George RR Martin confirms a new Game of Thrones book will be released this year

It’s not the one fans might be expecting, but it’s likely to be ridiculously popular all the same

George RR Martin has confirmed that a new Game of Thrones book will be released later in 2018, although it won’t be a continuation of a series that has already delivered five books to date. In a blog post on Wednesday, Martin delivered the disappointing news straight off the bat when informing fans that they’re going to have to wait a while longer for the sixth volume in the Game of Thrones series, The Winds of Winter, but they will have something to chew over in the intervening period. Instead of The Winds of Winter, Martin will be releasing Fire & Blood, the first half of what he describes as a “monumental history of the Targaryen kings of Westeros”, which will be published by Bantam Spectra and HarperCollins Voyage and will be released on 20 November. Pic via georgerrmartin.com Although it’s not going to be as long as the other books in the Game of Thrones series, at 989 pages, it will still be very long, with the first volume covering all the Targaryen kings from Aegon I (the Conquerer) to the regency of Aegon III (the Dragonbane), and a second half promised somewhere down the line too. Martin also assures fans that there will also be dragons. “Lots of dragons.” The author was keen to stress that Fire & Blood is not a novel and he also confirmed that HBO is “presently developing a number of different prequels to Game of Thrones”. Whether those prequels will be based on material from Fire & Blood, Martin said that he was “not allowed to say” and added that he will be returning to work on The Winds of Winter, although he gave no hint about when that itself will be going on release. With the final season of Game of Thrones not airing for another year or so and Martin’s latest work not available until November, fans of the books and the show have had to be awfully patient of late, but we’re sure it will all be worth the wait.