Discuss

[ninebelow]

Even Potter fans are capable of acknowledging that Rowling isn't the world's greatest stylist. I mind as much as anyone about her writing, but, as I said, I still enjoyed the Deathly Hallows; and while once or twice I rolled my eyes and asked myself why I was reading this shit, there were rather more times when I found myself saluting Rowling's consistency, imagination, and fidelity to the larger traditions of fantasy narrative to which she is heir. Unfortunately, unlike Tolkien, CS Lewis and Ursula Le Guin, she did not have the courage to bring about the end of her magical world - those other writers brought their readers into the adult world by describing the end of the supernatural - but she did the next best thing: she helped us understand the nature of self-sacrifice, and helped us look death, or the idea of death, in the face.
Nicholas Lezard on Harry Potter