#I just love interesting and complex characters okay??

[ladyloveandjustice]

My Favorite Books I Read in 2024

I read a ton of good novels last year- 32 in all (and uh, 82 manga/graphic novels, but we’ll examine that in another post). Here’s a link to my Goodreads year in books (the manga is at the beginning, the novels start with Red, White & Royal Blue) and my storygraph wrap up.  

I got to have fun reading some classics like The Odyssey and The Wizard of Oz, but I also read a lot of notable newer books! Let's take a look!

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White

The story follows Silas, a trans guy in an alternate 1883 where violet-eyed people have the power to talk to spirits. If someone is perceived as a man by society, this power is treated as useful. But for anyone society perceives as a woman, it's a different story. There's this idea that the power to speak to the dead causes women to "go mad". Silas is diagnosed with this "sickness" and gets thrown in a horrible sanatorium that forces patients to become obedient wives. But this school has some dark things going on under the surface, and Silas might not even make it out of this alive...

This is a horror that keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way though. The setting is vivid and creative, the characters who suffer under the weight of oppression are varied and complex, and the protagonist is easy to root for. It's very spooky, pretty relentless, pretty gory and pretty twisty. It's very hard to figure out who you can actually trust! It's also a fascinating exploration of transphobia and misogyny. It obviously draws on real things women and trans people struggled with in the 1800s (accusations of having "hysteria" and other "illnesses" just for existing) but also talks about ableism too, as the main character is autistic. It really makes you consider how terrifying and isolating it would be to live in a time with so few resources and such limited knowledge, but of course, this still persists in a lot of places today.

 It's not all horror though, there is some catharsis and nice moments of Silas finding solace and support in other trans people and it leads to some really touching scenes and relationships. There's also satisfaction in seeing marginalized people banding together and doing all they can to fight back.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries and Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

This fantasy series follows Emily, a professor and dedicated researcher of the mysterious and often dangerous fae. Emily is out to make an encyclopedia of fae lore, and she has no interest in socializing with others when there's faeries to find. Unfortunately for her, her scholarly rival, Wendell, show up and decides to be all insufferably social and charming and interested in her. He might secretly be a faerie though, and Emily is interested in that, so, ugh, maybe she has to put up with him.

 These books are a ton of fun. It's a cozy adventure the creatively draws on some cool fae lore. It's biggest charm is our protagonist, who is wonderfully grumpy and stubborn and clever and only wants to bury herself in researching this thing she likes She's the kind of person who puts footnotes in their own journal, and it's delightful.

Even when she starts catching feelings for Wendell, her research is always her number one priority. And Wendell, who is very obviously smitten with her the second he appears, is okay with that! In fact, her stubbornness and fearless, unshakeable commitment to her research is pretty much exactly why Wendell is so down bad for her, which makes him a really relatable love interest. He's obnoxious in a genuinely charming way and the teasing banter between Wendell and Emily is very entertaining.

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura

Kokoro has been unable to go outside her house ever since she dropped out of school due to horrible bullying. One day, her mirror glows, and she enters it to find herself in a castle with six other students. A little girl in a wolf mask tells all of them that there's a room in the castle that can grant one single wish, but only for one person, so whoever finds the room first gets the wish. They'll have an opportunity to hang out in the castle every day until the deadline, after which the castle will disappear. But as the kids get to know each other, things get more complicated.

This is such a lovely, healing story I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. While the story goes into the causes behind the epidemic of hikikomori and futoku in Japanese students, it's also a universally relatable story about the ways bullying, grief and trauma can affect a child and lead to severe anxiety. Kokoro's slow journey of recovery is touching and feels realistic, despite the fantastical elements. The book shows how brave and hard it is to take these small steps, and how Kokoro struggles to even talk about what happened. The focus of the book is the connections the kids make with each other. It explores the secrets they carry, how they accidentally hurt each other, but also how they ultimately are able to empathize with and support each other. Each character is interesting and achingly human in their own right. The whimsical fairy tale elements of the story complement the themes well, and the book delivers some really solid plot twists that serve to make its themes stronger too.

One thing to warn for is we learn that a fourteen year old girl has entered a relationship with a man in his 20s. This isn't shown to be healthy or good for her though, and the reason she does this is heartbreaking. There's also some (non graphic) attempted SA. With that in mind, this is just a really cool tale, and I full recommend it!

