Both really aren't that great writers if I'm going to be honest, at least in their fields, and if you compare their prose with other literary greats like Fitzgerald, Pynchon, Vonnegut and such they just don't stand up. Even against other speculative fiction greats like Mieville, Phillip K. D*ck and Lovecraft, they are lacking. Rowling wrote with the sophistication of a high-schooler and Tolkien's style doesn't lend well to conveying action, which is an essential thing in the epic fantasy field. However, you can't deny the scope of Tolkien's imagination and creativity and the joy of his description of the land itself. Few writers have such an appreciation of nature as he, I feel. Tolkien gets leeway since he essentially created fantasy and had nothing else to compare his work with except Homeric epics.
But anyway, LOTR was much better and the Harry Potter movies were bland to me.
edit: I knew you would block out Mr. Phillip.
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