On the Nature of Magic

Helena Walton-Cisneros #2

by Marian Womack

A Gothic supernatural mystery for fans for The Quickening and The Shape of Darkness, featuring real-life events and people, such as George Méliès and the Moberly-Jourdain incident, where two English women claim to have seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette in the gardens of Versailles.

1902.

Helena Walton-Cisneros, known for finding answers to the impossible, has started her own detective agency. She takes on two new uncanny cases, both located in Paris – which itself is too much of a coincidence to ignore. In the first case, two English women claim to have seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette in the gardens of Versailles. The second case is the murder of a young woman working at the mysterious Méliès Star Films studio outside Paris.

As Helena and her colleague Eliza investigate, they hear whispers of vanishings at Méliès Star Films, strange lights, spies, actors flying without ropes and connections to the occult.

What is George Méliès practising at his secretive film studio? And is it connected to the haunting in Versailles? Helena and Eliza will only find the answers if they accept the natural world is darker, stranger than they could ever have imagined…

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, Horror, Fiction, Historical

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2023

About the author

Marian Womack is a bilingual writer born in Andalusia and educated at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. She is currently completing a part-time Masters Degree in Creative Writing at Cambridge University, and recently graduated from the Clarion Fantasy and Science-Fiction Writer’s Workshop at USCD. She is co-editor of the academic book Beyond the Back Room: New Perspectives on Carmen Martín Gaite (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2010), and of The Best of Spanish Steampunk (forthcoming, 2015). In Spanish she has published the cycle of intertwined tales Memoria de la Nieve (Zaragoza: Tropo, 2011), has co-authored the YA novel Calle Andersen (Barcelona: La Galera, 2014), and has contributed to more than fifteen anthologies of short fiction, the most recent Alucinadas (Gijón: Palabaristas, 2014), the first Spanish language all-female SF anthology. Her journalism and critical writing on Spanish literature, culture and society have appeared on a variety of English speaking academic journals, as well as the Times Literary Supplement, the New Internationalist, and the digital version of El País. She has fiction forthcoming in English in Weird Fiction Review. Chosen by literary magazine Leer in its 30th anniversary as one of the thirty most influential people in their thirties in Spain’s literary scene, she is also a prolific translator, and runs a small press in Madrid, Ediciones Nevsky.

Reviews

[Jeanne Adamek · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

[TheGeekishBrunette]

DNF @ 20%

I was having a hard time getting into it and just found myself not really interested in the characters or story. The writing style felt a bit dry and maybe that was the cause of it.

I do think it would appeal to the right person though!

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did somewhat enjoy this, but it felt like a first draft that needed editing and revisiting. The pacing didn't work for me, and the ending was underwhelming. It held good ideas within it and was not wholly boring, yet it tried to take on too much without really developing things sufficiently - the world views and the world itself, the intricacies of the case, the characters and their relationships. It attempted to blend history and fiction, magic and science, mediums and detectives all in one go, and it felt messy and incohesive.

[Runalong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hugely enjoying this uncanny tale mixing history, supernatural events and detectives and cults to crease a strange bewitching tale creating its own reality.

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Aishwarya · Rating 2 out of 5]

?????huh?????????

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the start of the new century, two women are opening their own detective agency. Soon the find themselves involved in two cases both relating to strange happening in Paris.

There's a lot of stuff going on this book, probably too much. It's a supernatural, gothic mystery with weird cults and spiritualism, tarot, the begins of cinema, missing persons, cameos/name checks from real historical figures and events.

I found the narration to be occasionally confusing- sometimes it would switch to another person's thoughts without warning - and it felt a bit cluttered - sometimes less is more.

I thought the characters had potential and the main storyline was interesting but there were quite a few threads left hanging or just not resolved (I assume there will be a sequel).

I also wasn't a fan of the occultist, spiritualism stuff. It was far too hazy for my liking - was any of it real? Who knows, none of the main plots points related to it seemed to be explained.

Not a bad book but sadly not for me - there's only so much explanation of a tarot reading that I can tolerate.
Also, I'm still not sure where the title fits in.

