George R.R Martin Reveals A Chapter From THE WINDS OF WINTER

The author of the Song Of Ice And Fire saga has posted a lengthy passage from the penultimate novel in the series, which still doesn't have a set release date. It focuses on Arianne Martel and her companions as they set out from Dorne, perhaps for the last time..

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By Mark "RorMachine" Cassidy - 1/9/2013

Since the shocking resolution of A Dance With Dragons, fans have been eagerly awaiting the next, and penultimate, novel in the Song Of Ice And Fire saga. Martin is notorious for taking his sweet time on these books - understandable given the quality and sheer density of each one - but it does leave fans a little impatient. Well, Martin has now posted pretty much a full chapter of The Winds Of Winter to his blog. It doesn't offer up much in the way of spoilers, nor does it bring us back to The Wall to see what's happening with Jon Snow (obviously) but it does give us a glimpse into the lives of the Martells of Dorne, as young Arianne prepares to leave to discover what became of her kin. Below is a short passage, be sure to click the link at the end of the article to read the rest.

On the morning that she left the Water Gardens, her father rose from his chair to kiss her on both cheeks. "The fate of Dorne goes with you, daughter," he said, as he pressed the parchment into her hand. "Go swiftly, go safely, be my eyes and ears and voice.. but most of all, take care." "I will, Father." She did not shed a tear. Arianne Martell was a princess of Dorne, and Dornishmen did not waste water lightly. It was a near thing, though. It was not her father's kisses nor his hoarse words that made her eyes glisten, but the effort that brought him to his feet, his legs trembling under him, his joints swollen and inflamed with gout. Standing was an act of love. Standing was an act of faith. He believes in me. I will not fail him. Seven of them set out together on seven Dornish sand steeds. A small party travels more swiftly than a large one, but the heir to Dorne does not ride alone. From Godsgrace came Ser Daemon Sand, the bastard; once Prince Oberyn's squire, now Arianne's sworn shield. From Sunspear two bold young knights, Joss Hood and Garibald Shells, to lend their swords to his. From the Water Gardens seven ravens and a tall young lad to tend them. His name was Nate, but he had been working with the birds so long that no one called him anything but Feathers. And since a princess must have some women to attend her, her company also included pretty Jayne Ladybright and wild Elia Sand..

