I am a huge fan of M&W's work and the opportunity to see their thought processes in a show is a real
treat. You are given access to an entire show on video so you can watch them work, then the book
goes into a detailed explanation on each effect, with essays on thinking behind certain things in
their show that you can apply to your own. Not to mention how unbelievable the book feels! It's
top-quality all the way and will look great on your bookshelf.
Obviously, some things are
specifically for two-person acts, but there are ways to adapt many of them to an individual. My
favorite effect in the show (and one that must remain two-person, I think) involves a spectator's
signed card disappearing from a deck held in the magician's hand only to appear (deck and all)
inside a closed bottle...and it can't be pulled out of the bottle! You leave the spectator an
impossible object. This is an unforgettable moment in your show, though it does involve some preshow
work that they say takes about three minutes.
This book is a great gift to the magic
community from a pair of professionals who think outside the box. Worth every penny!
4 of 4 magicians found this helpful.
What a book. This is going to become a modern classic for sure.
I was lucky enough to get a
copy of this book early at a convention in the UK, and a few days after getting back I devoured the
whole thing in a few sittings. It's incredible. The book is like a backstage 'making of' of their
entire show. Rhys and Rob (Morgan and West) write beautifully and break down every trick in their
show — but more than just explaining methods, they explain the reasoning behind why each trick goes
where, their performance style, and more. These essays are definitely the best bits of the book for
me. (Though their impossible object trick is so so damn good and definitely something I want to work
on...)
More than that, you get a full video performance of their entire show, so you can
watch each bit as you go along, or watch it all in one go.
Lastly, the production-quality
of the book is beautiful. It's a big hardback that is gorgeous to look at, and makes reading it a
pleasure.
2 of 2 magicians found this helpful.
MORGAN AND WEST HAVE CAUSED ME TO TIME TRAVEL!! No Really. I have been in magic since 1985. I have
performed in the USA, Europe, and Israel. I do mostly close up.
I think, at least for me,
when you're in magic this long you can get jaded. I read a new trick, and whilst I might like it, I
think blah blah blah blah blah, I've seen this before, or I know this.
I received this book
yesterday and have only read the introductory material, yet I have that excited feeling that I used
to get back in 1985+ when about to learn a new trick, when I was a newbie and the whole world of
conjuring was at my feet. The excitement of; "what great mysteries am I about to learn"?!
Thank you Rhys and Robert for sharing your heart for magic. I can't wait to get into heart of
the book and start performing it.
Tony
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
This book goes so in depth with the tricks that these two amazing minds have thought up and give
great advice on how to use your own creativity in routines you wish to create/perform. I would
definitely recommend this to anyone who is wanting to better their stage magic or anyone who wishes
to understand magic more.
This was a great book, fun to read even if just for the sake of reading something fun to read.
In addition though, I found their, Morgan and West's, thinking that went into the development of
effects a joy to read.
Going through their act, with the accompanying video just made the
whole book feel like something of a course in the development of their act.
Entertaining
and informative.
Morgan and West have written what in my opinion is the BEST book on the market on scripting a
mesmerizing, one-of-a-kind magic show. Some of their opinions on magic conflict with that of the
general magic community, and you're going to read some thoughts that outright contradict what has
been treated as standard knowledge, and after having read Parlour Tricks, I am of the opinion that
they are in the right.
The magic is also top notch, with a special note of praise towards
the methodology and presentation of their take on the Impossible Bottle.
If I could give
this a 6 star rating, I would. Rhys Morgan and Robert West have written what I believe will be
classic magic text twenty years down the line, and I've never been more happy with a magic purchase.