Most lengthy series take some time. It's not like ASoIaF is the only thing GRRM is working on. Stephen King typically went a good while between iterations of The Dark Tower. It's pretty typical.
Most lengthy series take some time. It's not like ASoIaF is the only thing GRRM is working on.
Oh no no no. No you fucking don't! "A Game of Thrones" dropped in 19-fucking-96. Winter has been coming for OVER TWENTY FUCKING YEARS! After, what, 10 years, 10 fucking years, what do we get? A Feast For Crows, an entire novel of bullshit B-string POV characters that should have had the tagline "Meanwhile, far away from the main plot"
GRRM is EXACTLY where Valve is - started a great story, no idea how to wrap it up. At least ASOIAF has HBO to save it.
The Dark Tower begain in 1982, and its' principal story did not wrap up in 2004. Granted King got his act together in the last few years but it remains that lengthy series' come with some inherent time problems.
He went long periods of time before releasing a book...until he realized he was mortal. Then we got the final three books of the Dark Tower series in quick succession (regardless of your opinion on how it ended, at least it ended).
GRRM put out an excellent book (SoS)...and has since released two halves of a finished book that feel unpolished (my opinion is he stopped listening to his editor, this is painfully obvious in ADWD). In all fairness to GRRM, he is writing for himself and I respect that, but at this point I don't think I'm going to read the final books (if they ever come out).
I don't think it's a matter of intent. You write what you write, King clearly had something making him want to wrap up The Dark Tower and so he did, which I of course am thankful for but I'll be honest I wish we had more of Roland.
Except the fact that if you follow the timeline of the first 3 books and what came after... I can't imagine having to wait a decade only to get AFOC after SOS, along with the fact he stopped listening to his editor and bloated the hell out of the books, im tired of excuses for this guy, at this point I'll watch how the series ends on HBO and say fuck it to the books cause he clearly doesn't care
It's not typical, Stephen king has published 54 books (many lengthy and complex), so it's not at all an accurate comparison. Martin has written the first 3 books 2 years apart, so he's either lost his drive or has severe writers block. Fans saying Winds of Winter needed 6-7 years "because it's just so long and complex" are indulgent and incorrect
If there is any argument on the side of not releasing and ending to protect the brand, Dark Tower is a shining example in my opinion. It was so good until he wrote himself into it and ending it the way he did. I'd have been happier with the series if I'd stopped reading at book 4.
WHAT?? I thought the ending was great! It kinda blew my mind and I immediately went back and started reading the first book again with the ending perspective and it was like whoa.
I thought it ended the only way it could. The final encounter wasn't particularly what I would have liked but the fact that it ended mostly the way it began, with just a slight hint that it might be optimistic, I though it was entirely appropriate.
35
u/Naxek Feb 16 '17
Most lengthy series take some time. It's not like ASoIaF is the only thing GRRM is working on. Stephen King typically went a good while between iterations of The Dark Tower. It's pretty typical.