Wastrel’s Reviews > Queen of Sorcery > Status Update

Also: no, when a city in a rainy forest has been destroyed in battle and then left abandoned for 2,500 years it is NOT still an empty ruin that you can wander around (give or take some missing roofs and some trees starting to burrow through the walls). A few truly massive constructions may still survive (there are some old Roman fortress walls in England, though even those I think benefited from being adopted by later civilisations), but normal houses simply will not.

I know it's a minor point, but it goes to the bigger problem that Eddings' absurdly lengthy and uneventful "and they all sat and did nothing for 5000 years" history for these stories doesn't just feel unrealistic, it feels like Eddings doesn't even understand what the numbers mean...