First of all, Imladris does have a fair point, as many Tolkien fans do have a tendency to criticise the Harry Potter books quite vehemently, and I'm not excluding myself from this. I'm not embarrassed to say I enjoy the Harry Potter books and I can't fault the plotlines which keep me turning the pages (and I especially love the Ministry of Magic and the bad guys), but as a long time Tolkien obsessive, I do have a weird relationship with them. This manifests in an urge to be sceptical. I wonder how many other 'Downers
do love those books but feel they must somehow criticise just to prove the point that Tolkien is
the master. I know this is something
I do quite often, although it has mainly been face to face, in duels of words with workmates.
This topic shows though, yet again, how text based discussions can sometimes not come across the way that they were intended; I'm sure we've all written e-mails that have come across in totally the wrong way, and this is a similar thing.