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The Cheetah's Handbook
Jamie Badman, Andi Gladwin, Colin Miller, Kostya Kimlat, Tyler Wilson, Liam Montier, Jack Parker, John Bodine, Rob James and Luke Dancy
eBook, 50 pages
Reviewed
by Noel Qualter
"The Cheetah's Handbook" is a limited edition e-book with material from a
mix of UK and US magicians containing some interesting variations on classic
plots and some brand new plots all with a clever twist.
There are contributions from Jamie Badman (UK), Andi Gladwin (UK), Colin Miller
(UK), Kostya Kimlat (US), Tyler Wilson (US), Liam Montier (UK), Jack Parker(UK),
John Bodine (US), Rob James (UK) and Luke Dancy (US). You may of heard of some
of these performers from their previous work, but this is the first time they
have joined forces to publish material.
The magic contained within Cheetah’s Handbook overall is of a very good
standard. Since the list of performers above are mainly card magicians (some
established, some becoming more established, the more often they perform for
magicians), you can expect the bulk of this material to be card magic. These
aren’t your standard pick-a-card tricks though; they’re all genuinely
interesting and new ideas. I think you can be sure to add at least one or two of
these tricks into your repertoire – and that’s not something you get from many
magic books.
There’s some non card magic too. There’s a nice coins across routine, a fun
thing that would be suited to television or your family shopping excursion and a
great mentalism effect I do from time to time that plays very well.
My favourite effects are an effect by Tyler Wilson that brings a great handling
and presentation of coins across, Andi Gladwin’s Safety Zone, which is a direct
card effect, which just looks so clean. I’m also a big fan of the two Jack
Parker’s effects.
The e-book is £12 and is an instant download, meaning that as soon as you pay
for the product, you are asked to download the file and can start reading
immediately. As soon as you start reading, you’ll notice the clear and crisp
layout, something a lot of e-books are sorely missing. It looks good on screen,
and printed out, so either way you choose to read it, you’ll be happy.
The card magic is intermediate to advanced so you’ll need to be familiar with
the pasteboards. If you are interested in close-up magic or mentalism (one
routine) then I am sure you’ll enjoy this book. It’s well written, well produced
and contains some excellent material. So, instead of wasting your next twelve
quid on a sticky card consider picking up Cheetah’s Handbook while you can. It
is highly recommended.
Available from: www.underground-collective.com
© Noel Qualter, February 2005