George R.R. Martin hopes fans will read Winds of Winter with “clean hands and an open mind”

Fans of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire have been waiting a long time for his next book, The Winds of Winter. The last A Song of Ice and Fire book hit store shelves in 2011, a full decade ago. Although he updates his fans now and then, the fans are really annoyed as he is taking too long to finish. He recently talked about the hate he gets online for the Game of Thrones finale and not completing Winds of Winter yet. In spite of all the heat he is facing right now, he once again reassured the fans he is still working on the much-awaited novel, and hopes they don’t judge him too harshly.

Martin wrote on his blog Not A Blog:

“No doubt, once I am done, there will be huge debate about which version of the story is better. Some people will like my book, others will prefer the television show. And that’s fine, you pays your money and your makes your choice. (I do fear that a certain proportion of fans are so angry about how long WINDS has taken me that they are prepared to hate the book, unread. That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind).”

When do you think Winds of Winter will be finally released? Talk to us in the comments below!