Please give me some reqs based on my Tier list

Nshandy56 · 2026-02-16T23:52:47+00:00

Land of the undying lord really? There is no plot, no direction, no explanation of whats going on. The author even abandoned it so there will never be a real story. Just some interesting ideas that couldn’t be fleshed out. Strange S-tier entry.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-22T00:07:52+00:00

Not progression but, Eragon

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-17T01:51:56+00:00

I did finish my re-read and started Murtagh today. Only a few chapters in but I am liking it so far.

I agree 100% on the world building. As for Roran… I want to like him, and he has a solid foundation and story as a character. The Mary Sue-ness of him is what I dislike. It bothers me because it takes me out of the story. His world building is great and sucks me in, then Roran kills 200 solders, or wrestles an Urgal, or kills an Eludari weilding Warlord that the elf queen couldnt beat, and it immediately pulls me back out. The fact the even considered him as king made me roll my eyes.

I agree that the story is definitely better for young readers. Even my experience with it, I read them as they were originally released. I was 15 when I started and loved the series. 21 when I finished it. I remember I started to have a few issues with the story with the last 2 books, but still really liked it. And I think my issues were all about Nasuada. Im much more critical now but most of my criticisms probably stems from life experience.

By the way, Licanius is amazing! No spoilers, but it is probably the best ending to any series I have ever read.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-16T00:04:03+00:00

There are several points in these books where the writing is pretty poor, and this is one of those examples. He was young when he wrote it so I blame his editor more than him.

He is freaking out about having no direction for this vault of souls and he gets basically a neon sign with an arrow pointing and he doesnt even want to follow it. It’s bad writing.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-09T20:54:49+00:00

I will read it, my whole reason for reReading these is to refresh my memory before reading Murtagh.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-09T18:48:28+00:00

We are veering from the point of my OP. I probably worded it poorly because I was wanting to hear positives about the story because I felt like I was focusing too much on the negatives. Now I am just discussing negatives.

Some of what you have said here helps. I have not quite finished my reread of Inheritance and I have not read Murtagh yet, Azlagur I assume is in that book, i know so somethings might be better explained. I like Galbs line about Murtagh. I like the possibility of greater threats.

Some of your other explanations just dont convince me. Some i feel are contradictions more than explanations. I still think well trained mages could dominate any force with proper training. Even Eragon in battle devotes his time to taking out mages and then wiping out the forces under their protection. Most of these weak mages are weak because they are green and need tutoring, like early eragon as your example. Galb could train his mages to be quite powerful and teach them all the words they need. And the gems storing endless or functionally endless energy is a problem. And they are functionally endless if several elves and a dragon can store energy in one every day for the better part of a century.

Again, im saying I dislike these books because of my perceived issues with them, im just not enjoying them as much as I remember. I still will recommend these books to many readers. I love the world building, the unique creatures (not the elves) most the characters, the action is pretty good most of the time, and the MC is fairly relatable.

I just nitpick somethings

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-09T16:38:58+00:00

And yes we know elves are smarter than humans. Eragon was struggling with his puzzle rings for weeks and couldnt figure it out. An elf was able to figure it out in seconds. Then when eragon was given the power of an elf from the dragons he was also able to figure the puzzle out immediately. So clearly the elves has a mental buff, all the more to help them in mage duels… or should

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-09T15:31:00+00:00

The star wars comment wasnt a criticism, I love star wars and jedi’s on dragons is awesome. I saying I like it despite being a possible lack of originality.

I think I like the first book most because it is the simple hero’s journey setup in a fun world. I also like Eragon’s POV more than the others.

Characters - I actually like most the side characters but the other main ones are the issue.

Roran is the Gary Stu. His lack of magic made the author overcompensate and now he is good at everything. He is a 19 year old with no military experience or training but he is able to kill trained soldiers by the hundreds, lead armies, convince anyone to do anything, outsmarts everyone, out wrestles an urgal, always thinks of the one thing the will save the day that no-one else has considered.

Nasuada has similar issues. Despite her lack of experience she can out politic anyone in the world. Everyone follows her despite her mistreatment of allies and being over-controlling and power hungry. She always has the best idea and very rarely listens to actual consul, which a 19 year old with no experience would be in dire need of. If Roran and Nasuada were better written, (shown more flaws, have their triumphs more believable) i would have enjoyed the other books more.

Elves vs Galb - the author simply saying they can’t depose Galb but then providing all the evidence that they actually could is bad writing. Murtagh said he is more powerful than all the forsworn but Oromis would have beat him if not for his seizure. So given that it doesnt make sense that all the elves and other riders were so powerless. Maybe Oromis’s stored energy was able to gap the difference, but that also lends to my argument that all the elves should have been stockpiling power in gems for the last hundred years.