First Light by Liz Kerin

This is the second part of a duology that began with Night’s Edge, which I recommended last year, and honestly, this book is even better than the first one, which was already pretty great. The book continues to use vampirism to explore the cycle of abuse effectively. This time, Mia is seeking vengeance on her mother's abusive ex-boyfriend, who was responsible for turning her Mom into a vampire. But when she finds the ex-boyfriend and infiltrates his little cult (with her kinda-girlfriend, who actually genuinely wants to join), she gets manipulated by him the way her mother did, her trauma and past making it easy to fall into a cycle that's familiar. She starts to understand her mother, and vampires in general, more than she ever thought she would. It's just a really interesting take on vampires, and this one actually addressed some of the thing I thought were a little iffy in the first book. It's dark, but there's also a lot of catharsis.

I think these books are easily among the top of my list of favorite vampire media. Content warning for abuse, and the vampire bites having a hint of a metaphor for sexual violence like they often do.

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

 Bright Young Women follows a young woman in the aftermath of a serial killer breaking into her sorority and killing several of her friends. The media and police are all too willing to question her testimony and distort the details to fit their narrative. Another woman suspects her girlfriend was murdered by the same killer, and they team up to find the truth.

Bright Young Women is a page-turner, and I honestly didn't realize it was so heavily based on the Ted Bundy murders until I read the reviews, because I didn't know much about him (or most real life serial killers, a fact which I am very okay with). But the book is here to dunk on Ted Bundy and the ways his "intelligence and charisma" were greatly exaggerated by the media and even the judge at his actual trial, rage about the ways the victims stories are erased in favor of the killers who are glamorized and fawned over, point out the ways the police constantly fail victims, and to set the record straight to those who idolize serial killers.

The story centers the survivors and victims, talking about their lives and triumphs and the goals they were working toward and what could have been. It's depressing, but it also shines the light on the bravery of the women whose testimonies got the killer convicted even when the rest of the world was dismissive of them.

This book is a really tough read, and obviously there's a huge content warning for sexual violence, the graphic aftermath of horrific deaths...the method of one rape and murder actually really disturbed me (mentioned in the aftermath, the book never shows the actual acts), it was so gross and horrible (and unfortunately, happened in real life). Read with caution. But it's a book that will definitely stick with me for a while.

The Rise of Kyoshi and the Shadow of Kyoshi by F.C. Yee

I never got around to the Kyoshi novels because there's been a lot of mediocre Avatar the Last Airbender spin-off media...but I should not have hesitated, because these were actually really good. They follow the life of Kyoshi, the famously badass Earth Kingdom Avatar, and shows how she became how she is.

Yee does a great job capturing the world of Avatar, while also expanding on it in interesting ways. I really liked a lot of the little details that deepened the world--for instance, it's mentioned that Firebenders shave their heads when they lose an Agni Kai because of the disgrace, which gives context to Zuko's initial hairstyle and actually makes the fact he actively kept his hair from growing back for three years extremely sad, since it implies he thought he would only be worthy of that once his father approved of him again. It was something I think Yee definitely came up with himself, but it made a lot of sense with the show in a way that felt natural.

The novels were definitely darker than the show, but not in a Netflix Avatar let's-watch-a-bunch-of-people-we-don't-care-about-burn-to-death way, but in a way that felt natural to Kyoshi's circumstances. I found I usually did care a lot when a character died because they were often likeable. I found the death of one character in particular near the end of book one genuinely heartbreaking.

The books did a good job explaining why Kyoshi became more severe later on, and in how she wrestles with how far she can go with her role as the Avatar, what justice is, and whether killing people solves anything. The second book was not quite as good as the first, with its decision to switch out the cast of the characters for entirely new people and just being more meandering in general, but it was still a good read. I definitely rec if you're an Avatar fan, odds are you'll really enjoy them!

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

In the country of Concordia, each province has one heir who has a "Blessing"--basically a unique magic power. Ganymedes (a.k.a Dee)'s dad cheated on his wife a bunch, and one of the children from those affairs must have inherited the Blessing rather than Dee. To keep this a secret, Dee's dad makes him pretend to have a Blessing. Now Dee has to go on a voyage with the other Blessed and, sick of the charade, he's decided he's going to make them all hate him so he gets kicked out of the group. But that plan is extremely interrupted when his shipmates start getting murdered one by one.

