You Can Dance If You Want To

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With Dragons! George R. R. Martin's been hinting at this for days weeks months years but the fifth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, of which the first book has being adapted into a series for HBO called A Game of Thrones, has finally set a release date. Just in time for my birthday too!

"The next book in George R.R. Martin’s bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series has a publication date.

Yes, we swear, after waiting six long years since the release of the last novel in the saga, the fabled Book 5 A Dance With Dragons is close enough to being finished* for Martin’s publisher to set a release date. We have that date, exclusively, along a first look at the book’s cover art and an interview with the man himself.

A Dance With Dragons will be published on July 12. The manuscript is huge — the publisher estimates the hardcover edition will run more than 900 pages, putting it about the same length as the longest book in the series, A Storm of Swords. Schedule your summer vacation accordingly.

EW: What took so long?

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN: I’m not sure I have a good answer. If I did, I would have taken less time. It’s enormous. It’s as long as A Storm of Swords. It’s very complicated. I have a lot of characters and points of view. And I’ve been doing a ton of rewriting, trying to get it where I wanted it to be. Some of these chapters I’ve rewritten more times than I can count before I’m satisfied with them.

EW: Can you tease something from the book?

GRRM: I don’t want to spoil any surprises. I can say all the characters people have been waiting for are there: Daenerys, Jon Snow, and Tyrion. There’s also new characters, and viewpoints from characters who did not have viewpoints before.

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I just finished the fourth book a few months ago so I timed this pretty well. I say for now, before we have to start the long wait for the sixth book. Anyway GRRM says a little more at his own site, saying this date's locked and loaded and real, very very real, and giving us a countdown clock on top of that. Hooray happy morning.
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