George R. R. Martin says The Winds of Winter is 3/4 done

A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin has, at long last, issued an update on the progress of The Winds of Winter. Before you fill your lungs with the most baleful sigh you might muster, steady on. It's good news.

To those who are counting, and I know there are a lot of you, Martin has been writing the manuscript for this book for the last 12 years. Previously, the author had been a bit too optimistic about when the book would be in fans' hands, inciting their ire, and he has been involved in other projects too. Martin worked on the worldbuilding for the Lands Between in Elden Ring and is an executive producer on House of the Dragon.

The best way to savour the excellent setting of Elden Ring? Well, it's with Thomas the Tank Engine mods, of course.

You've got to admit, writing that book for that long likely does exhaust the grey matter and makes you want to focus on other things. And there is another installment of A Song of Ice and Fire after The Winds of Winter. If you are a fan, you might have resigned yourself to the fact that A Dance with Dragons is essentially the end of the series, however, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaking with Random House, Martin revealed that The Winds of Winter is about three-quarters complete. This is not a drill. "It’s a big, big book, I’ve said that before. it’s a challenging book. It’s probably gonna be a larger book than any of the previous volumes in the story," he explained. "Dance with Dragons and Storm of Swords is the biggest book so far with 1500 pages but I think this one is going to be longer than that by the time I’m finished with it and I think I’m around three-quarters of the way done maybe." It is possible that his publisher might split the book into two, given its volume, but even this scrap of news is something to cheer about.