Waiting (impatiently) on George R.R. Martin
What's a fan to do when a writer like George R.R. Martin leaves a series dangling?
George R.R. Martin fans have been waiting for 5 years for the fifth book of this series.
On a luxuriously child-free getaway to Portland, my husband picked up a copy of George R.R. Martin鈥檚 鈥�A Game of Thrones鈥�. The fat trade paperback, nearly 700 pages and adorned with rave reviews, seemed a great bet for a weekend of relaxing and reading and reading some more.
It wasn鈥檛 until I finished the last page a few days later 鈥� technically, as it was 2 a.m., a few mornings later 鈥� that I understood what the clerk at Powell鈥檚 Bookstore told my husband after seeing the book in his hand. It was something to the effect of, yes, that鈥檚 a great book, but once you finish it, you鈥檒l be suffering along with the rest of us.
The gripping epic, as most of the fantasy-loving universe already knows, is only volume one in a planned seven-part series titled 鈥�A Song of Ice and Fire鈥�. Four of the books have been published so far. That wouldn鈥檛 be such an issue, except that the last cliffhanger came out five years ago.
On Martin鈥檚 home page, I found for readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. It said Martin hoped to finish the book shortly and hoped it would be available by the fall鈥� the fall of 2008. The update is 2.5 years old.
As it turns out, a contingent of fans are getting very, very impatient. A reporter for , Cathal Kelly, recently wrote an article titled 鈥淒o Yourself A Favour: Don鈥檛 Read This Book鈥�, noting that 鈥渢he most disgruntled Martin fans and where they question Martin鈥檚 output, his age, his physical health, his sanity, his fashion sense, his bafflingly long blog posts, and his refusal to spend every waking moment working on his next book, A Dance With Dragons.鈥�
Martin, a healthy 61-year-old, is most perturbed by fans who fear he will die before finishing the story, the article said. I see why he鈥檚 affronted, but, doing the math as well as I can without a publication date for book five, I admit I also see why they鈥檙e concerned.
Kelly, who wrote that interest in the books has grown even more lately with an HBO series in the works, refers to 鈥渢he five stages of George R.R. Martin fandom: introduction, enthrallment, disappointment, disbelief and bitterness.鈥�
What to do? The first book was, as I鈥檝e said, a wild read, though far heavier on violence and death than I like. I could easily stay up late for weeks tearing through the next three massive books in the series, getting much farther in the story before being abruptly halted again.
I waited semi-patiently for each Harry Potter, I read the original Watchmen series month by month in its comic book form, I even watched each TV episode of Lost as it ran. This is the first time I鈥檝e considered waiting to invest more time in a series. If we were waiting on Book 5 of 5, instead of Book 5 of 7, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檇 hesitate.
Maybe I鈥檒l give it a few more months, and see if another update appears on the page.
Rebekah Denn blogs at .
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