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As I've said before, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and commits ritualized serial murders like a duck, it's a duck (who is also a ritualistic serial killer).
We can't possibly be saying that people who expected something based on what a thing was clearly appearing to be are somehow "missing it." Even if they're wrong, surely we could agree that intelligent people would expect, when they see a story full of elves and wizards, that what they're about to read is high fantasy? Sure, it might turn out to be a hard-boiled detective novel that happens to have a high fantasy setting. But can you really turn around and say "Well, you shouldn't have been surprised?"
It's like a story about a character with strong conviction and faith receiving messages from God and helping people come around to faith and then at the end the author is like "lol God doesn't exist."* You'd be forgiven for thinking it was a religious novel, since it appeared to be one.
*Apropos of nothing: Imagine Don Quixote written without a trace of irony.
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