…were you REALLY surprised when HBO fucked the end of the series the way they did?
Author can’t even write the last two books.
Hands over the show to the screenwriters, with some notes that might or might not be how he really would have written the books. (No author ever actually knows how books are going to come out until they’re finished and off to the printer. And if they do, it’s because they’re formula writers.)
HBO has not one but two spinoff series that they’re itching to get started.
GoT is in the way and needs to be killed with an axe…so they used a dragon.
Will I ever buy anything else George RR Martin writes? Doubtful. If he couldn’t arse himself to write one book, OK, two books because he’s incapable of self-editing, to finish the series, then fuck him. There are better things to read.