First of all, for me it’s about world building. If the world is interesting and well thought out, I can turn a blind eye to a lot of things.

On the other hand, my personal pet peeve is the abundance of unusual names. I appreciate when there are no Peters and Marys in fantasy, but if a book has 57 characters with names I can’t read, let alone remember, it’s going to be very hard for me to keep up.

Banter.

Witty banter between primary characters is one of the best ways of establishing relationships, in my opinion. This is especially effective in ‘chosen one’ and ‘found family’ tropes, where the banter can help cut through the exposition/ info dump chapters. Banter and witty repartee during action sequences also makes them less dense and monotonous.

In fantasy, especially high fantasy involving several main characters, dialogue in group conversations is a pretty easy way of developing characters and establishing relationship dynamics. So yeah, good banter, sincere emotional bonds, strong character development.

In terms of world building, i think it depends on the target demographic. When I was younger, I used to focus more on plot and character, world building was secondary. As an adult, however, I find myself being more intrigued by unique magic systems and elaborate world building, even if the plot takes a while to pick up. As long as the plot is solid, i can be patient and read through 200 pages of set up before getting to the action.

In terms of relationships, again, as an adult reader, i find romanstacy tricky to navigate. In my opinion, romance isn’t necessary for a good fantasy story, but we also know sex sells, so if there must be romance, it has to make sense for the plot. It also has to be done well, with a full arc, development, side plots, and several chapters devoted to establishing the relationships. I find too many authors writing romance into their plot half heartedly.