I will always look at the map first.

Not because I need cartographic perfection. Mostly I want to know whether the author understands that distance, border, mountain, and sea all shape story before any character starts monologuing.

A good fantasy map promises that place matters. It tells you there are edges, travel costs, choke points, old territories, and forgotten corners. It gives the world resistance.

A bad one feels like clip art for invented names.

The best maps do what the best fantasy always does: they make you believe there is more beyond the page than the book has time to show.