it's sequel Mallorian.
Both are composed of 5 books.

I actually read the first book of GoT & holy hell just as soon as you got to know a character he off'd them.
Or crippled one.
That book was BRUTAL.

[SavannahLion]

Yeah, I had to stop reading the ME books because of that. I had assumed it was due to his whole dianetics/scientology ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- until I realized all of that started sometime in the the 50's. Battlefield Earth was an OK but i could've easily lived without it or the movie.

[dkersten]

You might like David Edding's Belgariad & it's sequel Mallorian.
Both are composed of 5 books.

I actually read the first book of GoT & holy hell just as soon as you got to know a character he off'd them.
Or crippled one.
That book was BRUTAL.

I counted Eddings as one of my all time favorite authors, probably number one for a long time, and it is a shame he is gone.  I never really saw any of his books as "epic story books" though.  They were too short, the Belgariad series not even totaling the length of the first two WoT books.  To me, "epic" would be a long and intricate story line that is told over 8-15 books.  Belgariad and Mallorian are more like Dragonlance books to me.. shorter stories that fit nicely in a trilogy.

Perhaps one day I will go back and read them again though.  I don't know - as much as I loved those two series, by the time the Tamuli series came out I was about 21 and I don't think I even finished them because I found them too boring, so perhaps I have to leave those book in the past.  I did read the stuff he wrote with his wife before he died though, and it was pretty good.  In my mind he is one of my top 5 authors of all time, and I suppose that is good enough for me.

[dkersten]

Yeah, I had to stop reading the ME books because of that. I had assumed it was due to his whole dianetics/scientology ---That which is odiferous and causeth plants to grow--- until I realized all of that started sometime in the the 50's. Battlefield Earth was an OK but i could've easily lived without it or the movie.

I loved BE.. the movie sucked ass, but the book remains one of the best post apocalyptic epic stories of all time for me.  ME was great because nobody else was writing a decology made up of 750-1000 page books.  When I read it I was around 17 years old, and I did it all in one shot (took like 3 months).  I didn't know or care about scientology, although he did use his book sales to fund the church.

[BorgDog]

I too love Eddings work, but haven't read it for many years, might have to revisit.  The Shannara novels by Terry Brooks are also a good read, I suggest chronological order vs the order written.  But for me the one that trumps them all is the Malazan series by Erikson and Esslemont.  Dark, insane amount of characters/races, plots all over the place, hysterically funny at times, and very nicely long, not getting through them in a hurry.

[knave]

The Rift War series by Raymond Fiest is one of my favorites. Including the Daughter of the empire books.


That said I think the story suffered at the end of those as well.