Voyage of Damned is just a really good time. A queer murder mystery romp with a ton of suspicious and varied characters vying for power, a fun lead with a distinctive voice, tragic romance, cute friendships, and even some touching exploration of prejudice, suicidal ideation and self loathing. It was just extremely readable and I was entertained the whole way though, but it also made me feel things sometimes. It also delivered a ton of solid plot twists, including a big and satisfying one that made me want to go back and read through a bunch of scenes knowing the truth (and I did).

Dee and his distinctive glib narration probably won't be for everyone but I liked him and vibed with him. He goes through a lot, including finding out his boyfriend he'd been separated from for five years is now engaged to a girl and acting super cold to him. The tension between Dee and Ravi and how it affects all his relationships is a real emotional hook, and his banter and dynamics with the people he likes (or even some people he doesn't) are generally fun to read. If all I've said sounds cool to you, give it a try, you might like it!

Bonus Rec: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell

Shesheshen is a blob monster who dines on the humans (mostly those who try to kill her). She can look human with some effort, and go into town to feed sometimes. But the she falls in love with a kind woman named Homily. This clearly means she needs to do the proper romantic thing and lay some eggs in Homily so their little monster kids can be born by devouring Homily for the inside out. Wait, humans aren't into that? That's awkward. And despite her biological impulse she doesn't really want Homily to die? Even more awkward. Oh, and Homily's family are monster hunters and it turns out that was Homily's brother Shesheshen ate a while back? Super mega awkward. What's a monster to do...

 I'm a lover of actually monstrous monster women, so I was hyped for this one, especially with the great cover by @jmfenner91! While it disappointed me in some areas, it was still fun and heartwarming enough I'd recommend it.

Our monster lady is a great character, and her unique point of view where she's nonchalant, cynical and often hilariously baffled by humans is a joy to read. Her personality, her super gross biology, and how she sees the world...she's so charming and her romance with Homily is very cute. I also really like that the book focused on healing from abuse and finding a way to move forward with each other's support. I also liked the romantic climax, and the discussion of finding kissing weird, because that made me feel seen.

There were quite a few things that kept it from being a five star review in my heart though--Sheshesen is completely disconnected from people, has just spent her life alone in her cave, but she knows what an abuser is and exactly how abusive people operate in a weirdly modern way. Abusers are also only portrayed one way: openly cruel and evil with zero sympathetic qualities to every single person they interact with. There is no cycle of abuse with these people, they never act nice to to draw their victims back in, we don't see more subtle, manipulative emotional abuse, almost no claims of caring about people. Obviously cartoonishly abusive rich people exist in real life, and I don't necessarily need abusers to be humanized. Still...it just felt like the nuance of most real life abuse was being ignored. And because these people were so one dimensional, it was pretty tedious to spend SO much time with them.

Still, the book was very monstrously sweet, and it was overall a good read. I wish it could have been a little more, but what we got was pretty nice.

[shmisky]

So... Another thing that makes me love the post-Weirdmaggedon Stans dynamic so much is the tension caused by the fact that Stan’s enormous inferiority complex and lingering resentment at Ford have nowhere to go anymore. Knowing how strongly those two repress emotions, it’s just a matter of time before unresolved issues start to rear their ugly head.

What do I mean by that? Well, just look at Stan’s behavior in Weirdmaggedon, hahah. My man was just utterly done with Ford. I do believe he had a right to be at least somewhat petty after the way Ford treated him, but no one can question his resentment. It’s really incredible how all that seems to just... conveniently disappear... the moment Ford changes and apologizes and invites him to sail away together.

Or does it?

I don’t think it does.

I think Stan still has a lot of reasons to feel inferior in relation to Ford. Not that he should, but. The fact he was declared the town hero and saved everyone in Weirdmaggedon wasn’t that much of a triumphant moment for him if he said, “guess I was good for something after all!” as he had his memories erased.

Through the series, we learn that Stan is very sensitive regarding his inferiority complex towards Ford. He is easily upset by, angered by, and fueled (out of spite) by Ford’s perceived and/or implied superiority in any way, shape, or form.

