Especially considering the fact that GRRM actually never had a good track record of writing decent ending, even in short stories and novellas - a medium where it is arguably easier to write a strong ending. Think about Edgar Allan Poe's 2 page Red Death story "and the red death held illimitable dominion over all" or other famous short stories (Chekov, Hemingway, etc.) with not a whole lot of buildup, but zinger endings where the authors utterly drive the message and theme home. GRRM is the reverse, tons of buildups but even his 100-page short story always sputters at the end. The best part about ASOAIF these days is unironically to finish the books, play victim and complain about TWOW never coming out (complaining is fun).