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26 Comments

	LordoftheThrones26 - 1/9/2013, 8:26 PM Login to report abuse THIS HAS MADE ME SOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY I CAN'T WAIT FOR WINDS OF WINTER TO BE PUBLISHED MAN THIS IS SO FRICKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! I NEED THIS BOOK TO BE PUBLHISED NOW (YES I'M A GOT JUNKIE) AND FIRST!!
	LordoftheThrones26 - 1/9/2013, 8:29 PM Login to report abuse Can't wait I'm hoping for a winter 2013 or 2014 for Winds of Winter!! A Dream of Spring should be publshed in 2017 or 2018! I think he'll probably need an 8th book to fit everything though!!! This is the best series ever made and the show is just awesome sure it has it's flaws but man is it good!
	LordoftheThrones26 - 1/9/2013, 8:34 PM Login to report abuse That's not the real cover for the book though, I always imagined it as purple with a spear or a wolf on it!
	RorMachine - 1/9/2013, 8:45 PM Login to report abuse You sure? That's the pic they use on Amazon anyway. He said it's 7..7 books, seven Gods, seven Hells etc..has to make it work!
	TheBatman1 - 1/9/2013, 9:27 PM Login to report abuse I really hope he will live to finish the series.
	LordoftheThrones26 - 1/9/2013, 9:34 PM Login to report abuse @RorMachine Yeah sorry but it's not legit and yeah I'd like 7 but it might not fit although I'm oping the last 2 will be huge! And he's healthy I hope he finishes I mean he's ''young'' compared to some people he finish it I'm sure he will!
	MCMLXXXII - 1/10/2013, 1:39 AM Login to report abuse the number of characters in this series is insane, it's amazing he can keep them all straight.. i have trouble knowing who is which sometimes, thank the internet for wikipedia.
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 2:26 AM Login to report abuse Considering how 4/5 turned out, I reckon this may end up going beyond 7 books. Just thinking of where all the characters are, and that there's only two left, hard to imagine it working (since 4/5 were disappointing and slow) unless he gets back to what made 1-3 so good. Looking forward to reading this! Hope though, that this is an improvement over books 4 and 5. Hopefully now that all the characters will be back together, he can get back to the greatness of books 1 - 3. Whilst 5 wasn't bad, A Feast for Crows was a real struggle to get through as I cared about almost none of the characters in it and not much happened. Dragons was an improvement but still, not quite as good as you might expect from Martin, or form a 6 year wait.
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 2:29 AM Login to report abuse @MCMLXXXII Lol, I do the exact same whenever I start reading a new Martin book. I recently just had to do the same for the final Wheel of Time novel as I felt as if I'd forgotten everything. I hadn't as it turns out, but I'm still probably googling a name for every couple of pages so far :P It is amazing, how authors like Martin and Jordan/Sanderson are/were able to create huge worlds and deal with hundreds of different characters and plot threads.
	batfan175 - 1/10/2013, 2:55 AM Login to report abuse Is it wrong for me while i'm reading A Storm of Swords to think that this reads like someone imitating George R. R. martin? i'm just cautious, considering that books 4 and 5 were not the best books of the series. for now the good is still anelling out the bad but if this book ends up being bad then book 7 will decide the overall fate of the series, literally.
	batfan175 - 1/10/2013, 3:00 AM Login to report abuse "cancelling out the bad", sorry.
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 3:17 AM Login to report abuse @batfan175 I wouldn't say it's wrong. I feel its probably more just the fact that its just a short paragraph taken out of context and read online and will read fine as part of the novel. I too am cautious about book 6, he spent about 11 years on 4 & 5 and they were very disappointing. I almost gave up in book 4, ended up reading another 3 books whilst struggling through it. Hope that with the mess of splitting the characters over, he can get back on track. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to 6, I just don't want to get excited incase this too disappoints.
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 4:13 AM Login to report abuse GRRM has also released a full chapter for Theon, and read chapters for Arianne II, Tyrion, and Victarion at events which you can find detailed notes for online. The book cover is not official.
	BruceWayneNewton - 1/10/2013, 4:16 AM Login to report abuse @ckal Where can I find these chapters?
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 4:18 AM Login to report abuse Charlie2094- While I thought AFFC and ADWD were still good, I think we may have the best book yet in TWOW. GRRM originally intended a five year gap after ASOS before We picked back up with the next book, but he scrapped that plan as he said he was doing too many flashbacks and thought too much happened in that time period to just skip over. So he wrote and rewrote much of books 4 and 5 several times as he wasn't even sure what he wanted to do. But that whole mess is essentially out of the way, so I think GRRM is back on track. Also because of this I anticipate the series lasting 8 books, not 7.
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 4:21 AM Login to report abuse Bruce Wayne- GRRM posted the Theon chapter on his 'not a blog' over a year ago. The other chapters have not been officially reased in writing by him yet, they were reading. But you can find detailed notes of these chapter readings at westeros.org forums or try a general google search for all these including Theon.
	BruceWayneNewton - 1/10/2013, 4:27 AM Login to report abuse @ckal Thanks man. I'll definitely check those out
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 5:38 AM Login to report abuse @ckal Interesting! Didn't know about that planned gap so thanks! I see now, why 4 & 5 were like they were, so hopefully, TWOW will be back to the greatness of 1 - 3. I don't think 4-5 are too bad, I just found 4 very hard to get through and no where near the quality of 1-3, so suffered in comparison and due to expectations. I hope you're right! There were parts of ADWD that I thought were brilliant and its all definitely set up and in place for 6/7 to both be great books. I can definitely see 8 books too, unless the end is nearer than we think, or the next two have a much faster pace, can't see it ending with 7.
