This is an interesting thread, how did I miss it for the first time O.o

It seems intuitive that a good book or a good movie is one that stands up to crits, that provokes crits, have depth etc... but, in truth, I think different stories appeal to different people.

For me: a story needs a great introduction. If the intro doesn't appeal to me (or perhaps the summary, covers etc), then the likelihood is that I won't even read it. I tend to find environment-describing intro with things like "it's a cold dark night with howling wolves" very cliche these days. A thrilling intro with a non-plot-vital disaster on the first sentence would be cool.

If the story chooses the approach of character-driven, then I like it to be adequately long, like lord of the rings, where I can get to know the people well- and miss them when the story ends. However, having way too much background info for the characters will bore readers and have them ask: does it even matter which kindergarten he came from?!

So yeah, that's that.