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Oakton Outlook

The student news site of Oakton High School

Oakton Outlook

The student news site of Oakton High School

Oakton Outlook

A song of delay and disappointment

A song of delay and disappointment

Earlier this month the worst news of the entire year hit me. ‘The Winds of Winter’ would not be coming this Spring. Worse, it may not even come this year. What will come is the next season of HBO’s hit show ‘Game of Thrones,’ which will officially surpass the show’s plot and forge ahead into new story lines. I’m conflicted, as I’m not sure whether to be upset or relieved. On the one hand, I’m bummed I don’t get to read it now, and when I get to college I’ll have much less time to crawl through a 1,000+ page book then. It’ll make the show less enjoyable, as watching it will feel a little guilty, but on the other hand I’m happy that author G.R.R. Martin is taking his time to do things right. The last thing I would want is a hastily written HBO companion novel abomination published just to fit a timeline. Instead we’ll get a well written book, just at the cost of more time, and a slightly spoiled plot.

In my own opinion, I’ve always liked the books better. The show has a history of handling key characters poorly, and before we go further, **spoilers** beware. In my opinion, the show crippled Jamie Lannister and Tyrion Lannister. Sansa Stark hasn’t done anything in a season or two, and Stannis deserved a better end that what he got. The books have always held better plots, with Jamie’s redemption, Tyrion’s shift to a messed up murderer, and Stannis ‘the Mannis’ Baratheon being awesome in general. Along this route, I’m much more excited about the next book, and without it I don’t think I’ll enjoy this next season very much.

For me, the show has always been about waiting for my favorite book moments, and then reveling in the amazing job HBO does with bringing them to life. Without that anticipation I’m not that pumped about April, and I won’t even accept events as canon until TWoW comes out later this year. It’s rough. Well I appreciate the time taken by Martin to do things right, it’s sad that the equilibrium of book and show has come to an end.

This isn’t the first time Martin has missed a deadline either. On his blog he mentions that he was supposed to have his drafts in by September of 2015, which obviously didn’t happen. It took 6 years for him to write the last book in the series, and at the current rate the HBO version will finish showing over a decade before the last book comes out. That’s a long time to wait, but many fans, including me, are okay with it. The books are high quality. Like anything, that takes time. It’s not what I’d prefer, but I know the payoff will be great, and all the conspiracy theories I’ve clung too will turn out to be true. Cleganebowl confirmed anyone?

The long story short, is that it’s a bummer. It feels like getting a bad grade on a test, except for the fact that there is literally nothing you can do to change it. I respect Martin, he’s an amazing writer and I’ve fallen in love with the world he created. I follow every bit of it like an addict, and I’ve made friends solely over our shared love of the series. While I would’ve liked it now, I’ll wait. I’ve been waiting since I was a sophomore for the next book, and that’s half as long as some. I think many share this same sentiment. While I won’t go as far as to boycott the new season, I do understand why that’s a common reaction. Really the only thing a fan can do is say ‘it’s okay’ and wish Martin the best of luck with his writer’s block.

For any looking to get into the world of Martin’s hit series, a good place to start is buying the books, or if you already have HBO or HBO GO the episodes are all available to stream. If all goes well, look for ‘The Winds of Winter’ sometime next holiday season.

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A song of delay and disappointment