I admire your optimism.
It’s interesting that the saga is now so complicated that Martin himself has to check with two “superfans” to keep the facts straight.
HBO announced season 8 coming out in April.
There had been speculation it would not be out until next summer
Yes, April it is. Here’s more, including the teaser trailer (no spoilers, no new footage): https://ew.com/tv/2018/11/13/game-of-thrones-final-season-date/
they finished filming with actors a few months back so now it’s just CGI they are working on. Maybe a few extra actor scenes could be filmed now if needed.
Natalie Dormer is on the market. 
She was my fav on the show.
Natalie Dormer and Fiancé Anthony Bryne Split
And yet Martin released a new book this week set in the Westeros universe so it’s not like he’s not writing.
Anyone else reading Fire and Blood? I’m not far into it (just past Aegon I and to his two asshole sons and Aenys’s kids). It’s the same general info as Sons of the Dragon, but I didn’t get a chance yet to see if it’s EXACTLY the same prose. If so, then The Dance of the Dragons will be the same.
So I’m not that into it because it’s not anything “new” yet. Maybe I’ll like it more when I get to someone I don’t know as much about. Or even Aegon V. I know a lot about Egg and bits and pieces of adult Aegon, but I would like some more details. I know we won’t get Summerhall answers, though. We certainly didn’t get Visenya answers.
I’m reading it and enjoying it, but it’s right up my alley - worldbuilding for a universe I adore (I’ve been reading ASOIAF since the 90s). I recognize that that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
Oops. Not Visenya. The other sister-wife, the one who allegedly died in Dorne on dragon impact. cough cough
My ebook wasn’t displaying the fancy fonts correctly. I thought it was a coding glitch so I spent way too much time today tweaking the book and it would just not work. Finally I tested out my own fonts and they worked, so I just downloaded the listed fonts in the book anew and replaced the ones already there with the new ones. I’ve never had that happen before.
Anyway, I didn’t get too much further in after my tweak, download, open, wrong, delete, tweak, download, open, wrong, tweak etc exercise. I’m up to Jahaerys and it’s jolting because all of a sudden there’s a couple pages about his mother. She was a big part of the Maegor and Aenys story, so learning more about her would have made sense back then? Maybe? And even if it does fit better here narratively instead of chronologically, how it was done was confusing.
Rhaenys
I FIGURED SOMETHING OUT ALL BY MYSELF.
With very few exceptions, I miss a lot of the subtlety of ASOIAF the first read. Plus, to be fair, it’s not done yet. There might be foreshadowing we are not aware of, or are aware of and don’t fully understand… like the House of the Undying visions.
From Jaehaerys I’s reign about his sister Rhaena and her “friend” Elissa
[spoiler]Elissa steals three dragon eggs to build a ship. There’s a big search for the missing eggs, wondering who’d buy them under any circumstances, if they might hatch or turn to stone, especially if they’re not in Dragonstone,
We know that Elissa sold them to some Braavosi, but unless this text tells us differently, what are the chances that SOME PENTOSHI SPICEMASTER didn’t end up with three stone dragon eggs for a lost Targaryen wedding present?
It’s not subtle, but it made me laugh. And maybe it’s subtle enough for a more casual reader to have missed it. Hell, Illyrio was in a handful of chapters. It’s ok for a more obsessed reader to forget some details.
[/spoiler]
thought about reading that new book but of course it’s 600+ pages. I guess this guy simply cannot write a book that’s 400 pages like most other authors.
If you’re REALLY into the world, it’s a worthwhile read, but it’s not for casual readers who already have a stack of books to get through. There’s some really interesting tidbits and hints, but a huge portion of it is stuff we already know through the short stories and *TWOIAF * companion book. It’s not exactly the same prose from those, so you hear more about Rhaenerys and Aegon II e.g, but it’s just slightly different info. It doesn’t tell you for sure that Sheepstealer is the origin of the Burned Man trible, but more heavily implies it than The Princess And The Queen did.
So if you’re not super inclined to read it, wait a few weeks for someone who read it six times already to list the highlights on a wiki somewhere. It REALLY feels like you’re reading every single page. Sometimes I fly through a 900 page book like “that’s it?” and sometimes a smaller book feels like forever. This is a long book that feels like forever.
Another passage that I like that I think is pretty significant for books 6&7
[spoiler]From Alysanne’s trip to the wall with her dragon:
[/spoiler]
Dany didn’t seem to have any trouble flying all three of her dragons past the wall.
That’s fan fiction, not something written by GRRM.
Unless you are saying the show is fanfic, no it isn’t.
When Jon and company were stuck at the lake surrounded by White Walkers and wights, Dany certainly did fly her dragons up and save them. They were half a day’s march beyond the wall.
I think it’s quite likely that, based on the passage about Alysanne’s dragon, the Wall blocks dragons just as it blocks Others/White Walkers in the books. The show’s wall appears to have different rules, or perhaps Dany flew her dragons around the wall.
Did G R R Martin write it? No, he didn’t. I’ve viewed it as fan fiction for two seasons. None of the subtlety or reason of the original books. Dragons flying at 500mph, people zipping across the country and back.
Littlefinger’s death is the classic bad example. How could he have organised the assassination of Bran from 500 miles away? With a knife from the kings stash (not sure if that’s the case in the show)?
One of the book theorists gave a decent explanation of how it could have happened. LF is a warg. A good one, who remote controlled both Joffrey to get the dagger and the catspaw to execute the plan. Wargs are woken up after a long coma, and LF was in one when he lost a duel to Brandon Stark when he was a teenager…
My view is that it doesn’t matter if it’s fanfic or not- it’s the only resolution we’re ever going to get. Martin will never finish the books, and Brandon Sanderson is too busy to do it for him.