A Dance with Dragons has a release date!

[AndrewH]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I going to wgaer a guess and say that there will he more. Because this is technically the 2nd half of Feast for Crows. The two were supposed to be one novel.

There are two more planned. Of course the whole series was originally supposed to be a trilogy...

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by astra

I am surprised he invented enough for another book since (accordingly to what others say, I have not read the series) most of the main characters are killed off.

There are a ton of characters. He has killed off a few, but by no means most, of the main ones, and he's grown or added others.

Can't say more than that without ruining the story for others. This seems to be one of the more common rumors, and it's not really true, so I won't bother with spoiler tags.

[Belfaborac]

For me, the fact that no character is sacrosanct is one of the main attractions of the series.

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

For me, the fact that no character is sacrosanct is one of the main attractions of the series.

+1

There are a couple times my jaw dropped. Especially the end of book 3.

Im going to have to reread the series though. And I've yet to read 4. A signed copy has been sitting on my shelf for years.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Piper_

There are a ton of characters. He has killed off a few, but by no means most, of the main ones, and he's grown or added others.

Can't say more than that without ruining the story for others. This seems to be one of the more common rumors, and it's not really true, so I won't bother with spoiler tags.

OK. I will take your word for it.
When the series are finished (if ever), I might give it a try.
Although, I am dubious about liking it. I guess I am a different type of a
The main characters of a story are very important for me. I grow to like them and I follow them, the world development is secondary. Killing off a protagonist in the middle of a story it is similar for a writer to stop writing a series because the author grew bored. Introducing new characters to replace the dead ones is like a new series in the old universe then. The previous series was unfinished with unsatisfactory ending.

[GreenMonkey]

YAY!!

Unlike some of the haters, I'd rather see it done right at his own pace, rather than hurried. I have had no problems waiting.

That said, I'm glad to see a date! I'm afraid too that he won't finish before he gets sick or dies or something. Wishing him the best of health, and hoping he can proceed a bit faster now. Maybe HBO's series will help him get finishing faster!

Try waiting for David Gerrold's War with the Chtorr series. The last one was published in 1993, and the next 3 books have been pending since.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by astra

OK. I will take your word for it.
When the series are finished (if ever), I might give it a try.
Although, I am dubious about liking it. I guess I am a different type of a
The main characters of a story are very important for me. I grow to like them and I follow them, the world development is secondary. Killing off a protagonist in the middle of a story it is similar for a writer to stop writing a series because the author grew bored. Introducing new characters to replace the dead ones is like a new series in the old universe then. The previous series was unfinished with unsatisfactory ending.

I agree somewhat with this. He does have a large cast of mains, but he's killing them too fast. At one point I kept wondering if any of his mains would actually survive the end of the book.

[Belfaborac]

Originally Posted by GreenMonkey

YAY!!

Unlike some of the haters, I'd rather see it done right at his own pace, rather than hurried.

Not that I'm a hater, but in any case my concern is the exact opposite - that the guy will lose the creative thread and the remainder of the series turns out to have a somewhat different flavour and feel than the first three (as I too yhave yet to read volume 4).

[jhempel24]

Originally Posted by Belfaborac

Not that I'm a hater, but in any case my concern is the exact opposite - that the guy will lose the creative thread and the remainder of the series turns out to have a somewhat different flavour and feel than the first three (as I too yhave yet to read volume 4).

Yup, on his own time means more conventions, more time with other books, more ideas being spanned out across other ventures, and no time for this.

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by astra

OK. I will take your word for it.
When the series are finished (if ever), I might give it a try.
Although, I am dubious about liking it. I guess I am a different type of a
The main characters of a story are very important for me. I grow to like them and I follow them, the world development is secondary. Killing off a protagonist in the middle of a story it is similar for a writer to stop writing a series because the author grew bored. Introducing new characters to replace the dead ones is like a new series in the old universe then. The previous series was unfinished with unsatisfactory ending.

I counted 19 main characters that were introduced in the first volume that are still around after volume 4. There is a rather large number of characters which is part of the charm of this series. New characters do get introduced in addition to those I counted.

The books are organized by the Point of View of different characters so the same story follows different story threads in different parts of the books. So if you only count POV characters we met in the first volume in your definition of main characters then I count only 9 of the original ones still in the game with some characters that had a supporting role in the first volume elevated to POV characters in later volumes as the story unfolds.

The series is a significant undertaking and a spectacular achievement.

[ShooterMcGee]

I've pre-ordered my copy. I have read the series, and re-read...and re-read in anticipation. I just finished (again) not too long ago, so I'm fresh for the new book!

[Piper_]

The ebook version is now available for preorder.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YL4LYI

Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-D...kproduct&pwb=2

[GreenMonkey]

I pre-ordered the hardcover, and I never pre-order anything!

[shootingMaNs]

Originally Posted by Piper_

The ebook version is now available for preorder.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YL4LYI

Barnes and Noble:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/A-D...kproduct&pwb=2

What's the point of having an ebook available as a pre-order? I mean, download times are what, 30 to 60 seconds? I can see doing this for a hardback, to make sure you get one(although in this case, there will probably be more than enough available). But unless there are only limited copies of the ebook available, pre-ordering seems to be a waste to me.

[lunixer]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

Or maybe Sanderson can finish this one for him too lol.

Sanderson's really good. I've liked his continuation of WoT. And those were never *nearly* as good as Song is.