	marvel72 - 1/10/2013, 6:28 AM Login to report abuse haven't read any of the books but eight books does that mean we could see eight seasons of the tv show. :)
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 6:49 AM Login to report abuse @marvel72 The third book is being split into two seasons anyway :) The third season covers just the first half of 'A Storm of Swords', where Season 1 and 2 covered book 1 & 2 respectively :) ...saying that though, I don't see books 4 & 5 being made into two seasons, probably just the one for those two.
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 7:23 AM Login to report abuse marvel72- As Charlie2094 stated, book 3 is being split into seasons 3 and 4. The showrunners have stated that after that the seasons will be pulling from both books 4 and 5, as both books actually take place concurrently for the most part, just in different locations. I see 2 seasons being made from those two books at least, but they did say after season 3 and 4, they won't be sticking strictly to one book in particular anymore with the show.
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 7:42 AM Login to report abuse brucewayne- No problem man. Check them out, some really cool stuff there. Charlie 2094- Yeah it is interesting for sure, I wonder how it would've turned out. He wanted to do 5 years to age the characters and the dragons I have read (in addition to initially thinking not a whole lot may happen in that time frame). If this happened, we wouldn't have had to spin our wheels in the mud with Meereen (which I, like most are not entirely fond of for most of the time we spend there), and some content from AFFC. But I still think GRRM could have spent more time editing AFFC and ADWD down. With that said, I don't find the books as bad as some do, and I think you are right that the high level of expectation seet from the first three books really let a lot of people down hard with AFFC. AFFC was a different style, a lot of looking at different places in the world, politics, and after effects of war on the land and less fortunate non nobles. A lot of this book is to set up future events as well. It had its moments, but it dragged in plenty of places (IMO unecessarily) with characters like Brienne and some of the Ironborn chapters. Like you, I thought ADWD was fantastic in parts. It started out very well and had the potential to be even better than ASOS, but was ultimately hindered by none of the story lines being completed, and everything leaving off as a cliffhanger until TWOW. I really do think books 6 and 7 (and 8), will be awesome with the GRRM of old. Just hope he picks the pace up with writing them!
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 10:00 AM Login to report abuse @ckal I absolutely agree with everything you say. It's shame about 4 & 5 as I feel, they both had their moments (ADWD more so) which together, could've created a much better book. I don't think I personally (or a lot of other fans) would've minded the slower, more political nature of AFFC had it be interspersed with ADWD's Tyrion and Dany chapters for example. Togther as book 4 they could've made (whilst still not as good as previous entries) a very solid book. I feel this is where the show can improve upon the books, in that they'll have to make it more focused on interesting characters and retain a faster pace. Worried though about the show stretching around the time of AFFC and ADWD to give Martin time to right the final novels as they will be finished with ASOS next year, and doesn't seem like we'll get TWOW util 2014/15 earliest:/ As you said, a lot of stories were left unfinished and with several cliffhangers and coming to the end, TWOW and ADOS definitely have the potential to be as strong as books 1 - 3. I personally, want to see and hear more about the Clegane's, or at least, what's left of them :)
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 10:53 AM Login to report abuse charlie2094- It is a shame indeed that we won't be getting TWOW for probably at least 1 and a half (very optimistic) up to three years from now. I know GRRM has already written hundreds of pages (last count he said was something like 400 back last year at some point), so at least we know he's getting stuff done. In his Not A Blog, his post about the Arianne sample chapter exlpains he still has a lot of writing to do on TWOW and 'half a dozen other things,' so hopefully he prioritizes TWOW. Idk what I'm lokoing forward to most in the next few books. Stannis and Winterfell? The Wall? Aegon and Connington? Dorne? Greyjoys? Jaime? King's Landing? Meereen? And yes....the Cleganes! Some theories out there suggest the big man on the Quiet Island (I think that was the name) with the limp and the shovel digging is Sandor, and Ser Robert Strong is Gregor, or Qyburn's 'unGregor.'
	Charlie2094 - 1/10/2013, 1:01 PM Login to report abuse ckal Hopefully, the show catching up, and the success of it, has helped motivate Martin to write the novels. Look forward to TWOW regardless, things are looking up, especially considering the list of things you just gave :) As you said, progress seems to be going well, far better than I remember reading ADWD :) I heard about Sandor...didn't catch that at first, but going back to it, definitely makes sense. I never catch these more subtle things people seem to pick up all the time in series' like this :P Yeah, definitely think Ser Strong is 'unGregor', hoping that with Sandor seemingly becoming a good guy, we may see a final, epic Gregor/Sandor fight down the line?
	ckal - 1/10/2013, 2:13 PM Login to report abuse charlie2094- Ah yes, Gregor/Sandor I think is something we are all hoping for. That will be awesome. Check out the westeros.org forums. They are extremely popular and will probably reveal so many thing you may have not even thought about. There's always great topics and users there.

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