Again...

And again...

And again...

He’s always trying to prove his worth, to others and to himself. Is he even convinced of what he’s trying so hard to prove? I find it interesting that he says he’s not always the bad twin, instead of simply saying he’s not the bad twin at all, period.

And then there’s the fact Alex said that, while Ford is smarter and fitter and would always win a physical fight against Stan if they were sober, Stan could win it if they were drunk and Ford was a bit off his focus—because Stan wants to win against Ford way more badly than Ford wants to win against Stan. After all, Ford doesn’t have an urge to prove himself.

Ford’s character was literally designed to be, in Alex’s own words, the biggest chip on Stan’s shoulder that the writers could think of. So of course Stan acts petty all the time. Not only is Ford an ungrateful asshole, but also (in his own mind) an ungrateful asshole that just happens to be better at everything! Stan was once the brawn to Ford’s brain, but he can’t even be that anymore because Ford is stronger and badass now and... and doesn’t need nor want Stan... at all...

But wait! Ford apologizes for all his mistakes and thanks Stan and invites Stan to sail away together! Everything is fixed now! 🩷

Except Stan didn’t go to therapy. Except Stan seemingly thinks that having his mind erased was his biggest accomplishment. Except Ford pulled Stan back into the extremely codependent dynamic of their childhood.

The way Shmebulock the Gnome describes the Stan twins even after Weirdmaggedon is... not ideal...

And while one could go and say that their dynamic is just going to revert back to their childhood dynamic, I’ve defended previously that no, it very likely won’t (for all these reasons), and, in what concerns Stan’s inferiority complex and need to feel useful, Ford now 1) doesn’t need his help defending himself physically, 2) is in better health conditions than Stan and his dentures, orthopedic pillow, hearing aids, girdle, etc, and 3) is much more confident 🦚

The thing is that, now, Stan can’t just act petty, like he started acting ever since Ford’s display of ungratefulness. Because Ford, now, isn’t being an asshole anymore. Ford is being nice. Loving. Supportive. They’ve already made peace.

I can see the little moments slowly piling up on top of one another, and Stan continuing to repress, repress, repress his feelings. It’s okay, Stan, who cares if Ford is better than you? You’re together, that’s all what matters.

Until it finally blows up in the most inconvenient of moments like it did in Weirdmaggedon.

[jazzy-dreamer]

MAJOR JENTRY CHAU SPOILERS

I love JCVTU and think it’s written super well and the story is so good and the visuals are ✨chefs kiss✨ etc etc etc but goD DAMN IT WAS THERE A CHARACTER THAT WAS COMPLETELY BUTCHERED. If it wasn’t already obvious who I’m talking about, I’m talking about Kit. He was by far the most complex, interesting and heart breaking character in the entire show. He had SO MUCH POTENTIAL only for him to DIE possibly one of the most underwhelming and unnecessary deaths. I completely get that him dying was the shows way of redeeming him or something, but instead of letting the audience figure that out, the scene went the “tell don’t show” route and have Kit literally tell Jentry “I did this for you”

Please for the love of god can shows and movies STOP IT WITH THE REDEEMING A MAJOR VILLAIN BY THEM SACRIFICING THEMSELVES FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER 🙏

Kipo And The Age Of The Wonderbeasts did it. She Ra And The Princesses Of Power did it. And all at the very end of the show aswell. And they were all so undeserved and unsatisfying. It feels like such a cheap and easy way to redeem villains and I hate it every freakin’ time. What’s the point in redeeming them if we don’t get to see what comes of them afterwards? How they change and grow? How they and their prior enemies interact and feel about each other now? Do they fully accept the consequences of their actions and everything that comes with it? There’s so, so many possibilities and ideas that can come from redeeming a villain, but if they die. They freakin die. Can’t do much if they’re dead.

I seriously think we could’ve had the same outcome if maybe Kit isn’t killed but still severely injured and maybe somehow made disabled for the rest of his life. Kit can still “redeem” himself by sacrificing himself, and Jentry can still feel guilty and like she’s responsible for what happened to him.

