There are some excellent posts here. As a new multiple-genre reader (retired from a working life of reading tech literature and journals), I'm diving into a bit of everything including sci-fi and fantasy (just completed David Eddings
The Baleriad). What I'm finding within virtually all genres is that there are few truly new ideas. So I'm leery of trying to objectively evaluate a book for others because I don't possess the literary background to know if the author is truly, originally creative or simply borrowing from something (s)he read elsewhere and used as a springboard. How many really great stories are modifications of basic themes of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, Tolkien, etc.?
If you read philosophy, you soon realize that there are rarely any truly new ideas. Most of what we think are revelations turn out to be the fodder of far greater minds of yesteryear. So my benchmarks change a bit from seeking an original framework, to simply enjoying a good wordsmith and a good storyteller. @StevenLyleJordan's post was spot-on in pointing out that old classics must be read in the chronological era in which they were created in addition to the chronological era which the author has imagined. If we can do that for any genre, but especially for sci-fi/fantasy, it goes a long way towards being able to enjoy the book/series.
