I'm on the fence about this myself. In a lot of ways ADWD has left us with more plotlines and complications than we had going in, but in a recent interview he said that seven is still the target. One thing's for sure in my view: if he can pull it off in just two more, the rest of the series will eclipse the books that came before.
Aegon VI's invasion seems a bit left-field and a complication too far, but OTOH it does set things up for Dany's invasion (and Dany and her dragons are a known threat in Westeros by the end of ADWD, so she's lost the advantage of surprise anyway). If Aegon VI is going to ally with Dany upon her arrival, he's already got a toehold and conquered several castles already. In essence he's done what she would have to do anyway. So I think that helps.
The biggest problem with that is Dany still seems a ways from returning to Westeros. She's made the decision that she needs to return home, but she's stuck in the middle of the Dothraki sea with an uncooperative dragon and just been picked up by a Dothraki khal hostile to her. So even in the best-case scenario she's going to have to spend at least a few chapters of Book 6 convincing the Dothraki into an alliance (I suspect naming the dragon Drogon will help, as they may assume his spirit lives on in the dragon or something), return to Meereen, smash up the blockade, deal with Victarion (I have a feeling Victarion will arrive at Meereen first, use the horn to take control of the other two dragons, and then have a showdown with Daenerys on Drogon) and then begin moving her people back to Westeros somehow. That puts off Dany's invasion until late in Book 6 at best.
To get the series done in 7, the only thing I can think of is that Dany's invasion will turn out to be more important in the aftermath of the series rather than the series itself. The war with the Others will be mostly fought by the Westerosi (led by the resurrection-as-PWWP Jon? I'm not a fan of that idea but GRRM seems to have set it up almost to the exclusion of all other possibilities), the Others will be defeated by lore gathered by Bran and maybe Samwell, and Dany shows up in the aftermath. Possibly a little disappointing, but again it would be an inversion of reader expectations.
Based on all of that I am probably marginally (like 51-49) thinking the series may expand to eight books after all.
A Dance with Dragons discussion thread
11/07/2011 10:48:23 PM
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A general question to get the discussion started: will two more books be enough?
12/07/2011 02:22:52 PM
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It'll be tight.
12/07/2011 04:32:39 PM
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What does "resurrection-as-PWWP Jon" mean? Got it - Prince Who Was Promised!
18/08/2011 08:59:44 PM
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No but I think 3 will be possible
26/07/2011 03:15:02 AM
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Hero of the book?
12/07/2011 10:12:02 PM
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Barristan should be renamed as Ser Grandfather, you do not mess with Ser Grandfather *NM*
26/07/2011 03:32:09 AM
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Asshole of the book?
12/07/2011 10:46:10 PM
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Agreed.
12/07/2011 11:18:07 PM
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Seconded. He'd probably make my short list of Assholes of the Series to date. *NM*
12/07/2011 11:25:04 PM
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Daenerys Targaryen & lifetime achievement award to Lord Rickard Stark
17/08/2011 12:38:40 AM
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Idiot of the book.
12/07/2011 11:21:51 PM
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I think readers are being too hard on Quentyn, If anything I think Doran derserves more mocking.
17/07/2011 01:09:35 AM
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Is there any hot sex scenes? I won't be able to read it for a while *NM*
13/07/2011 02:35:49 PM
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YES!
14/07/2011 02:38:48 AM
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I don't know what to think... (spoiler)
14/07/2011 08:59:39 AM
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Probably not.
14/07/2011 09:19:03 AM
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Re: Probably not.
14/07/2011 03:57:55 PM
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What made least sense for me as far as that is concerned...
14/07/2011 11:51:20 AM
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Something I totally missed first time through
14/07/2011 09:40:33 AM
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I'm still not fully done, but about the Reek chapters...
14/07/2011 04:05:29 PM
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GRRM completely shit the bed on Jon's arc within this book. That's the truth.
16/07/2011 12:51:08 AM
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Having finished the book, my thoughts. (Spoilers)
16/07/2011 08:11:30 AM
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Personally, I felt 'A Feast for Crows' was not only better written but more condensed.
17/07/2011 11:15:58 AM
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Summed up like that there is no way to disagree with what you said
17/07/2011 11:33:01 AM
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It should be re-titled A Jump with Sharks
17/07/2011 06:00:37 PM
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Publishers are more interested in the bottom line.
18/07/2011 12:31:56 AM
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Sadly, I am likely overestimating the intelligence of the readers.
18/07/2011 03:05:12 AM
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I felt bummed by Sanderson's new series.
18/07/2011 05:25:09 AM
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You might like this quote from House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski.
11/08/2011 03:42:05 PM
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I'm afraid I have to agree with what seems to be the majority opinion...
17/07/2011 07:35:47 PM
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And on a different note entirely: is it me, or did the book need more proofreading?
17/07/2011 07:39:15 PM
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Re: And on a different note entirely: is it me, or did the book need more proofreading?
18/07/2011 02:17:41 AM
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The book really shows it is AFFC part 2
26/07/2011 03:00:07 AM
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No doubt, much like readers would've been more forgiving of aFfC if it'd been two years after SoS.
26/07/2011 11:28:43 PM
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Am I The Only One In Love With Arya's Chapters? *spoilers maybe*
18/07/2011 02:22:00 AM
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Unlike others, I won't start a separate thread to express my thoughts
19/07/2011 11:21:17 AM
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Yeah, I wished there was a way to move them in here!
