Words on a page. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
I think that what interests me the most with a book is the "believability" of the world and the characters. I mean, I HATE HP because I just cannot believe that such a thing (ie, a wizarding world that we "muggles" know nothing about, such things as dragons that no one except wizards ever sees, etc) could exist. On the other hand, LotR is so believable that my best friend accuses me of forgetting that it's not real.
Books like The Sword of Truth series, Wheel of Time, The Chronicles of the Cheysuli, and too many others to list right now, just pull me in because I can believe in these things. There is a history to them, a depth that books like HP just don't have. In WOT, the most ancient event mentioned is at least three thousand years ago. In HP, the most "ancient" event was about 11 years before the first book.
Another thing that draws me into a book is the style. Now, don't anyone shoot me, but J.K. Rowling's style, to my mind, leaves a great deal to be desired. So little really happens over a comparatively shorter time and the descriptions usually leave me uninterested. And she sounds like she thinks that we're all ten years old. In the Cheysuli books, I can see the capitol city and the inhabitants. The story moves along quickly, but I am never left feeling it to be not enough.
Language, not the language that the author uses, but the language of the characters. Again, I'm going to pick on HP. The words to the 'spells' that the characters use are nonsense, hard-to-pronounce, and frankly silly. I can't think of specific examples because I've only read the books a few times and do not own any copies, but I can say that the words used by the characters, esp. the elves, in LotR evoke images of forests and the sea to me. Sindarin and Quenya are lyrical, and I think that hearing them used by true elves would be like listening to well-written music.
And last, story. There has to be a good plot.
(All you HP fans out there, please don't come and shoot me or feed me to harpies/the Sarlaac/giant plants/dragons/whatever large and beastly thing you can come up with. I just don't like Harry Potter.)
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