I can agree that the hype is, very off putting and I'm glad I got into them before the hype took over. I never really read a lot of reviews or critics or keep up with that stuff anyway - usually I just 'notice' it but don't read much about it anyway.
I however, think the books are still very good and very much my favourite series that I've yet to read. I can still remember the feeling of utter excitement after I read the first book. The second book came out soon after I read that and the wait for the third I remember being excrusiating.
I don't reckon they'd have been a hype without the attention from the readers/public already.
Anyway - hype or no hype. It hasn't just got kids reading. It has got kids thinking. Okay, not about maths or Shakespeare but if you go on line and you read the theories and discussions all about Harry Potter - it's got a lot of people talking and I don't think that's cos of the hype. It hypes it up some more, but they're obviously enjoying it very much.
If anything creates that amount of passion in people, then its a good thing even if they hype annoys you. It annoys me. I get really peed off every time I see another bloody advertisement for the Deathly Hallows in Waterstones. They have one on every other bloody bookshelf.
The merchendise, the movie hype the critics the this and that.
It's amazing to think how bloody hyped up it is.
But to hell with it. I don't care if people say she's not that good of a writer. Isn't she? She's wrote a hugely popular, much loved and extremely good story. She may not be Shakespeare or Charlotte Bronte or Ian McEwan. Maybe she uses too many adverbs or ellipses or this that and the other. She however has woven an extremely intricate story and characters, magic and imagintion together and that's what makes a good book. Not how good the actual technical writing is - because I've read good writing and the story is absolute rubbish.