Quote Originally Posted by Rocket Edge View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Azar View Post
A kid's book series compared to the trilogy that basically established fantasy as a valid genre in the 20th century and influenced literature for decades to come? Kind of a sad comparison. Lord of the Rings all the way.
Are you serious? JK Rowling almost single handedly brought reading back into a generation at a time when it was been seriously overshadowed by Video Games & other such things. Tolken influencened literature for decades to come, sure, but so will Rowling. Theres no comparison to the impact that Rowling made with the release of 'Harry Potter', than Tolken did with the release of 'Lord of the Rings'. Also, you automatically make it sound a little pathetic when you call it a kids book series, when the books are open to every kind of audience (hence the adult and normal book versions).
You can't deny Harry Potter was a series started for and specifically aimed at kids/"young adults," even if the appeal has spread. A G rated movie is always advertised as a family film, but typically it's just for the kids.

Harry Potter has done wonders to get kids to read, although I can't tell you how annoyed I get when I hear people talk about reading and say things like "Oh yeah, Harry Potter is so great! I don't read anything else, though." There's a lot out there, and plenty of it is as good or better than Harry Potter, and while I'm sure plenty of kids will find that out, a lot of them won't. Lord of the Rings is literature, and its influence and complexity really isn't comparable to Harry Potter, except maybe in the category of pop culture.