This is all my thoughts on Kit’s death and why I personally think it was a stupid decision. But other than that, his sudden character shift a little later in the season was extremely weird and extremely uncomfortable. Kit can be flawed and clingy. He can have trouble with understanding how relationships have to be mutual in love and respect. He can be jealous and self conscious. But for some reason, the writers decided to make him a FREAKING STALKER. He more or less THREATENED JENTRY when she said no to him. He pinned her against a WALL. I love characters that can say or do unexpected things and surprise the audience, but this felt unexpected in a bad way. If his weird stalkery obsession with Jentry was implied more through the show, then okay maybe- But it wasn’t. It just happened. And I know many abusers and manipulators have multiple sides to them and can have sudden personality shifts. But something about the way Kit was written and presented didn’t feel like that. I really hope I’m explaining this correctly djhdkdhdj

CONCLUSION: Kit is my absolute favourite character in the show but he was a complete waste of potential and it actually kind of seriously ruins the show for me. I’m currently rewatching it and every scene with Kit all I can think about “This is pointless” and how he’s gonna unnecessarily die in the end. I still love this show and absolutely recommend it, but goddddddd-

[sonik-kun]

I can't be the only person who thinks that Jiang Cheng isn't actually that "rude" or "angry" for that matter?

Like sure, growing up, he was a bit grumpy. But then again, what teenager isn't? Regardless, he often remembered his manners, especially around elders. Even after the 13 year gap, he still maintains his manners and proper decorum despite the rumours suggesting otherwise (and antis for that matter).

The wording in these two scenes just don't strike me as someone who is rude and irrational. How else would he maintain relations with other sects and keep his people happy and thriving if he truly was rude and hard to work with? You could argue he earned respect by fear, but I too doubt that giving how people find it so easy to chat shit about him both behind his back and so blatantly too without fearing any consequences.

I don't know. I just dont buy it one bit, and I do think the rumours are merely exaggerations because of this.

As for his anger, I think it's pretty reasonable to see why he is angry. Every scene he blows up in, it is in response to traumatic events. A reaction, I'd argue most of us would have. It isn't fair to judge a person when they're at their worst. I know we are led to believe that he's been angry since childhood, but even then, the anger in question is once again valid, take for example the scene where we see his dogs taken away from him. They were described as his only friends. And change is a scary thing for children. Although not ideal, it's pretty unreasonable not to expect a child to get upset at the thought of their family pet being taken away from them.

I just think the criticisms of Jiang Cheng are too harsh, when in actual fact, he probably has the most human emotions out of everyone in the entire story. Which in part is the reason why I grew rather attached to his character. He wasn't perfect. He is heavily flawed. And yet somehow manages to be the most relatable character, a point I've seen many people make throughout the fandom. To me, that explains why he's the best written. The depth and mystery surrounding the character and what he had gotten up to after Wei Wuxians' death, whether the rumours are true, etc, just make him all the more intriguing to me.

I would love it if MXTX decided to do a spin-off on his perspective. I think it would be a good story in the making with all the material she could work with. But alas, that's wishful thinking. And we as fans can only speculate on these mysteries and fill the gaps in ourselves.

[deimcs]

You don't unsettle me, you know that. (x,x)

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Asunder

slow-paced high fantasy

a woman who has a contract with an eldritch entity allowing her to see the dead & survives by taking various jobs

when a job searching for stranded smugglers in a cave goes wrong, she ends up with the soul of a dying stranger bound to her shadow

along with a scholar and her old childhood friend, they travel to his home country to find a way to unbind him and save them both

dark fantasy world with gods, demonic entities, arcane magic, and semi-sentient beasts used as transport

[celtrist]

Random headcanon I probably like too much is the idea that Rosie never really swears, or at the least she swears even less than Alastor.

Like, she could if she wanted to, and she's not aghast when people do. She just doesn't. There's something about a cannibal lowkey drawing a line at profanity that gets me giggling.

Alastor makes sense he swears, he's from the south so he probably picked up on that sort of talk even with the transatlantic accent. Obviously he's learned to filter swearing and profanities out for radio, but like to imagine another reason he doesn't swear that much was Rosie rubbing off in him (the irony that his swearing decreased in Hell more than Louisiana is... accurate actually)

While not my favorite relationship, I really do love Rosie's and Alastor’s close-knit relationship and can't wait to see them interact more with season 2. They've also been described as having a relationship similar to Mary Poppins and Jack, so curious if they'll establish them as mentors and protege to a degree or at least just have Alastor always looking happy/in awe at Rosie.

