Winter is coming, Games of Thrones fans, just not in 2015.

The Winds of Winter, the sixth book in George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire saga, won’t publish this year, CNET reported, arriving in 2016 at the earliest.

“I have no information on likely delivery,” said Jane Johnson, Martin’s publisher at HarperCollins. She expounded that as the series has evolved, it’s taken Martin more time and concentration to keep the story going – something fans should appreciate.

“These are increasingly complex books and require immense amounts of concentration to write,” said Johnson. “Fans really ought to appreciate that the length of these monsters is equivalent to two or three novels by other writers.”

Readers are used to large gaps between GoT tomes. The series’ first installment, A Game of Thrones, was published in 1996 and was followed by two more books at two year intervals. This two-year gap was jettisoned for A Feast for Crows, released in 20005, and it took six years for A Dance with Dragons to land in readers’ laps. The Winds of Winter is due next, and the series will finish with A Dream of Spring – whenever it’s released.

A bright spot (or bane) for series fans is the HBO TV show based on the books. According to The Independent, the Game of Thrones show will wrap before the seventh book is released. Because of the pressures of the child actors aging, the series has depicted events as yet unseen in the books as well as hastened the story arcs for other characters.

And fans will see a GoT book in 2015; an illustrated compilation of the novellas The Hedge Knight, The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight. Due out later this year, these shorter novels are official prequels to A Song of Ice and Fire.