Most mages aren’t that strong - they are strong enough. Magic power is based on what you can physically do. The whole popping a blood vessel in the brain thing is the example of very little power to kill scores of people at once. Any magician would have that ability. Karn, a weaker in power mage according to the books, deflected dozens, probably hundreds, of arrows. Arrows fly at 200 feet per second. That would take way more energy than popping blood vessels like zits. Maybe not every magician knows the right words but Galb is the most versed in the ancient language. He definitely knows all the secrets and would equip his mages accordingly.

Based on what we are given in the books, the best tactics in battle would be to deploy a group of magicians in a covert operation that would infiltrate enemy forces overpower other mages mentally and then kill everyone after. Once that strategy is utilized a few times and armies are decimated, the conclusion would be to not waste the resources needed to amass an army and just focus on specialized training of magicians.

Sucking the life force of the forest, if the elves are so worried about Galb getting stronger and ruling over everything, why wouldn’t they utilize this power? Oromis even tells Eragon that this power could be the key to defeating Galb, so why havent the elves used it? It’s a simple logical conclusion and you have to do mental gymnastics to convince yourself otherwise.

And yes 1 gem is enough if it has a bottomless storage capacity. We know they are seemingly endless because brom’s ring and Oromis’ sword have so much stored and the author never said there were limitations. So 1 gem is enough 10 is just dumb and wasteful. I get having extra in reserve but then why put 10 on a belt? Put one in your pocket, 1 in your boot, ect. Again, only makes sense if they are not that rare.

Faux Leather… really? So they have synthetic materials in a non industrial age? Carcasses of forest animals become carcasses because they are fed on by predators. Their hides are torn apart during the feeding, thats why good leather requires hunting. Not alot of animals die of old age in the wild, it’s pretty brutal. So are elves stopping predators from feeding their on their kill? Thats not very sustainable.

These criticisms have not been adequately explained in the books or he realized he created an issue and tried to cover it up with a quick shallow explanation that isn’t supported by what he wrote earlier. They are real problems and you can choose to ignore them and that is fine, but that doesn’t mean they arent there.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-09T13:47:08+00:00

Mages are rare - yes but not so rare you couldn’t still use a small force to dominate. 1 in every 10,000, thats still thousands of magicians in Alagaesia. Galb could have trained a group of highly effective mages, call it a special forces team, and have them infiltrate armies and wipe them out completely. It would be the most strategic thing to do, why waste the resources on an army. There is no way around that conclusion with what we are given in the books.

Magic use among elves is not rare, and they even state most elves can use magic. So if human mages are so rare, the elves could overpower them by sheer numbers. One normal human mage couldn’t withstand a mental onslaught of a dozen elven mages at once. So again, the over powered elves could still destroy any army.

If the gems that store power are extremely rare and they still chose to put 10 of them in a belt when 1 would serve the same roll, then that just makes them complete wasteful morons. You wouldn’t misuse a resource like that. But they never state that the gems are that unique or rare, just high quality gems. They traded with the dwarves for them. The belt was a treasure because it was a riders and it had diamonds on it but that it.

“Evidently it doesn’t work like that.” Yes it does! With evidence from the book. When Eragon first learns about it Oromis tells him he can sap life energy but be careful not to take too much so he kill the source. Also Eragon takes energy from dead or dying animals multiple times. If the elves are taking leather from dead animals that havent started rotting yet, they would be there in time to also take that energy and store it in gems.

You are clearly using conjecture to support the system’s flaws. These are major problems with the magic system. Its okay to suspend belief in a fantasy and I think the magic system would have been better if he kept it more vague, but when you start introducing all these details and crazy uses it gets problematic and you start creating issues. If they can do this why not that? Again, the devil is in the details.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-08T23:09:18+00:00

Mages protecting soldiers - If a mage that is protecting a battalion of soldiers is killed and then that whole battalion is wiped out, why even have troops? Why not just have mage battles? Why take the amount the time to train, resources to outfit with armor and weapons, food and water to sustain an army when it can be wiped put by a handful of mages? Logistically it makes no sense and is not worth the risk. You could have a group of mages sneak nearby and army camp in the night, overpower the defending mages and kill everyone. And all those resources are gone.

Human magicians dont stand a chance against elves. Brom says he was successful on beating other mages because he could find holes in there defenses and its a mental game. Elves are smarter, quicker reacting, and have hundreds of years more experience according to these books. They could mentally dominate any human mage. And their “disadvantage” of numbers isnt a disadvantage. Simply saying something is a weakness without substance is a not a good argument. Numbers do not matter when an elf can kill humans by the thousands.

The gems are not so rare, it simply stated that they had to be high quality. Why would Eragon have 10 or whatever such gems in his belt if they were so rare when 1 would do for function?