[cuntmand]

this was kinda the worst episode out of the entire series tbh simply because of the pacing. i liked the episode, but it was all over the place. they tried to tie in all the lose ends in 50 minutes, and that just wasn’t possible. louis being imprisoned, then released, losing his mind, recovering, AND burning down the theater and killing santiago, all in the span of like 5 minutes, the whole louis/lestat/armand scene, daniel exposing armand, loumand divorcing (that was so underwhelming, esp after 2x05, like, i needed these bitches to have a proper verbal argument, i needed them to be AT EACH OTHER’S THROATS), armand turning daniel (offscreen, cause they didn’t have time to get into all that, cause like… no way it was that simple lol there were too many devil’s minion hints throughout both seasons), louis flying to nola, reuniting with lestat (they have far too long and complex a history for it to be resolved so quickly, it would’ve been far more meaningful had it been done right), daniel publishing his book (compiling, writing, editing, publishing it AND selling 4-5 million copies must have taken a lot of time, so time jump, i guess?)… just by typing this out, it’s too much, way too much to cover in a single episode. the hectic pace left me unsatisfied and it also left a lot of room for plot holes (no more unreliable narrators now, cause the interview is done). idk i think they really should’ve split this into two episodes, at least. one of the things that i really admired about this show was the pace. in season 1, they managed to cover 3 decades in the span of only 7 episodes, while simultaneously showing us what was happening in dubai in 2022, and it never felt rushed. season 2’s pacing was still amazing and satisfying, up until this episode. idk man… i hope this doesn’t happen again, cause it really left a bitter taste in my mouth, and it was the finale, so my expectations were high.

[callixton]

rocking back & forth trying to be normal abt the way people talk abt bsi i am going crazyyy........ there is critique to be had but people's full disengagement from anything else the story has to offer or attempt to reconcile its intent with its execution makes my head blow up. bc i don't think they actually understand its intent. or themes. which is crazy bc personally i think the bioshock series hits you over the head with what it's going for even if it doesn't always get it right. like i do not know how much i can emphasize that the point was not centrism. that was a mistake in execution. i literally cannot think of another mainstream game that comes anywhere close to confronting america's history and flaws-inherent-in-its-founding head-on the way infinite does.

also i DO think a lot of my reaction comes out of playing if before the original series and therefore not having the expectation that it's a 'choices matter' game (which. it's sort of barely in the gameplay in the original but i do understand it's in the text) and also the themes of it are very up my alley! arguably much more than the original! but i don't think that's an excuse for every audience member being unable to engage with a new game and world on its own terms

[jjoelswatch]

Always amuses me (read: exhausts me) when people are surprised and angry when Star Wars creators refer to Thrawn as a villain and act like it’s the end of the world because the creators don’t “get” the character.

[glindyupland]

I just think it’s silly that so many people complain about Villain Amaya as “wasted potential” and that “we were robbed” like-

My pals, post canon fan fiction is right there. The desire to free her husband is right there. Either by touching an evil book while being too eager to remember the obsidian oil, or being possessed by contact (ie what she believes is true loves kiss) when trying to reason with him in the dungeon.

We don’t need a rewrite, we can have a continuation. Both can be true. Amaya is a complex character, she can handle it.

[red-moon-at-night]

I keep thinking about yonah meaning dove in hebrew and the idea of kotoko viewing herself as a symbol of peace and salvation....... I'm so *crosses one leg over the other and leans on the table with my elbows, cupping my chin with my hands and batting my eyelashes* it's just so intriguing y’know

[alternativeulster]

swiftie mutuals please know that i still love you i just cant help but be a hater

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

Sorry to be a hater but this is how I’ve been feeling recently

[roadkill111]

i gasped so loudly when receiving this text

[bitegore]

ngl i think i kind of was a genius for being like 'yeah this character is a scary killyou cannibal scary killer who scary kills you' and then realizing that the way my worldbuilding works out is that there's a nonzero chance that if you leave literally any body parts over they can just come back, depending on what they believe in their heart of hearts can kill them. Of course she'd start eating her kills. She probably tried normal stuff first and then realized it didn't work and she had to try harder if she wanted to actually keep them dead.