'Winds of Winter' release date news update: Book launch coming soon? Novel 'almost complete'

Amid the reports that George R. R. Martin's upcoming novel "The Winds of Winter" is getting further delayed, it seems that the renowned author has finally reached the final stage of completion of all the chapters of his latest book. This means that the fans of the best-selling "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series could have their own copy of the novel very soon.

It has been reported that Martin is on his way to wrap up the production of "The Winds of Winter," and if the rumors are correct, the final version of the book may be released before the end of the year. If Martin has already finished the manuscript of the novel, his partner publication company will still take some time to proofread the writings and to finalize the printing of the pages before the book can finally hit the shelves.

Another proof that Martin has nearly completed "The Winds of Winter" is the recent reveal of a few chapters from the unpublished novel. One time, he posted a chapter about the character of Arianne Martell on his own website, and recently, he revealed a new chapter for Aeron Damphair Greyjoy, who is expected to be another sinister character like Ramsay Bolton.

In front of the people at the Balticon Convention, Martin revealed that the new chapter from "The Winds of Winter" described how sadistic the new Greyjoy character will be, and he even claimed that the character will be a lot more brutal than Ramsay, Game N Guide reported.

Aside from the introduction of new characters in the book series, it is expected that "The Winds of Winter" will finally reveal the real parentage of Jon Snow. The bastard son of the North is assumed to be Lord Eddard Stark's illegitimate child and the half-brother of Sansa, Bran, Arya and Rickon. However, fans have speculated that there is something special about the real parents of Jon, and that he may not be Eddard's son after all.

"The Winds of Winter" is the sixth book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" and it is expected to be the second to the last novel of the entire book series. It will follow "A Dance of Dragons" that was released in 2011. The unpublished novel is considered to be the source material "Game of Thrones" season 6, although changes will be applied to rid the currently airing season of book spoilers.