“The queen waited.”
First line in The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Tomorrow (Sunday) my blog turns 3 years old! 🥳 I must admit, it feels like I’ve been doing this for much longer but that’s probably just time not being real since 2019. Anyway, 3 years old means my blog is still in the toddler stage so it’s allowed to be a mess, but in order to celebrate the occasion, I thought it would be fun to look back on some of my old posts to see which ones are the most popular a.k.a. which ones have the most views. You get a top ten of the most viewed posts on my blog, and yes, it’s going to be very cringing for me to read the very old ones but also fun to remind myself of what I’ve written over the years. Here they are!
#10
Hogwarts House Recommendations: Hufflepuff
We’re kicking off with a post from my blog’s early days when it was popular to do book recommendations based on Hogwarts houses. I did a post for all four but the Hufflepuff one is by far the most popular, which I, as a Hufflepuff, completely understand. No, seriously, why are people only interested in the Hufflepuff one?
#9
Book Review: The Binding by Bridget Collins
One of the first reviews on this blog and it was of The Binding by Bridget Collins, an author who is very dear to me today. However, I obviously read the review for the purpose of talking about it here, and I’ve realized that I should probably take it down because I don’t agree with myself anymore (that’s a funny sentence). It’s a book I reread last year and actually changed my rating on, so the review isn’t accurate anymore. It actually made me realize how my reading taste has changed since starting this blog because something I criticize about the book is actually my favorite thing to find in a book today. In general, it’s, like I said, one of my first reviews and you can tell and it’s embarrassing.
#8
Underrepresented Tropes and Characters in Books
This post was one I wrote for the Let’s Talk Bookish meme and it’s a discussion about the tropes and characters I miss seeing in, primarily, YA fantasy books. I remember it as being very hard to think of tropes I wanted to see more, but ultimately I’m happy with what I can up with because I still miss those things. I expect it’s popular because people have a hard time remembering specific tropes and so go to look for them, and also because claiming something is underrepresented is kind of controversial.
#7
Book Review and Spoiler Talk: The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima
Speaking of controversy, I think this book review of The Gray Wolf Throne is the only full review of a 1-star book I’ve written, and apparently, that’s what people want to read. I had written reviews for the first two books in this series so it didn’t feel right to skip this just because I didn’t like it. So I went into full rant-mode, and I guess it felt good to let it all out, despite my reservations about ranting about books at that point. Now I don’t have a problem with that obviously, so I guess you could say that The Gray Wolf Throne was the one that started it all.
#6
Why You Should Read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (Series Review)
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you know how happy it makes me that this series review is so popular. I love this duology more than I can say, so I’m only excited about making more people aware of it. Calling it a ‘series review’ in the title instead of ‘duology review’ was also clearly me refusing to acknowledge that there aren’t going to be more books set in this world.
#5
Book Review: Timekeeper by Tara Sim
This review is from way back in 2019 but its popularity makes sense because it suddenly got a ton of views in January of this year, which I think is because people were looking into the author due to her new (and first?) adult fantasy book which was getting some hype around that time. Timekeeper was a 5-star book for me and I’m also kind of proud of the review still, so after the initial confusion in January, I’m only happy to see it this high up on the list.
#4
An Exploration of Middle Book Syndrome
Out of all the posts I’ve written, this one is probably the one I enjoyed writing the most, so I’m very happy to see it still getting views despite being more than two years old. I had such a good time analyzing middle books looking for reasons why they worked or didn’t. It came about because my favorite book in trilogies is most often the second one (that trend hasn’t changed), so I knew I had to write about this strange Middle Book Syndrome that I just wasn’t experiencing much.
#3
Tropes I Don’t Like in Books
My blog was only a few months old when I wrote this but it’s honestly not too bad, and I definitely still don’t like those tropes (although my list would be a lot longer today). I did write a post about the tropes I DO like but that one isn’t nearly as popular. People just want the salt.
