My introduction into A Song of Ice and Fire was through the show. I didn't start reading the books until after Ned Stark's death. I personally love the books much more than the show and have really disliked some of the changes they've made when adapting to the show. However, I'm definitely not waiting for Winds of Winter to release before watching season six. Honestly, I give zero fucks if they "butcher" George's vision. It's George's own damn fault for not releasing his shit on time. He knew this was coming and he was still too slow to finish his books.

Also, I don't think the show will ruin Winds of Winter or A Dream of Spring (if we ever get it) all that much. The books have always been more detailed and there are certain plot points that are definitely not going to be touched in the show (i.e. Aegon Targaryen). Major plot points might be spoiled but, in my opinion, the books have always been more about the details.

I honestly don't think he's going to survive long enough to release the last book but please at least release Winds of Winter!

People keep telling me that, but the whole situation has me soured on on the series in general.  The series has gone from this beloved series of books to this massive unstoppable force that has invaded all facets of pop culture. That wouldn't be enough to get me to stop, but George and the show runners (mostly George, I assume) not having planned this out very well just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's basically a big fuck you to the people who made the series of books popular in the first place and the people who prefer to read first and watch after.  And I know people are all like "well, there are bound to be differences" and that's all well and good, but the fate of important characters and plot points are not going to be (all) different.  And it's that knowledge as I'm reading that will ruin the experience for me. I have a low tolerance for spoilers.  I need to go in not knowing anything.  And whether I get spoiled accidentally, or I get spoiled by staying up to date with the show, it will change how I read the next two books.  And not for the better.

I don't like it one bit, and it will only take one big spoiler for me to give up the series for good. I've almost resigned myself to that path anyways. George got 5 hardcover purchases from me.  Hope he enjoys them.

I'm gonna say keep them separate. The show is intended to end on the 7th season. So the story has been planned out ahead of time. It was gonna go ahead of the books, no matter what. Didn't George also tell the show writers key bits anyway, before hand. Just in case. If you don't want spoilers. You'll just have to abandon one or the other.

Can someone explain how is it that hard to avoid spoilers. When GTA V was coming out, on PS3, 360. I didn't want to know anything. Till I got it on PC. So I just stopped watching trailers. And never went into threads about GTA, for 3 years. That's all I did. I litterly only knew you could play as 3 characters. I didn't even know their names. If you want to be really secure. Just filter twitters feeds of words. But, I easily ignored twitter and other places that could spoil things. I never found it that hard. I have no idea what happend in Season 6 of Walking Dead. I only watch the show, once it comes out on blu-ray. Now, unless someone here, in this thread, outright spoils the s6 finale. I still know nothing.

I'm pretty sure we're getting at least 8 seasons. It could be more. 7 seasons were intended back when the show was still following the books but now that it increasingly doesn't it can go on for longer. Or it might end with 7 seasons and then finish with a movie or movies. Financially that sounds like the best option.

To be honest... at the rate george writes he will be dead before he finishes the books. So, its better this way.

Well, you're gonna be waiting for the rest of your life, buddy. While there's at least a chance that "The Mountain Who Doesn't Write" will actually finish Winds some day, book 7 is a lost cause. I put the books behind me when I finished Dance five years ago, and I'm not looking back. It's been nearly a decade since I first read this series, and in that time GRRM has written one freaking book -- which was  technically only half of a book that he was supposed to have finished ten years ago! And -- holy shit! -- it wasn't even that good! No. There's no chance the book series is ever going to end.  The show may have butchered elements from the books, but at least it's happening.

Also, good luck avoiding spoilers. I've never been able to pull thst off with any popular work. There's always some jackass who has to bring it up in a totally unrelated discussion.

That's all well and good, but since I don't like the show as much as the books, the books not being finished or the show being spoiled for me means I just won't finish it at all. I don't care that the show is happening or not happening. I'm a fan of the written word so much more than I am of TV.

And really, there are works of fantasy out there that have surpassed this series in scope and quality, so it's not like Martin has the monopoly on this type of fiction.

The one that immediately comes to mind is Malazan: Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson.  Massive massive series, and probably an order of magnitude more complex than ASOIAF. Probably a little more "fantasy" and a little less "human." While it doesn't offer the exact same experience as ASOIAF, it is often mentioned in the same breath.

I didn't much like the direction of a lot of characters in Season 5, so I find it very easy to drop the show and just wait for the book. Maybe I'll pick the show back up once the whole book series is done. But by then the show will probably have faded into a distant memory. I bought all of the Bly-rays for the first 4 seasons, but I'm not buying the Blu-ray for Season 5.