Thank you to titanbooks for providing a netgalley review copy.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Titan for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

"On the Nature of Magic" is a book I thought I'd love but unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations. It follows Helena, a female detective in 1902 after a mysterious case occurs in Paris of two women seeing Marie Antionette. Her assistant, Eliza, is scientific but Helena finds herself drawn more and more to the occult, which only makes their investigation all the more complicated. This is apparently a sequel to the author's earlier book, which I didn't know, and it follows some real life events as well. Unfortunately I found the writing to be a little wooden and the characters didn't have much personality, I read more than 70% of this book but never found myself gripped.

[Books Tea Magic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vacillating between Paris and London — Helena and Eliza … Philothée and Moina. Spanning the realms of grimoires to spiritualistic fraud, supernatural, time travel, tarot, seances, visions and illusions — they all weave together in this detective story.

It’s interesting to follow the establishment of a female detective agency in the early 1900’s that’s primary goal is to support women in need — as dictated, societally women are disproportionately discredited for their intuitive gifts, esoteric tendencies and paranormal experiences. The Cabaret of Death, Hermetic Magic, astral projection the catacombs, technologies of transcendence and the Golden Dawn — the nature of magic — this delightfully dips in and out of all sorts of lovely occult occurrences. ✨🖤🔥

[Merije · Rating 2 out of 5]

A surprisingly disappointing read. None of the characters really came to life for me, the writing style was clunky and disjointed and awkward. A lot of the plot was “all men are evil, using and abusing women for no other reason than that they’re women”. It felt to me like a rather desperate attempt at writing Strong Women, except that our Strong Women are constantly talking about men, and all the other women are Victims who need saving from these evil men.
It all fizzled out at the end, nothing really resolved, but no cliffhangers either; no doubt there’s a sequel planned, but I won’t be picking that up. Would not recommend to anyone.

[WizardKitten · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't understand what this book was going for. It seemed like a fun concept, but the editing was atrocious. Nothing cohered, I'm still unsure of the character motivations, the mystery resolution was weak, I felt like I was missing crucial context half the time, and there was no grounding sense of the rules of this universe. This is one of those times where choosing a book based on a beautiful cover was unwise.

[Loulou · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dnf at p.56. BALLS, I didn't realise it's the same author as the Golden Key, which I also dnf'd. Silly me.

The first 20 or so pages of this book were interesting, intriguing and had pace, so I bought it. Now the story has gone into EXPLAINING and very little actual happening.

Not for me. Off to the bus stop book swap with this one.

[Dani · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. It just took forever to get going and then bam, it was done. 75% in and I’m still getting character back stories. Just not for me.

[Klara · Rating 2 out of 5]

sadly this was a bit of a disappointment to me. i first picked this book up because i was intrigued by the idea of mystery and adventure in the catacombs of paris. sadly the first 100 pages or so were kind of boring. the author seems to loose herself in lengthy descriptions of things that don’t really matter to the plot at all. every time something interesting is happening the pacing gets weird and the whole thing seems rushed. most of the time when something interesting starts to happen the main characters either faint or start to feel so unwell that they have to exit the situation. as a result there are many dry and long passages in the book and then a few very interesting ones that are too short and rushed.

while i very much enjoy the idea of a book focusing mainly on women as their main characters, in this book so many women were added to the plot that most of them completely lost their significance. there wasn’t very much space for most of them to develop any depth to their character. also at some point you have been introduced to so many characters by first and last name that it becomes kind of hard to keep track of who is who. sometimes people are being addressed by their full name, sometimes just by their first or last name. it gets kind of confusing.

spoiler:
the ending was the most interesting part of the book. unfortunately it’s only the last 60 pages but the main characters finally go into the catacombs. first one of the lady detectives, eliza enters the catacombs with alice, the agency’s contact in france. alice guides eliza through the catacombs and they come across a scary creature that attacks them. eliza faints (naturally) and wakes up outside the catacombs. she is told that alice vanished.
when they enter the catacombs again they find the creature/missing dancers they were investigating in the first place. in the end eliza feels relieved about solving the mystery but it’s never revealed what happened to alice. also while they found the missing girls, there is no explanation as to why they were affected by a mysterious energy apparatus (you also never really learn what exactly that apparatus is).

it’s kind of disappointing to push your way through a rather boring book just to be left with so many unresolved threads.

i really wanted to like this book because the whole setup reminded me of the archive 81 podcast, but it didn’t really deliver the excitement i expected.

[Vivienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘On the Nature of Magic’ by Marian Womack.