#2
Lost in Translation: A Look at Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Danish
Well, the uniqueness of my Lost in Translation posts means I’m not surprised that the first one I wrote about Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is my second most popular post. People aren’t interested in looking at the post for the other six books, but I guess there’s nothing in that first post that lets them know that there are more. Sometimes I do have people going through all of them but what is worrisome is that it seems to be other Danes doing that. I don’t generally have Danes looking at my blog and whenever I do, the number of views always match the number of views on the Lost in Translation posts. I have to say that it’s freaking me out because I didn’t exactly write those posts for Danes.
#1
Intelligent Characters in Fantasy Books
There is no competition. My most viewed post by far is the one I wrote for Wyrd and Wonder in 2020 about intelligent characters in fantasy books. I don’t know if I unknowingly hit some SEO thing because I almost have daily views on this and I don’t understand it. I imagine it’s either readers looking for books with intelligent characters because they’re annoyed with the stupid ones or authors looking for inspiration before writing their own intelligent characters. I’m quite curious to know actually. It’s not even a post I’m immensely proud of because I almost wrote it just to have something to post during my first Wyrd and Wonder, but I guess it’s not bad.
This was quite surprising! While there were a few I expected to see on this list, there are also a bunch I’m way more proud of than the ones that made it on here. For some reason I also expected tags and Top Ten Tuesday posts to feature more heavily because they always get the most views those first couple of days after being posted, but I guess people aren’t looking at those after that initial spike. Instead, people are looking at book reviews which I don’t like writing. However, those views don’t result in any interaction with the post so in that sense there’s no reason for me to write more of them.
Anyway, this wasn’t as cringing as I expected although I found a lot of typos, so I’m very glad so many people have seen those…
Do you know what your most popular post is? Is it one that you’re proud of?
First Line Reader 
Happy Blogiversary!! 🥳🎉🥳 (I hope it’s not bad luck that I’m wishing you this one day early – we’re very superstitious about that here in Germany, but I just have so many thoughts that I can’t wait until tomorrow!! 🤗 Besides, what applies to birthdays doesn’t necessarily apply to blogiversaries, right? Not really having one myself – I am too confused on whether my blogiversary date should be when I actually started blogging (January 16, 2017) or when I made my blog publicly available (April 17, 2020, and holy shit, does this mean we might have the same blogiversary?! 🤯) to pick one 😅 – I couldn’t say, but I feel like the rules are different…)
ANYWAY – I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS POST!! 😍 Although it has also shown that I’m probably your worst follower ever, because the only one of these posts that I’d previously read is the very obvious Lost in Translation one and I’m not even Danish 😅 However, I have obviously gone back and read all of them now, apart from the Timekeeper review (I haven’t read the book and am apparently more scared of spoilers than you are, since you had no qualms about clicking on that Tawny Man review despite the spoiler warning 😜).
And, first off, how were your blog posts already this good when you started out??? Mine were beyond awful! 😅 Also, I felt like it might be a bit overwhelming if I liked and commented on eight posts of yours in a row, so… I thought I should probably abstain and give you lots of thoughts here instead 😁
10. How did I not know you had written Hogwarts book recommendations?? I mean, I didn’t particularly like half of the books in that post, but you did end with The Binding and Carry On, so I guess that means I will have to check out all the other house recommendations once my siblings and I are done dyeing Easter eggs… 🤗
9. How come everyone seems to be complaining about Bridget Collins writing these half-finished sentences and I never noticed? 😅 I am clearly unobservant, but I’m glad we at least agree on the awesomeness of the romance in that book! 🥰
8. I agree with all of these! Especially the sports one – I don’t think I’ve read about magical sports anywhere apart from Harry Potter and Percy Jackson either 🤔
7. I didn’t realize you hated The Gray Wolf Throne that much 😅 I still like it, but do agree with several of your points!
