I want escapism, first off, plain and simple. I can handle a certain amount of dark and sad (hey, I'm a Silmarillion fan and you have to like sad if you like that) but there has to be a balance of beauty, love, honor...
I want beauty. I remember limyaael once saying that she wanted a fantasy book 'with a dragon of crystal climbing out of a pool.' I don't mind description if it's good, and most of all if it's afforded to beauty.
I want unique characters, ones I can care about and root for if they're the protagonists. And this is more of a personal preference, but I'm a little tired of huge ensemble casts - I like fantasy where it focuses on a relatively small group, with preferably only 1-3 main characters.
I want little details that assure me all this is real, and then horribly fantastic things that could never happen in our world. I want continuity and good characterization to carry all the basic weight so I can save my wonder for the true fantastical parts.
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