This is a Gothic supernatural mystery that blends fiction with historical figures and real-life events; including film innovator George Méliès and the Moberly-Jourdain incident, in which two English women claimed to have seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette in the gardens of Versailles.

While not listed as part of a series, I did have the feeling that I had come into an ongoing story. After reading I discovered that its characters, Helena Walton-Cisneros and Eliza Waltraud, had first appeared in ‘The Golden Key’. However, ‘On the Nature of Magic’ worked fine as a standalone and I plan to read the first book, which is already in my library.

1902. Helena Walton-Cisneros is opening a private detective agency. She immediately takes on two cases of an uncanny nature, both coincidentally located in Paris.

The first involves looking into a claim by two English women that they saw the ghost of Marie Antoinette in the gardens of Versailles. The second case involves the murder of a young woman working at the mysterious Méliès Star Films studio outside Paris. 

As Helena and her colleague, Eliza, investigate they hear rumours of vanishings at Méliès Star Films. There’s also strange lights, spies, actors flying without ropes and apparently connections to the occult. What is George Méliès practising at his secretive film studio? Is there a connection to the haunting at Versailles?

I found this a fascinating mystery as I am always interested in novels that feature the occult, though I can be critical if an author appears not to have researched the subject. However, it was clear here that Marian Womack was knowledgeable about Spiritualism and occultism during the Belle Époque.

I especially appreciated the inclusion of Moina and Samuel Mathers, founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. I hadn’t previously heard of the Moberly-Jourdain incident and was intrigued by Helena and Eliza’s investigation and solution.

Overall, an enjoyable and engaging read. I am very pleased to see that a third book, ‘Casting the Ruins’, is forthcoming in the Walton and Waltraud series of uncanny historical mysteries.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Billed as a Gothic fantasy/mystery, set in 1902, I was intrigued by the plot synopsis of this book. A brief note that this is book 2 in a series featuring the same main characters, Helena and Eliza, but I had not read book 1 prior to reading this title.

Helena and Eliza set out to uncover some strange occurrences experienced by two teachers on their holiday in France. Unsure what exactly happened on the grounds of the palace of Versailles, the detectives set out to uncover whether this was an actual experience of a time travel shift, some other ghostly encounter, or something based more firmly in a scientific explanation. Mixed in with this mystery is another, this one based in a fantastical burlesque show in Paris, where the actresses appear to contort and disappear in ways that are not entirely human.

The two main characters, Helena, who has more of a mystical bent and often studies the occult and her Tarot cards, and Eliza, the more practical, down-to-earth of the two, would seem to be well-suited opposites using their skills to investigate and solve the mystery together. However, there are a whole host of other characters pulled into the storyline with confusing narratives, plot additions, and just seemingly random facts that are tossed in, which made a muddled tale. Nothing about the story felt particularly "Gothic" to me; the team does investigate in the tombs underneath Paris but it's all very vague and rambling, so I wasn't sure that was even the "Gothic" part. At times, the dialogue itself was confusing and I had to read, reread and sometimes reread sections to try to figure out the point of view/narrator of a specific paragraph of dialogue. The mystery part never really seemed to know what it wanted to be - it wasn't exactly a ghost story, and the mystery was sort of explained/solved but not exactly and a lot of loose ends were left dangling.

I very much wanted to enjoy this book, but it was sadly off the mark on a number of different levels for me. It felt like it needed a much stronger single narrative, as well as some intensive editing to make the characters, story and timeline more clear. Overall rating of 2-1/2 stars for some nicely done world-building/place-setting details from the turn of the century, but not much else.

[Alice Vandommele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I genuinely don't know how to review this book. It was utterly vexing.

First off, as other people have noted, this is the second part in a series. This is not present anywhere on the cover, at least for my copy, I think because they tried to do a similar thing to other detective series like the Poirot books, where there might be the occasional recurring character but the various books are essentially stand-alones. But there's too much continuity here from the previous book to do that, and it just leads to tedious rehashing and explanation. Read the previous book in the series first (I would read it now if it wasn't for the rest of this review....)

