"The Winds of Winter" is one of the most anticipated novels of this generation, but its release date remains elusive as ever. It is believed that George R.R. Martin is not yet finished with the manuscript, and if that is truly the case, it could be delayed until 2018.

There is very little information available about the progress of the sixth book. The last official update coming from the author was made back in August when Martin said that he is "still working on book six." He started writing back in 2011 after the fifth novel was released in the same year.

At the moment, the completion date is open-ended. There is no deadline set, and fans will know the release date when it is available, as Martin's U.S. publishing editor at Random House and his U.K. editor at HarperCollins' Voyager division said when asked about the million dollar question, Newsweek Europe previously reported.

It is also speculated that "The Winds of Winter" will be the longest book so far in the series. The first book, "A Game of Thrones," contains 704 pages, and the fifth book, "A Dance with Dragons," contains 1,040 pages.

So, just how long is the series? An infographic shows that the five books alone are already 3.7 times longer than all three of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" novels, and 3.3 times longer than Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace." Martin has already written an estimated 1,770,000 words in the past 20 years on the five novels. An average novel contains 100,000 words, thus, Martin has already written about 17 novels already, and still counting.

Currently, several rumors suggest that Martin has lost the manuscript, while another one suggests that he is too distracted to write the remaining portions of the book. There are also reports that say the manuscript got burned.

Last month, the community was rattled when Amazon France put up a listing for "The Winds of Winter" novel, saying that it will be available by March 2017. However, this was denied by Martin's publishers immediately.

For now, fans are waiting for the official word coming from Martin or from his publishers.