When Sarah Ellerton first started updating The Phoenix Requiem, she referred to it as a Victorian-inspired fantasy horror story. While there have been horrific elements that would appear from time to time, for the most part TPR emphasized its fantasy elements over the horror. This has changed with the last update, with the revelation as to the nature of the Spirits who were worshiped by the people in the story. While the Spirits may lack the visual horror of the Shades (restless spirits that have been the primary threat to the protagonists up until now), their coldblooded disdain of the souls of the dead (and their use for them) adds a truly visceral level to the horror in the story, and leaves me to wonder what future twists Ellerton has planned in the final volume of the comic.