I think HP felt more “real” to people because it took place in our world and incorporated known legends into the world we know. So the readers can relate to the characters. Though at the end of the day, I don’t think anybody can purposely reproduce such a phenomena by studying what caused it. It was mostly mazel.
I liked the Inheritance series because the magic all worked very scientifically and was explained well in a good story. I know many people think the characters are very stereotypical etc but I thought it was very well written and entertaining.
Speaking of which, what happened to Toi?