Waiting, it’s horrible, particularly when it’s interminable. What is a reasonable time period to write a book? Having never written a book I honestly have no idea, when you’re waiting though it’s almost impossible not to draw comparisons between authors. Some authors seem capable of churning high quality books out in incredibly short periods of time, others are more metronomic and release books at regular intervals, then there’s the final group of authors who release books at intervals comparable with the lifespan of celestial bodies. This list features the works of the last group, if you consider yourself a masochist then I recommend reading all of these as quickly as possible then you can maximise your enjoyment of agony while you wait, and wait, and wait for the next instalments to arrive.
Just for a change, these are ordered by average time between books rather than alphabetically.
Shades of Grey – Jasper Fforde
Perhaps not the series that most of you would have been expecting at the top of this list. Shades of Grey appeared in 2006, Jasper Fforde stated that it was book one in a trilogy, at the end of the book there is a page directing your future attention to the sequels. Since then precisely zero sequels have appeared. Fforde continues to occasionally refer to forthcoming sequels but who really knows if any will ever appear. For me this a massive shame, the first book was a very enjoyable comic take on the dystopian future fantasy and although immediate elements of the story had been tied up somewhat, many more threads had only just developed and may never be properly explored.
Average wait: 13 years and counting since book one.
The Kingkiller Chronicles – Patrick Rothfuss
It may be slightly unfair, but in not counting the novella, ‘A Slow Regard of Silent Things’ Patrick Rothfuss’ average goes from 4 to 6 years. However given the amount of false dawns that have arrived and passed within the 8 years since ‘The Wise Man’s Fear’ appeared, I’m not inclined to reverse my decision. A draft version of book three, ‘The Doors of Stone’, has seemingly been in existence since 2013, since then Rothfuss has consistently moved the goal posts further into the future. Statements such as “the book will not be released in 2014” do not exactly confirm that the release date will be in 2015, but it is certainly implied. I do however have some sympathy for Patrick Rothfuss, he has insisted on several occasions that he won’t be rushing to release the book until he is happy that it will live up to expectations, and I would much rather wait than read an inferior book now.
There is some good news, ‘The Doors of Stone’ is rumoured to be the last instalment in ‘The Kingkiller Chronicles’ so there will be no further books in the trilogy to wait for. Before you breathe a sigh of relief at that thought, Patrick Rothfuss has also been rumoured to confirm that this trilogy is just a prequel in a larger story, who knows how long that will take to arrive!
Average wait: 6 years (not including novella).
Current wait: 8 years (not including novella).
A Song of Ice and Fire – George R.R. Martin
Famously tardy, George R.R. Martin is no stranger to keeping his fans waiting. While the TV series has now reached a conclusion there is no sign of book six, ‘The Winds of Winter’, appearing on the shelves of booksellers’ anytime soon. I’m so glad that I didn’t pick up the first book way back in 1996, I really can’t imagine how it would feel to have read the books at such a glacial speed. It does appear that ‘The Winds of Winter’ is nearing completion, Martin has apparently stated that he will have it finished by the middle of next year, but then the waiting will begin again for book seven. With Martin now in his seventies, we all hope that the wait for the final book will be significantly shorter than the current hiatus, with the HBO series now finished it could be hoped that there will be fewer distractions from this point, but for now all we can do is ‘Dream of Spring’.
Average wait: 4.5 years.
Current wait: 8 years.
The Gentlemen Bastard Sequence – Scott Lynch
Of all the series in this list, I arrived at this one most recently, and I’ve only read the first book, my waiting to date is therefore self-inflicted rather than the responsibility of the author. ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora’ was however one of, if not the best, opening to a series that I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Part of my reticence to purchase and read further novels is that Lynch has indicated that this will be a seven book sequence, given the amount of unread books I already own and the likely length of time until book seven is out, I’m happy to wait for the current books to drop in price a little before I buy them. The fourth book in the series, ‘The Thorn of Emberlain’, has been six years in the making so far and apparently a draft is now with the publishers, so it is possible that it may hit the shelves before the end of 2019. In which case I’ll press the accelerator and get books two and three read in the near future. The release of book four this year would also bring the average wait for Gentlemen Bastard novels down from 4.5 years to 3 years, which is significantly more frequent than other series in this list.
I should add that Scott Lynch has been very candid in interviews about the reasons for the gaps between books, his personal wellbeing is of greater importance than any personal desire to catch up with the Gentlemen Bastards more frequently. Of course it may be that similar difficulties have affected other authors in this list, in which case we wish all of them, all the best.
Average wait: 4.5 years.
Current wait: 6 years.