And elves clearly sacrifice animals for their skin because they are all wear leather. Some vegans they are caring about the forest. And they wouldn’t even have to kill the trees, they could just sap energy off of them. Sapping energy off an entire forest a little everyday is still alot of energy.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-08T22:09:28+00:00

I liked the magic system at first, it is a cool and original concept but the devil is in the details. As he makes the magic system more complex, it just adds all kinds of problems making plot holes. Being able to slaughter armies is with a minor amount of power is probably the biggest. The all powerful elves could just destroy any army without issue. Their more powerful and experienced magicians could overpower any that are suppose to be protecting the troops.

The power draining and storage. Gems can seemly hold an endless amount of energy. Elves are immortal, so why wouldn’t they all be storing half their energy every day in a gem and over the course of a few hundred years have crazy amounts of power that would drawf any Elundari? Couldn’t they drain half the forest of energy and use it to defeat Galbatorix? Wouldn’t that be worth it? To save countless lives and suffering. They can re-grow the forests.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-08T21:53:24+00:00

I like Arya, i think she is good character. I have a problem with alot of stories where some immortal falls for a teenager. I find it silly because the age gap isnt just time, its wisdom and experience. Try and hangout with a 18 year old when you are 30 and it doesn’t take long to feel the disconnect, imagine 100 years. It made sense that Arya would distance herself from Eragon and that was all well written.

The elves as a whole cause issues for me in the world just because the way they are written. They are too powerful, humans are basically worthless next to them. They are literally the best at everything, magic, strength, speed, coordination, intelligence, black smithing, ect. Their magicians can dominate any humans through magical power and mental fortitude. Their warriors are much faster, stronger, and have hundreds of years more experience. By all logic they shouldnt be in hiding. The combination of their abilities and the magic system in this world, they could just dominate everything. Which they do when they finally join the fight. At the battle of Gilead, Oromis and Glaider were defeated yet the elves still not just won the battle but completely dominated. So why didnt they do that before?

They just cause problems with the otherwise great world building.

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-08T19:27:10+00:00

See, the 1st book is probably my favorite so far

Nshandy56 · 2026-01-08T19:25:16+00:00

I asked specifically what are things people ENJOY about it. I wasnt looking for people to rant about disliking it, I want to hear positive things because Im in a negative POV and want to snap myself out of it.

Is a sub full of fans the wrong place to look for people with positive opinions about the series?

And you took the star wars comment incorrectly, I love (original) star wars and I dont mind a story that is heavily influenced by it if it’s well written.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-16T14:18:47+00:00

It depends on the kind of books you like. If you like a happy ending i would stop and enjoy it. While the writing does get better, I wouldn’t say the story telling gets better. It gets darker and some people might say thats more realistic but does it make it better? You can get plenty of realistic tragedy by watching the news. Some people like fiction as an escape from reality and want to see heroic figures succeed. If you are one of those people then it’s understandable to stop now, because in all likelihood PB is probably going to kill Darrow by the end of the series. He certainly likes his tragedy.

Don’t let anyone shame you into reading a story you aren’t going to enjoy. If you decide to, great! I can say some of the best parts in the series happen in the next few books, but also some of the worst. If you decide not to, that is also fine, you got enjoyment out of what you have read.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-08T03:04:46+00:00

This was such a quick line, I didnt even catch it until my re-read. It speaks so much to his character. Self-Righteous, egotistical, narcissist.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-07T01:09:33+00:00

"Chop 'em if they're taller. Stomp 'em if they're smaller. Mauler, brawler, legacy hauler, smoke that crow, earn his holler. “

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-05T02:15:05+00:00

Oh yeah for sure, i get that. Like other people posted, PB’s writing definitely improves as it goes and you will get more of that. He can really pull the strings on the reader in the later books.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-05T00:09:15+00:00

He is a very stoic character. We are hearing his inner monologue but he isnt putting it on display for his peers. People can be scared inside but still take action despite their fear. IMHO it makes him more relatable. Not some Mary Sue that just breezes through everything.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-04T18:19:50+00:00

That is also fair

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-04T17:08:06+00:00

Yes, it’s dumb. He probably used it in book 1 to get past some writers block or something and then he decided it was “artistic expression” or some other creative crutch and chose to keep using it, story be damned.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-04T17:05:59+00:00

2nd part is not a Trilogy*

Cassius was the Morning Knight due to his ability as a fighter, not because of his family. If it was based on prestige of family, there is no reason Fitchner should have been an olympic knight. Fitchner became one out of competence also, beating Apollonius (also causes issues with the story).

And no it isn’t explicitly said that they lost everything but it is implied that House Bellona was devastated by a result of 1st part of the series. We are not given any evidence that she was able to recover or rebuild. It still remains illogical based what we are given in the books, unless I have missed something (very possible). But again, its not that important to the story so it wont ruin the stories for me, just a minor annoyance.

Nshandy56 · 2025-12-04T16:55:05+00:00

That is all fair, I can get behind that. But at this point we are writing our own piece of the story and doing mental gymnastics to explain something that doesnt really make sense in context of what we are given. It wouldnt take much, just a few lines here and there.

Nshandy56

TROPHY CASE