talkmagic.co.uk

Has anyone read this:

http://www.world-of-magic.co.uk/magic.asp?id=1414

It seems quite interesting. My paypal finger is twitching.

It sounds great, but the fact that none of the effects are described make me somewhat apprehensive until I read someone's review of what it contains.
Could be a gem though...

Pentology is highly rated...not got it myself..

THough, i do have Automata and Tractore, and both are fantastic..R. Shane is a devious little monkey, he seems to take a very old and forgotten principle, and buries it under acres of good story telling and deviousness..

I have recently bought this book, but it's huge and I really don't know when I'm going to have the time to read enough of it to give anything like a balanced view, let alone a review.

I'm happy to pass on my thoughts as and when I get the chance to look through 'Pentalogy', but it won't be for some time.

"Pentalogy," named for the fact that it is Shane's first 5 books altogether in hard bound, is packed with over 400 pages of stuff. The tricks therein rate from easily accomplished to difficult, depending on what you know already, of course.

It is a must have for any bizarrist and certainly worth having for your garden variety magician, if for no other reason than it gives you theatrical performances, rather than just tricks with basic patter.

Throughout the book you'll find tricks and routines that can be used for opening effects, middle effects and some arrestingly powerful finale effects. It offers effects for the three main genre of magic (cards, coins and mentalism) and a gob of miscellanious effects.

In the back of the book are three particularly useful appendices:

"Effects by Methodology"
"Effects by Prop"
"Effects by Category"

This allows you to search the book, looking for effects that will fit immediately into your show/presentational persona, without having to skim through the book to find specific things that you may like or wish to use. An excellent and exceptional tool to have in any book.

If you think that this book might be useful to you, then I would suggest that it definitely will be useful to you and I highly recommend it.

Mike.