6. I support your choice to call this a series review instead of a duology review 😇
5. Can I read this without being spoiled? 🙃
4. The second half of this post was basically just you mentioning my favorite books in my favorite series, so obviously, I loved it! 😍
3. But… the school settings and the villian redemption arcs are so good… 😢
2. WHY ISN’T THIS ONE AT THE TOP OF YOUR LIST? AND WHERE ARE THE OTHERS? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?? 😤
1. I’m not sure whether I think Kvothe is intelligent, but I loved this!! It featured almost all of my favorite smart fantasy characters! 🥰🥰🥰
So yeah – thanks again for posting this and basically giving me nine times your usual amount of content 🤩 This was truly an awesome celebratory post!!
(Also – I truly feel your pain on book reviews being your most popular posts when you hate writing them. My top ten most popular posts are actually all book reviews 🙈 And the most popular one of all is for a book I hated – A Court of Silver Flames 😅 It consistently gets more views a day than even my newest posts do – to give you an idea, it is sitting at 3,030 views just from 2022 alone – but no one ever likes or comments on it either, which kind of makes me feel like its readers are probably just angry Sarah J. Maas fans who secretly want to kill me for hating on Rhysand or curious Goodreads Choice Award inspired people who were looking for reviews but immediately balked when they saw the length of mine… 🙈 So I’m kind of jealous that your top post is actually one of your own favorites!!)
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Thank you!! 🥰🥰 I’m sure blogiversaries have their own special rules so I don’t think you need to worry about bad luck. But us kind of having the same blogiversary date is almost freaky 😅
And I think you’re being unfair to yourself about not having read all of these posts! I’m pretty sure most of them were posted before you started following me so I didn’t actually expect you to go back and read everything else. I doubt I’ve read every one of your posts if that makes you feel better 😄
10. Well, since you aren’t a Hufflepuff yourself, it’s probably not the most surprising that you didn’t like most of the books. I have a feeling you’ll like the one I made for Gryffindor more 😉
9. I had forgotten all about that review when I reread it last year and didn’t have any problems with the writing then! Reading the review again now just made me think “who is the person who wrote this because that can’t have been me?” 😂
7. I was so mad about The Gray Wolf Throne 😅
6. THANK YOU!
5. There are no spoilers in it and I feel like I’m being very vague about everything, so I think it’s safe 😁
3. I will admit that I don’t hate redemptions arcs for villains that much anymore but it really depends on how it’s done. If they go from being evil to sunshine and rainbows and it all turns into a big pity show, then no. They need to keep a lot of their darker personality traits for me to allow it. I stand by my opinion on school settings.
2. To be fair, the one for Goblet of Fire was very close to making an appearance on this list, but obviously, it was nowhere near the popularity of the first and the rest of them are even further down 😞 I also definitely felt that our collab deserved a spot on this list!
