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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andre" data-source="post: 2409190" data-attributes="member: 25930">Not sure if this helps with your question, but the number one thing I remember in books I enjoy are the characters. Interesting, likeable characters are always good. Interesting, hate-able villains are even better. Anti-heroes are very hard to pull off, as they often end up as simply obnoxious. When done right, can be very memorable. A great example of humorous characters done well are the first several books in the Myth Adventures series. A good example of the characters done badly are the last two books in the same series (Myth-ion Improbable, Something M.Y.T.H., Inc).Another point: avoid too much "travelogue" in the book. Yeah, Tolkien and a few others like Donaldson have pulled this off. But the vast majority of authors who try this end up boring me to death. If you can't suck me into your world in the first 100 pages, you're not going to at all. Evocative locations = good. Tour guide travelouge = bad.Last, an element of mystery can keep a reader interested. Dune is a classic in part because the reader never really knew what was going on, especially in the first half of the book. Be careful, though. Handled badly, this can really turn off your audience. The Butlerian Jihad books and the ?? Suns series by Kevin Anderson tried and failed to make this work, IMO. Of course, those books suffered from lousy characters, so they already had serious problems.</blockquote>