'The Winds of Winter' release date, latest update: George R.R. Martin speaks about upcoming novel's darker tone and many character deaths

Fans have been waiting as patiently as they can for the release of "The Winds of Winter," the sixth book of George R.R. Martin's high fantasy book series "A Song of Ice and Fire." However, after the false hopes and the disappointments with its previously targeted release dates, it is no surprise that many of the fans of the book series have somehow lost faith along the way.

Over the years, Martin has done as much as he could allow himself to do in updating his readers about his progress with "The Winds of Winter." In the past, he publicized teaser chapters of the novel. More recently, he appeared at the Guadalajara International Book Fair and teased about the sixth book of the "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga once again.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, during the Q&A portion of the book fair, Martin shared some grim details about his upcoming novel.

"There are a lot of dark chapters right now in the book that I'm writing," Martin said. "It is called The Winds of Winter, and I've been telling you for 20 years that winter was coming. Winter is the time when things die, and cold and ice and darkness fill the world, so this is not going to be the happy feel-good that people may be hoping for. Some of the characters [are] in very dark places," the author went on to say.

He added, "In any story, the classic structure is, 'Things get worse before they get better,' so things are getting worse for a lot of people."

Martin also spoke a bit about the inevitable ending of his iconic fantasy saga, which will officially conclude with the release of the series' seventh book, "A Dream of Spring." Although he did not divulge how he planned to end "A Song of Ice and Fire," he did say that the overall tone of the ending will be bittersweet as well as somewhat happy.

There are varying rumors about the release date of "The Winds of Winter." According to Game N Guide, although there no official announcements about the novel's release date, fans should expect the sixth book to arrive at the end of 2017 or in 2018.