1. I do think Kvothe is intelligent. He’s just being very obnoxious about it, so it’s also not the first word I’d use to describe him 😅
But how can your most popular posts all be book reviews?? 😱 People do not know what they’re missing out on! And that the most popular one is the Sarah J. Maas review is kind of sad because yes, it’s probably just her popularity that draws people in. Now that I’m thinking about it, I might have thought that Sanderson would draw attention too, but clearly not since my two reviews of his books aren’t in my top ten 🤔
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Phew, that’s a relief, then 😂 Though, yes, the date thing is seriously freaky – when I realized that the “tomorrow” you were talking about in this post was April 17th, I actually went back to check if I’d gotten my own date wrong because that seemed like way too much of a coincidence! 😅
And of course I had to go back and read those posts of yours; they were great! 🤗 I definitely can’t say the same thing about mine – the early ones are all very cringe-worthy and the only reason I’m keeping them around is because I think it’s interesting to look back on what kinds of stuff I was reading back then… But I definitely don’t mind that those posts have remained hidden in obscurity and that you haven’t read them! 😁
10. Having now read all four Hogwarts house recommendations posts, I can reveal that you were spot on with that assessment! 😂🥰 The only books on the Gryffindor list that I didn’t rate 5 stars were The Foxhole Court (which I haven’t read yet) and Salt to the Sea (which I gave 4 stars), so maybe I didn’t cheat too much on the Sorting Hat quiz to avoid getting Ravenclaw after all… 🤔
5. I read the review, wasn’t spoiled, and kind of want to read Timekeeper now 😄
3. Yeah, I also don’t like when the villains don’t keep their dark personality traits at the end of the redemption arc! But I’ve rarely seen that trope handled that way, so I’m just gonna go on loving it! (… and hope this is what Sanderson has in store for Moash 😇😜)
1. Kvothe is definitely the stereotypical overachiever with a severe lack of interpersonal skills and an opinion of himself that is way too high for his own good 🙈 So “obnoxiously intelligent”, I can work with! 🤣
And I guess my non-book-review posts just kind of fade into oblivion after I’ve initially posted them… 😭 However, if it makes you feel any better, spots 4 and 5 among those popular book reviews are taken by The Winternight Trilogy and The Betrayals, so maybe the people’s tastes aren’t all bad 😉 And the Sanderson reviews actually don’t rank all that highly on my blog either – maybe because The Stormlight Archive is read mostly by hardcore fantasy fans who are already so well versed in the material that they don’t google reviews that often and just go directly to The 17th Shard or Brandon Sanderson’s YouTube channel when they want to know something? 🤔
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10. I’m very proud that I was that correct 😁 I still think you’re a Ravenclaw though 🙈 Although you have me worried by saying you haven’t read The Foxhole Court YET – You don’t mean to read them do you? (I don’t recommend them anymore 😅)
5. You should read Timekeeper actually.
3. Sanderson doesn’t do subtlety so the Moash redemption is going to end in sunshine and rainbows and that’s why I don’t want it.
And those two reviews are very important so it does make it a little better that they get so many views. And it’s true what you say about Sanderson although I feel the same can be said about Sarah J. Maas. With that many (!!) fans, there must be sites dedicated to her and it’s all hardcore fans who read her stuff anyway (except you 😉), but I guess I shouldn’t attempt to understand the logic of Sarah J. Maas fans.
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Well, pretty much the entire book community seems to mention All For the Game as a series they absolutely adored back in the day, and I just want to know what you guys are talking about!! 😫 I don’t even care if it sucks, as long as I understand those references afterwards! But it’s not a priority; it’s more like, if I get access to a copy somehow, I’ll read it 😁
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Happy blogiversary Line! All those posts seem super interesting I’ll definitely check them out sometime!
I feel ashamed saying just this after seeing the length of Naemi’s comment, lol
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Thank you, Riddhi! 🥰 And really, don’t worry because I don’t expect anyone to match the length of Naemi’s comments 😄
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Why do I get the feeling that you guys are secretly mocking me? I can’t help it if my comments are simply the best ones 😇
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Don’t know why you would get that feeling 😂 But this one was long even for you (although I do appreciate the one comment instead of comments on nine different posts!)
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no no, it was appreciative!
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Uh huh 🧐😂
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Happy blogiversary! Congrats on your new milestone, and wishing you many more years to come. Will be sure to check out your post on tropes because that sounds like a discussion I’d participate in.
For me, my best blog post is one that I didn’t expect to even do well. I wrote that entire thing tongue-in-cheek, and I never thought it’d outperform the other posts that I actually put tons of effort into. I guess that’s the blogging life, lol.
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Thank you!
And yeah, it seems to be the way of blogging that the posts we don’t care about do the best. Guess we just have to accept that.
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happy blogiversary!! i haven’t been following you since very long so i hadn’t read most of these posts, but i do know for a fact that they deserve the attention they are getting!!
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Oh, that is so sweet of you to say, Rachel! Thank you! 🥰
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