Fantasy Book Critic: NEWS: Release Date for George R.R. Martin’s “A Dance With Dragons”!!!

As announced HERE on George R.R. Martin’s website and HERE by EW.com, A Dance With Dragons, the long-awaited fifth volume in A Song of Ice & Fire, finally has a firm release date—July 12, 2011—and a new cover as seen above.

According to the EW article, the manuscript is huge with the publisher estimating 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.”

The article also includes a preview from an interview Entertainment Weekly did with George R.R. Martin:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: 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.

For more of George R.R. Martin’s interview—where he compares A Dance With Dragons to the previous four books, and weighs in on the HBO adaptation—pick up this week’s print edition of Entertainment Weekly.

EW NOTE: That the author is still writing might worry some longtime fans (giving Martin a deadline is a bit like making a photo request of J.D. Salinger) but his publisher assures us the date is firm. Winter, and A Dance With Dragons, is coming...