What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Amanaduial the archer]

Yes, but I'm not talking about things like using centaurs and mandrake roots, both of whom are creatures of myth, and are therefore, you could argue, created by others. Frankly, that would be ridiculous. No, what I'm talking about is when she has used some thing which are very close to, to take a topical example, Lord Of The Rings. Sauron is often referred to as the Dark Lord; Voldemort is always referred to in exactly the same way by Snape. Grima Wormtongue was a traitor in Lord of The Rings; one of the four animagi, Peter aka Wormy, betrayed Lily and James Potter.

I disagree on the point of details. Her writing isn't like that of a primary school child who has just discovered adjectives, true enough, but its certainly nowhere near spartan on that front either. She has quite a good balance I think. The descriptions she gives her characters are quite memorable really, such as that of Sirius Black when he was fifteen- "His hair flopped into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance that James and Harry's could never manage." (I'm sorry if that quote is a few words out, I wasn't using the book. Its in the chapter named Snape's Worst Memory if you really feel the need to check- I just find the HP books easy to quote after a first reading) This description, and the others around Sirius, weren't very long, and were relatively quite simple, I suppose, but the words are very well chosen to fix that image in your head. I have a photographic memory, and when I just think of a character, especially one with a description in the Order Of The Phoenix, I can immediately come up with a clear image of them (apart from Voldemort, for some reason I can't place him).

And her use of irony, in the last chapter of the fifth book for example, is far from childish.