Aside from that, there's so much about this book I disliked. Aside from the need for more editing (typos and sentences that didn't make sense were quite common), the dialogues and scenes were often awkwardly put together and made no sense in relation to each other. The descriptions were unnecessarily detailed, with a lot of descriptions of actions that are neither important to the plot nor the characterisation but just feel like they were put there for the sake of thoroughness. The politics were presented in the least elegant way you could think of. The weird vilification of the Golden Dawn was annoying (I don't even like them but they weren't a patriarchal plot to rule the world). The pacing was all over the place, there was no sense of urgency or action or fear when appropriate (you'd think ghosts and monsters in the Paris catacombs would do that right?), it was just a calm slog of lifeless procedural scenes.

But despite all that, I still read all 400 pages.

Best I can explain it is that Mrs. Womack is an idea guy. The concepts and ideas underlying the plot and the characters she comes up with genuinely have a lot of potential! They're very interesting and you do want to know where she's going with all of it. And as someone who has some interest in occult history, the subject matter of course drew me in too. So I found that, even if the execution is mediocre in the extreme, the ideas are still compelling enough to read the book from start to finish.

So yeah. Finished it, and I had fun. But I know it could've been so much more fun if it was written well.

[SARA ~ ☁️ ~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC provided by Titan Books! (thank you so very much!)

First of all, I flew through this book. Marian Womack's prose is engaging and fun to the point where I actually could not put this book down.

It follows Helena and Eliza, two women who have recently started a detective agency together in London. It’s interesting to follow the establishment of a female detective agency in the early 1900’s that’s primary goal is to support women in need. Helena, believing more in the occult and Eliza, a firm believer in Darwinism. They take on two new cases, both located in Paris – which itself is too much of a coincidence to ignore. In the first case, two English women claim to have seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette in the gardens of Versailles. The second case is the murder of a young woman working at the mysterious Méliès Star Films studio outside Paris.

As Helena and Eliza investigate, they hear whispers of vanishings at Méliès Star Films, strange lights, spies, actors flying without ropes and connections to the occult.

There was one explanation that tied it all together, and it was that the dancers had not just stopped coming to work for Monsieur Méliès, but rather that they had disappeared altogether.

Now, having the occult mixed in with historical events and people brings joy to my heart. Méliès, French illusionist and film director famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema, as well as Nicholas Tesla and his plans of building the Wardenclyffe tower.

As someone who is painfully rational, I found it easier to side with Eliza throughout this book, looking more into the rational explanations to things occurring than the occult. But it was also very interesting to follow Helena and her reasoning for things transpiring. It is also very interesting to follow two colleagues with very different beliefs and see how they come together to solve the mysteries.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book, and judging by the ending, there might be a sequel, which I would be happy to read!

[Nicole Sweeney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book featuring Helena Walton-Cisneros and her work to uncover supernatural mysteries. This time Helena has started a detective agency with her friend Eliza. As the agency is opening they become involved in two mysterious cases in Paris – first two female scholars from Oxford claim to have seen Marie Antoinette in the past and the second is the disappearance of a young woman working for a film studio. As the colleagues work to uncover the truth, they soon learn that the two cases might be linked and that there might be a lot more going on at the Méliès Star Films studio than they thought possible.

I read The Golden Key a while ago and was really intrigued to see where Womack would take the story next. On the Nature of Magic is a captivating read, full of mystery and magic. The plot unfolded well and the story kept me guessing as I was never quite sure if the cases were magical or not. The story comes to a satisfying conclusion but also felt that there could be the possibility of another installment which I would definitely be keen to read.

Helena and Eliza are fascinating protagonists – they’re working together but they have very different beliefs. Eliza’s beliefs are firmly rooted in science and she is attempting to reconcile with the idea that their cases involve the occult. Helena is determined to help women in need as well as work to understand the powers that she has. I enjoyed seeing their relationship as colleagues develop as they race to uncover the truth behind the mysteries.

The story is set both in London and in Paris and I liked the depictions of both cities, particularly the dark and eerie catacombs of Paris. If you’re looking for a Gothic mystery with a dash of magic thrown in, this could be just what you’re looking for.

[Keila (speedreadstagram) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The year is 1902 and Helena is known for finding answers to the impossible. She’s decided to start her own detective agency and has taken on two mysterious cases. In the first case, two English women claim to have seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette in the garden of Versailles. The second case is a murder of a young woman working for a film studio outside Paris.

As Helena and her associates investigate, they hear whispers of people vanishing, strange lights, and rumblings of the occult. What is going on in the film studio? Is it somehow connected to the ghost sighting? Only Helena can find the answers.

