What are yours Best have thing(s) that you, as a reader, want in a book?
Being it fantasy or sci-fi ones.
Is it world building, level of details of characters/things/places, the story itself, how you can relate to a (main) character, other?!
And if possible, why?
For me it tends to be the story itself, of course I can relate to a character, or to the incredible details of a place somewhere. But generally speaking, i’m more intrigued to know the context and the plots of the story the author wanted to give me.
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I love when I read a mystery and all the puzzle pieces fit perfectly at the end. I’m not great at catching all the pieces while I read, but it is so satisfying when it clicks at the end.
A character I can root for, hate, and love all at the same time. Characters that force me to reckon with my own flaws or the flaws of people around me. Characters like that are humanizing, and they tend to have a lasting impact on my behavior, the way I treat myself, or the way I treat others.
Stephen King and Brandon Sanderson both deal with a multiverse. I love seeing the same characters show up in other books.
I enjoy unreliable narrators and in some cases enjoy unsympathetic characters. I like humor, both wry and understated and comedic if well done. (I think John Irving is a comedic genius, although I know plenty of people would disagree.) I’m also a fan of dark humor. I’ve read books entirely for their prose and others sheerly for plot. The ones I’ve loved have had that magical combination of both. I’m drawn to family/domestic dramas because my family is insane and I relate. I’m also a sucker for English murder mysteries.
Dialog. Humor. Something unexpected, doesn’t have to be big.
I’m a sucker for 2nd person point of view, twists that reveal the narrator to have been unreliable (but you couldn’t have known from the start), and complex symbolism
I love when a book has two seemingly unrelated storylines but then eventually connect in a way that is so clever and unexpected but makes perfect sense.
Although that’s not something I typically look for, I can definitely appreciate when it’s done well. A Visit From the Goon Squad weaves multiple storylines in so well, it was wild.
Although I remember almost nothing of that book, I remember liking it.
I love when everything comes together. When the whole is better than the sum of its parts, everything fits into the story, the themes, etc. beautifully, like a jigsaw puzzle. Doesn’t have to be a mystery, any type of story can be this way.
I have a friend who’s top criterion is good prose, and some of the books she reads are too meandering for my taste; despite being written well, the book doesn’t feel “whole” to me. Maybe that’s bad of me but I’m not satisfied enough with the journey lol, I want the destination to tie the whole journey together. There can be loose ends and ambiguity, but it should feel just as purposeful as the rest of the narrative.
I don’t look to relate to main characters. I want good guy characters facing impossible odds. Preferably with very little shades of grey in the main character. Others can be grey or evil.
Internal thoughts, philosophical monologues ( like the ones you find in Dostoyevsky’s works )
As others have said I love when storylines fit together like a puzzle or a nesting box. In the same vein, I also love when there’s a sense of depth beyond the main plot and characters–I guess that’s a big part of world building.
One thing I like best is a vivid sense of place. Not necessarily detailed expositions of the setting (though that can be lovely too), but writing that makes you feel like you’re there. I remember books like that for a long time, even if I can’t recall much of the plot or characters, or if they weren’t my favorite overall. A few examples: Moloka’i, Watership Down, Memoirs of a Geisha, Land of Lost Borders.
When there is deep insight intro intricacies of a culture I was not previously familiar with.
Indian culture in Midnight’s children.
Chinese culture in Three body problem.
It really draws me in.
I’m just finishing the House of Rust, which is set in Mombasa among Hadrami (a Muslim diasporic people). It’s amazing and beautifully written! Magic realism, though, which some people don’t like. It won the Ursula Le Guin Award. Maybe your kind of thing?
I love books with meaning. A deeper meaning for the characters’ words which becomes clearer towards the end. I don’t necessarily mean philosophical meanings, but subjective aphorisms.
I generally enjoy books that are somehow connected to me or I can relate to (like both fiction and non fiction) and other than that I like mystery thriller.
I love the optional romance in any story to be honest. I could read the romance genre itself, but they are too focused on the, well, romance between characters which is quite obvious because it was intented to be written like that. The other books have range of genres and different plots, but when characters have good chemistry with each other, especially romantic one, I tend to like it much more than if I was reading it just for the story itself.
Oh, and funny scenes as well. They are nice when they happen.