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66 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Triumph for Style over Substance!, 29 Oct 2004
By A Customer
The outside of this book, which is covered in black velvet and silver writing, is a Goth's dream.
Unfortunately inside the font and illustrations are not at all in keeping with the cover and seem more like a cross between a kid's book and a self-help manual. The actual writing style is quite bad, though it is at least clear. A lot of the tricks are essentially fine, which is why I gave it two stars, though I have read most of them in better magic books than this. A beginner magician would not really be helped by the presentations given for the tricks (overly detailed stories), which are ludicrous in both scenario and audience reaction.
Unless you are performing them on the very gullible or drunk (or friends and family who will humour you), the reader needs to spend time creating their own presentations for the tricks. I guess these stories are supposed to inspire you, but the way Marc LeMezma has described them means that the tricks as read often rely on the friends (audience) saying and doing quite specific things without any kind of force! It would have been better if he had just described the tricks and given more general ideas and rules for presentation. On a personal note, I also have ethical problems with the suggested line of presentation, which the author states to be "lite bizarre magick".
I find the idea that the performer pretends to be a person with genuine psychic talent, rather than a magician, too close to the practice of fraudulent mediums/psychics etc. Incidentally, when referring to bizarre magick, the author mentions that "the most astounding exponent today is Dr Marcus". According to Marc LeMezma's website this character is in fact his own alter-ego used when performing his version of mentalism. Unless you want a pretty book for people to admire on your bookshelves, which would rather defeat the purpose of a magic book, then I suggest you pick something else.
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