have you read the ship series by Robin Hobb? (Ship of Magic, Ship of Destiny... or something along those lines). It takes a bit of getting into but it leads into her new series - The Drogon Keepers, and it (debatably) has a few characters from Assasins Apprentice / tawny man in it too.
I finished all the published Obernewtyn books, then I tried the Darkfall series but couldn't get into it, so I gave up. I'm hanging for the next obernewtyn though.
Brisingr is a bit frustrating, I feel like its a "Filler" book before he nuts out the end of the story. Its not a bad read, but don't expect any astounding revelations or conclusions.
Try Robert Jordan - "The Wheel of time" series - he creates a similar world but with more complexity (12 books so far). No Dragons / elves etc, but battles and castles and Magic etc.
I'm Reading Raymond Feists "Magician" And i'm enjoying it too. Its got the elves and dwarves and such but its a good story so far, with a very likeable protagonist.