[Lenny]

One thing you notice about Dan Brown's books, when you read them, are that they are written as if they are film scripts (beats me why The Da Vinci Code film was awful) - the writing definitely is secondary to plot.

I know I'm generalising quite a bit, but most readers are probably looking for a plot that's gripping.

Then you get authors such as Terry Pratchett, or Guy Gavriel Kay (I haven't read any of his books, so I'm just going off what you have said) - really great writers who cannot only write a good story, but can actually write.

The same goes for authors such as Hobb, Le Guin, Modesitt, and I'm sure you'll have people saying similar for Lovecraft (again, never read any of his work).