[Airetalathwen]

Very true, that it is impossible to compare theses two books. IMO, there are some major differences in these books that were not mentioned here. (This could start a majorly hot discussion, but here goes.)<P>First, in LOTR, the idea is to get rid of the magic, because you cannot weild it for good. The ring (ie: magic) is bad, and cannot be used for good. In Harry Potter, magic is seen as being fun and okay to use, as long as you use it for good. From my experience, magic in the real world is always creepy and goes hand in hand with evil things of all kinds.<P>And, sorry to burst your bubble, but J.K Rowling isn't as big of a genius as you might think. Her books follow a certain pattern of Brittish novel writing that was developed a while ago. So its' not altogether her own original style. (My Aunt teaches Advanced Placement literature and she knows her stuff!) <P>My personal reason for not being a huge HP fan, is that people decided to make this popular. I heard a radio interview with marketers who admitted that they didn't care if the book was all that great or not, but kids would like it and read it, just because THEY were going to MAKE it popular. I hate having things like that decided for me, and be one of the mindless masses....(NO offense to anyone here, I'm not talking about you, but rather about people who really don't think. And if you really don't think, then I AM talking about you. ) <P>Sorry for the long post and controversial ideas! This is only my opinion, and I'm prepared to get flamed <P>~Airetalathwen