To preface this, I’ve read all of the Harry Potter books,
The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, The Children of Hurin, Tree and Leaf, and a few chapters from the Silmarillion.
Tolkien and Rowling have very different writing styles,
which is reflected in the books they wrote.
Tolkien is what I would refer to as a “world builder”. He is amazing at creating worlds, and did
write an astonishing amount of backstory for all of his works. This includes a creation story, three ages
full of conflict major events and a changing world. Numerous complete new languages that could be
spoken and understood as the only language someone speaks. And on top of this he has surprising depth to
many of his characters, including Saruman, Tom Bombadil, Elrond, Borimir and
even Aragorn.
Tolkien set out writing to create a new mythology, in this
he was very good. Note that he didn’t
create fantasy, nor did he come up with every idea himself, but he did create a
NEW mythology, which much of modern fantasy is now based off of.
However I find that Tolkien is not the greatest writer in
terms of engaging the reader, describing action and pacing his stories. The council of Elrond draws out for far too
long, the scouring of the shire is interesting, but anti-climactic after the
great evil of the series is already defeated, and his descriptions of combat
are short and bland.
Rowling, as a more modern author is much better at engaging
the reader, writing exciting combat, describing the world’s elements in detail
and pacing her books. Also as a more
modern author she’s able to create characters which may be more relatable to
the modern youth, and she has a very specific age group she was writing it
for.
Rowling did not need to create a world from the ground up,
as she based it partially on the real world, of the fantastical section of the
world, she does a decent job at filling in elements, and creates numerous
interesting areas, scenarios and events.
I particularly liked the rooms guarding the philosopher’s (or
sorcerer’s) stone, as well as the games in the goblet of fire. However Rowling did not do any world building
nearly on the level of Tolkien’s.
In terms of the books, Rowling’s are arguably as good, or
perhaps even better then Tolkien’s, but in terms of worlds, Tolkien’s world is
much more developed, dynamic and interesting then Rowlings.
However I feel like there are other authers out there that
develop amazing worlds with almost as much depth as Tolkien, while at the same
time writing interesting and descriptive books who I also love, such as Guy
Gavriel Kay.