19/07/2011 01:42:51 PM
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Me too... but going and complaining about them seems so lame, too.
19/07/2011 07:34:47 PM
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I think you let him off too easily.
20/07/2011 04:19:07 AM
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It might be that I expected even more of a longeur than what happened
20/07/2011 05:24:50 PM
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Am I the only one who really likes...
20/07/2011 06:04:00 PM
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I have to disagree in regards to Penny, she's a plot device and an annoying one at that.
21/07/2011 01:15:33 AM
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Re: I have to disagree in regards to Penny, she's a plot device and an annoying one at that.
21/07/2011 09:33:00 AM
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The six bodies fired by the trebuchet
20/07/2011 10:36:16 PM
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Yes, I was confused by that too.
20/07/2011 10:53:35 PM
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Probably pale mare victims. Seige warfare via plague
20/07/2011 11:23:10 PM
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It's not six bodies, it's six trebuchets throwing corpses instead of stones
27/07/2011 01:03:51 AM
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Stannis
21/07/2011 08:43:40 AM
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I highly doubt he's dead
21/07/2011 07:29:59 PM
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The bluff makes the most sense: if the Boltons beat Stannis, why does he ask for Theon & Jeyne?
22/07/2011 12:01:30 AM
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The letter sounded like the ravings of a psychopath loosing control
27/07/2011 02:56:21 AM
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The Aegon Twist. Something about this doesn't add up.
21/07/2011 10:43:43 PM
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Which gods do you think are "real" in Martin's world?
22/07/2011 04:32:39 PM
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None of them.
22/07/2011 06:25:19 PM
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Is that personal opinion or based on something Martin said? *NM*
22/07/2011 06:37:57 PM
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Opinion
22/07/2011 07:43:16 PM
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Regardless of whether or not they actually get involved, their existence (or not) is signficant.
23/07/2011 02:17:48 AM
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I think there are some god's, just given different names. Same with the magic.
22/07/2011 09:24:51 PM
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Lose the apostrophe in the subject line. Then: on what basis do you assume this?
23/07/2011 02:28:49 AM
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You might want to stop wasting time correcting others typos. As for the gods...
23/07/2011 04:53:59 AM
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You might want to stop making them. Particularly glaring ones like that.
23/07/2011 05:01:03 AM
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Morality stems from god?
22/07/2011 10:47:59 PM
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On second thought, let's address the issue directly.
23/07/2011 05:14:59 AM
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Perhaps...
24/07/2011 07:03:24 PM
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Its simple...
24/07/2011 07:37:11 PM
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I disagree...
25/07/2011 04:10:04 AM
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Bullshit.
25/07/2011 05:44:41 AM
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The Seven probably has more power and influence than any other religion though.
25/07/2011 07:51:59 PM
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In Westeros, but I always got the feeling the Free Cities and other places didn't much care for them
26/07/2011 10:53:45 PM
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Westeros is the biggest coherent civilisation in the ASoIaF world.
27/07/2011 12:56:21 AM
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Some thoughts...
25/07/2011 04:54:05 AM
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It's not an objective morality.
25/07/2011 05:41:33 AM
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Its not that simple...
25/07/2011 06:21:39 AM
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I don't disagree with most of what you said. I just reach a different conclusion.
25/07/2011 01:57:31 PM
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Whats the best new POV
26/07/2011 03:14:05 AM
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Things you missed till they were pointed out via others or via a reread
26/07/2011 03:23:53 AM
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A bit.
26/07/2011 12:32:32 PM
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26/07/2011 03:46:54 PM
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Re:
27/07/2011 12:43:43 AM
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Martin doesn't have to do anything
27/07/2011 01:33:36 AM
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Re: Martin doesn't have to do anything
27/07/2011 04:38:19 AM
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The crone who prophesied the stallion who mounts the world saw the stallions face
27/07/2011 05:13:28 AM
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Eh?
29/07/2011 04:44:17 PM
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This is complicated.
31/07/2011 10:43:15 PM
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Wait...a woman crowned for beauty was the victorious mystery knight?
01/08/2011 03:00:49 AM
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It is believed the Knight of the Laughing Tree is one of two people
01/08/2011 04:47:21 AM
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Hizdahr a Harpy? Innocent or Not?
26/07/2011 03:36:56 AM
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What is happening with the Maesters subplot? Any new leads?
26/07/2011 04:13:27 PM
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Re: A Dance with Dragons discussion thread
29/07/2011 01:42:57 AM
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Jon Snow is definitely Azor Ahai.
29/07/2011 07:31:17 PM
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Yup.
31/07/2011 10:49:34 PM
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I'm uncertain about that
01/08/2011 05:35:18 AM
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True, but I wouldn't read too much into that.
01/08/2011 11:42:29 PM
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Am I the only one who thinks...
09/08/2011 05:16:46 PM
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I think Martin's gonna stick to Bran being the only one who does that
10/08/2011 09:25:12 AM
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It's possible, the problem is Jon's warging skill isn't all that well developed.
10/08/2011 10:53:32 PM
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Anyone have any thoughts as to the purpose of Arya's storyline?
14/08/2011 06:28:09 PM
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She's being trained as an assassin, so the question is who is she going to kill?
16/08/2011 01:43:12 AM
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