Martin is a talentless hack and always has been.

When writing GoT he hired an "assistant"--one of the future authors of the Expanse (forget his name). It coincides with his highest productivity and popularity. When he left Martin's output took a nosedive. In an interview that author mentioned that Martin's best talents were connections; knowing people in the movie and publishing business. Not so much writing.

Whenever I point out the objective shittiness of the series (five books, no ending in sight) people respond with magic crystal ball logic--everything will change once more books are written. I think the show reveals that isn't true, but never mind. Past performance is the best indicator of future performance.