I really enjoyed this one. It is classified as a gothic paranormal book, and it delivered. Gothic books tend to be a bit slower paced, and I did find that to be the case here. One I had to be in the right mindset for reading. This book had such a great mystery that had me guessing until the final pieces were delivered. The chapters are long but do have breaks. I am noticing either very long or very short chapters and I will say my preference is on the shorter side, but not choppy. The breaks in the chapters were much needed and appreciated. I also enjoyed the historical aspects of this book as well, so I would say it is also historical fiction. It was a great mashup of genres that I truly enjoyed.

Thank you so much to Titan books, @titanbooks, and Netgalley, @netgalley, for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like others, I did not realize this was a second installment when I bought it at the bookstore, as it does not indicate anywhere on the cover or pages inside. I only found out after reading about 30% of the way through when I came to Goodreads to add it to my “currently reading” list. I didn’t seem to miss any pieces from not reading the first one like others seemed to. To be honest though, I’m not entirely sure I will read the first book. It seems like they can be read as standalones? Either way, this story was intriguing although a lot was always happening as the story progressed, so I had to pay attention well enough to know what was going on at any given moment. There were a lot of grammatical errors that were a shame to see as I’m sure the author put in a lot of work and research getting this story to work out. I enjoyed it overall. 3.7/5 stars. I hope she gets a great editor next time! Also, chapter 12 was soooo long that I procrastinated finishing the book for about two days longer than necessary.

[Skye Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for this e-galley. ALLLLLLL THE VIBESSSSSS. I loved this book more for all the setting and vibes this author was able to smoosh into one book. I cannot wait to see what else this author creates! This book has a great mystery and it gets all of it wrapped up and I so hope there's a sequel it would so fun to see more from this world.
Book will be available May 23rd! 3.8 stars

[Isamivictor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really sad I didn't like this book more than I did.

The mixing of magic and mistery really attracted me and I was really disappointed to realise that the magic described was nothing more than the art of illusions, mesmerism and divination. Nonetheless, having the POVs of a sceptic and of a believer/a practitioner was an interesting take, but since the beginning everything seemed to have been looked from a supernatural light, Eliza's POV seemed at times a bit unconvincing.

[EFSabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book picked up steam in the last quarter and had a very interesting ending, but by 50% through, I felt like there had been little action to move the narrative forward. It felt like the author was just circling around the same points for more than half of the book before anything really interesting came together. I was basically just waiting for the book to end! The last 25% was good…but I don’t plan to recommend this to anyone.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Idk, this was very underwhelming. I didn’t know this was the second book in a series until the middle of it, but I don’t think that was why I didn’t like it. The characters were not really fleshed out, I didn’t feel the relationship between them at all.
I also didn’t like the writing very much and it was confusing at times. Also, the story didn’t grab me. What was the point? Everything unraveled very suddenly in the last 20 pages with no suspense up until then.

[Robyn Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This seems to be my most disappointing read of the year. I spent 300 pages waiting for something to actually happen, and then when it did, it was over in a rush. The novel felt more like the exposition for a different book. The characters lacked depth and I didn't feel empathy for any of them. I was determined to finish it, and I am glad I did, but I don't think I will continue the series.

[Theresa Berg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having jumped into this one without reading the first installment I feel like I didn't have a good grasp on what to go by, but for reading it as a stand alone it was an inventive, if you'll forgive the pun, and intriguing detective story of Sherlockian proportions. There are a few spelling and grammar errors throughout that the editor missed, but nothing too bad.

[Annarella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I fell in love with the gorgeous cover and wanted to love this book. I found it a bit too confusing and theres a lot going on: historical fiction, cults, horror.
There's a lot of potential but it wasn't for me.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Iris Wagenvoort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Het hele verhaal duurt heel lang en is best wel moeilijk te volgen omdat er zo veel verschillende mensen in voorkomen. Ooo komt alles samen in de laatste 20 pagina's en die waren ook ineens heel erg spannend.

[Jim Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-done throughout until the very disappointing end. The protagonists are well-drawn and conflict in interesting ways. At the end, the denouement is described by one to the other, pulling the threads together in a way the author should have shown, not stated.

[Estelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this.

The premise is promising, but it does not deliver at all. This book very much reads as if it has not been proofread: overly long sentences throughout the entire book, continuity errors, and too much (at times incoherent) telling with little showing.