Quests or mysteries, which do you prefer?

I dislike both. There is generally a stereotype for those tropes in SFF. Quest one doesn't have the ugly but it has long been worn thin for me, the mystery is where an odd exceptionalism pervades. The only way to turn it on its head for me is to write a utopic mystery.

This is a great question indeed. Truly, I think it depends on the plot and whether or not the storyline is 'unique' enough to draw me in. Regardless, I appreciate when a fantasy novel incorporates a psychological element to it and meshes together mystery within a quest.