Well, this is the woman who didn't realize she was writing fantasy until she was most of the way done with the first book. So... yeah. A lack of imagination, for all the neat stuff she put in the books, is definitely there.

She lost me on the larger magical world worldbuilding in GoF when Europe only had three magic schools, one for Great Britain and two for the rest of the continent. Couldn't buy that then or now. What she did to the rest of the globe... you wrote a lovely rant.