That's not book 1, that's a quote from book 8.
Interesting, and that's rather similar to the wording used in book 1. I suspect the distinction, based on previous descriptions by Jim, is a matter of context. Harry has a bigger, fatter supply of magic power available to him than most other wizards do. So his #1 issue is controlling all that power so he doesn't accidentally blow himself or those around him up. That's why historically he's been highly dependent on his staff and blasting rod to help him focus and maintain control of his evocations. For most other wizards, accidentally taking out a building is less of an issue. So controlling their magical power comes more easily than it does to Harry, and this leads to them having an advantage at complex little magics that don't take much power, but a great deal of focus and control. So they have a head-start in the efficiency race, and in a lot of ways find it easier going, at least at first, to improve their skill at complex evocations, and to work without foci.
On the other hand, most wizards don't spend a lot of time saving the world. So when a Ramp comes charging at them, they may freeze, panic, cast an inappropriate evocation, or simply screw up the right evocation. Harry has none of those issues. He's had lots of practice at emergency evocations. Furthermore, Harry's fine control has gotten significantly better in the last few books, and his spells have grown more flexible, so for a mage of his age, he likely is a good evocator, especially at big spells, even if there are other evocators, his age or even younger, that are better at intricate little spells. So I suppose it depends on how the word "evocator" is used. If we use evocator as a synonym for combat mage, than he's a damn good one for his age. He can throw big, destructive evocations that most other mages couldn't dream of pulling off. Yet if we use evocator as a synonym for someone able to quickly cast a complicated spell that they made up on the spot, then he's not very good at it. It's all relative.
Really, what ritual was used that required Chichen Itza? what did they do to piss the Reds off that much? Who were the targets?
And this is all just a piece of irrelevant background information I'm asking about.
I read that passage in Changes a bit differently. It wasn't that they used the very same ritual when Cortes came through, but that the Reds haven't used the location since Cortes conquered the Aztecs. Do we know what supernatural group Cortes was associated with that the Ramps weren't able to stop his conquest?
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