Hey, I'm Curious What You Guys Like To Read for fun? Favorite Genera?

I'm the author of a Young Adult Fantasy series (which, like Star Wars, is really designed to teach philosophies and spiritual ideas through a seemingly typical and fun story, (albeit a little bit dark)), but I kind of want to get a feel for what most people WANT in a book. I was wondering if you guys could tell me what you enjoy reading, and, if you don't mind, give me an idea of your age and gender (Mod note to our Youth: please do not share your age -Kit), so that I can have a feel for if my books will apply to both genders, or mostly just one. I'm curious to see if men have any interest in romance, so long as it's an interesting and relatable story. Do you enjoy books that make you question the morals and philosophies of the main characters, as well as the villains, or do you like straight up black and white: good vs evil type stuff? What are your thoughts?
Also, do you have a preference of male vs female main characters? What do you usually read, and are there exceptions for this or that reason?

I love everything from literature to novels. To me the most important aspect is story,regardless of genre or if the main character is a male/female, hero/heroine. Over the years I've read everything from fight club, to the dark tower series, to Lisbeth Salander novels. Story along with relatable content, have always caught my attention as a reader.

I enjoy reading fantasy and scifi mostly. Occationally that mix of fantasy in modern times. I've kind of put my toe a bit in romance but it's always been with a good helping of fantasy. Mostly I enjoy books with good story and good character development.

I enjoy both the black and white style and the more gray works. I'm actualy cooking up a story idea with the whole best-intentions gone wrong kind of thing. I just love it when the reader has to stop and question everything they thought they knew about something. I find that very hard to write believably though. But in reading, I find these more relatable. Althoug my most favorite book is that Good-vs-Evil. Honestly my bigest turn-off as an adult is the characters that can do no wrong (although I still somehow love the old Superman). I'm thinking of the Sword of Truth novels here if you've read them. But as a youth I ate up the black-and-white. I really really looked up to the characters that struggled through the dark and overcame it all. Most young adult books are written that way. But Harry Potter did break that barrior a bit.

I have a preference for male characters but that's mostly for a lack of relatable female warriors when I was growing up. I've been fed that "men are stronger than women" subtle message for far too long. Where I don't look at a woman in life and think "you're not as mentaly/physically strong as a man", I do have that feeling in books. It's complicated hahaha. I don't choose a book for the character though. More for the setting. The story and characters are what'll keep me reading a series.

In High School the kinds of books I was reading were the Dragon Riders of Pern series, Wheel of Time, the Dune series, Star Wars (especially the series with Obi-Wan as an apprentice), Lone Wolf (the Choose Your Own Adventure style), Animorphs, A Wizard of Earthsea, hmm...I felt like I read through the whole fantasy section of the library but those are the ones I remember the most. Oh end of High School I started reading Harry Potter.

Ultimatly what I'm looking for is a world I can escape to. Characters that I feel connected to and invested in. I've stopped reading book series before because there wasn't any characters I was interested in following anymore. I want to see character development and story development. I want to see characters who I can picture meeting in real life. Worlds that I want to visit. Magic with rules (I really dislike the 'magic fixes everything' stuff)

I'm 33 and androgynous

Personally, I love stories that aren't clear. Something that makes me re-read it to get the whole picture. I like complex and flawed characters, something young adult novels didn't produce when I read them.
Sci fi, fantasy, historical aesthetics are all fun, but really just seem like delivery mechanisms for the essence of the story imo. Romance is another one of those things: if the book is fixated on romance, it seems a bit shallow, but it definitely helps develop characters and can move the plot when used realistically. I also like I guess a group of protagonists, the main character's gender doesn't matter unless it does (e.g. a woman American football player), but can definitely be leveraged as a plot device responsibly.
I'm 23, M btw

At the moment I'm reading "Rebel of the Sands". I'm 32 and a girl, and I like that there is a girl heroine too. The boy is the "important one", but it's told more from the girl's perspective. It has romance in, which is ok, a bit sappy for me, but it explains plot and story, so, that's ok. I'd not have picked the book up if it were a " romance"/the blurb mentioned love too much. It's got magic in, awesome fun, but the magic doesn't stop non-magic stuff from being important and useful. I liked the handling of girls better in "Eragon", but "Rebel of the Sands" is, for me, a better story.

I don't enjoy questioning my characters, but I do enjoy learning with them (i.e. new info -> new perspective -> change). The more humour a character has, the more forgiving I am of their flaws, on the whole. I usually read YA fiction, adult comedies, and non fiction. Good luck with your writing!

Brook's Brothers "How to Be a Gentleman". I make it gender neutral in my head but its full of great advice on consideration or expectation; Rereading it regularly is a lot of fun, especially when I realize I've internalized something after review.

After i read the Lineage series by Ruth Baulding i am now reading this

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9783693/1/Legacy

Continuation of Lineage series (AU) * BOOK I: Newly Knighted Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn are sent to investigate rumors of slave-raids on an Outer Rim planet; along the way they grapple with ion storms, conspiracy, violence, invasion threats, and the greatest challenge of all: working as equals.

Well, I just finished Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation book (absolutely incredible), and I'm checking out another one of his books -- loving his style. I enjoy a really wide range. I'm also reading Little History of the United States in preparation to go through People's History again, and really re-cement all my knowledge of the country. That's while I'm concurrently reading some Bohm, and a book about the history of the world. I like to switch off, so I usually have a few different books "open" at any given time and I move between them so I don't get burned out on any of them.

My greatest enjoyment comes from really well-written science fiction and fantasy, though.

Im very eclectic in terms of genre. Ive enjoyed stories from nearly every genre except for romance. I particularly enjoy magic and fantasy, with scif-fi close behind. I love enchantments and magical beings and realms. But really im open to any genre except romance lol. I dont mind a story having romance but im not interested in reading a book just for that. If i dont have my own romance going on i dont want to read about someone elses, lol, and when i do have my own romance going on, i dont NEED to read about anyone elses.

What i like in my main characters are people who are fundamentally good, even if they make mistakes or if their temper gets the better or them somewhere. I also like characters to be vulnerable. Going off of what Kit (i think!) said; I also read the Sword of Truth series and I really loved it at first. As the series went on however, the main Character (Richard) became so powerful that he was basically invincible. I mean he went through hell and i admired his devotion to goodness (kindness, bravery, justice, etc) but eventually it was like watching a steven seagal movie: he was so above eberyone else that no one could really touch him. He was always the strongest, the smartest, the best trained, the most powerful... I cant relate to that; ive had to work my arse off just to be average, lol. Much closer to my heart are characters who are in over their heads and end up taking some real beatings, but who refuse to give up. Thats so much more heroic to me.

Characters who are real scoundrels can be fun and entertaining, but theres a limit: im pretty much dead set against anyone who truly has no moral center. They "have to be" the bad guy. More than that, it has to be shown how everyone who inhabits the worlds they build ends up suffering. Cause thats real life!

I actually am realizing i could write an essay on this lol which i dont want to do so thats it. Best of luck!

Im an adult male.