Lee Asher Booklet Deal (Review of all 6 Booklets)
Price: $50.00 for all six or $12.00 Individually
The original six booklets published by Lee Asher are chocked full of great magic and card tricks.Anyone in getting past “Royal Road” materiel would do well to start here!
Opening Thoughts:
Admittedly I’m a big Lee Asher fan. (Anyone who has purchased from his site will likely know why) With that in mind I will still try to give an honest review of this bundle of booklets. As an overview of the material I will say this is definitely “bang for your buck material.” Contained within this bundle are 31 sleights, effects, and routines and one recipe for pudding. The quality of the booklets is about what you would expect from any magic booklet, anywhere from 12 – 24 pages of material stapled together with thick paper for a cover. The only color photograph in the set is on the cover of the Pulp Friction booklet. The writing is direct and to the point with tidbits of Lee’s sense of humor interjected throughout. Overall there is nothing terrible fancy or detailed about the instructions but I think between the writing and the photographs most of the material should be easily understood. The best part about these booklets are all the hidden gems you will find within. Many of those have gone on to be sold as individual PDF downloads, like the Diving Board Double, Instructional DVDs like Witness, but best of all are the ones that have yet to be mass marketed. With these opening thoughts in mind lets dive into the booklets shall we.
What follows is a list of the booklets with an overall grade for the booklet and each effect found within. I, like many others, am not big on assigning “grades” to tricks since there is a lot of subjectivity in that, but I chose to do it on this review so you can see what I found to be the highlights and then jump to that specific review. Hopefully this will save you a bit of time sifting through all this.
How to interpret this review:
Each effect description will be color coded based on my personal favorites. (Red) as in red hot! This is an effect that has a clever method and delivers a powerful effect. The kind of effect that most people will find a place for in their show. (Orange) Hot. This is an effect that either has a really clever method or delivers a powerful effect but perhaps not both. Most performers will be able to use at least some part of this effect and tweak it to their liking without much trouble. (Green) (this was going to be yellow but you couldn’t read yellow) Warm. This is a good effect but neither the method or the presentation will likely “blow you away.” It will be an effect that some people will get a lot of use out of and others will not. Most people will “like” the effect but few people will “LOVE” the effect. (Purple) Neutral. This is an effect that some folks might like and some folks wont. It will all depend on individual styles.(Blue) Cold! This is an effect that I estimate most people will not like. It either delivers an unimpressive climax or the method used is convoluted or just plain bad.
A quick look at the booklets and the effects within::
Sex Sells
Yo: C
Tray Sheik: B
BS Control: A
Various Ideas: C
Old Gambler vs The Young Card Punk: B
Overall: B+
[Read the Full Sex Sells Review]
Thinking Out Loud
The Ripper: B
Asheresque: B
Joking Around: C
Deuce Bag: A++
Tres Pas: C
Overall Grade: A
[Read the Full Thinking Out Loud Review]
Lee Asher French Tour ‘99
You Bet Your Asher: B
Magic Finger Box Of Death: B
Diving Board Double: B (but the move itself is an A++, I recommend getting the pdf download dedicated to this move)
Making Ripples: B
Overall Grade: B
[Read the Full Lee Asher French Tour ‘99 Review]
Pulp Friction
New Addition to the Thunderbird: C
Pulp Friction: B
Multi Peek Control With No Change to Bottom Card: B
Red Black Separation: A
Touche’…is What You Say? A++
Overall Grade: A
[Read the Full Pulp Friction Review]
Hand Jobs
Third Fastest Card Trick In the World(AKA Betraying Braue): B
Losing Control: A
Slap That Ace: B
Fan-see Meeting Both of You Here: D
Not Impressive: A
Cheek to Cheek Asher Style:A
Brute Force: B-
Overall Grade: A
[Read the Full Hand Jobs Review]
Close Cover Before Striking
Wipe Your Ace: B
Face Down Silver Surfer: B
Put Your Tray Tables in the Upright Position: C
Rosie Palm: B
Resistance is Feudal: A
That’s A Wrap: B+
Overall Grade: B+
[Read the Full Close Cover Before Striking Review]
Overall Thoughts On 6 For $50.00 Booklet deal:
On and off for 9 months I have been working my way through this material and for the last month (when I decided to write this review) I have been devoting the majority of my practice time to this work. I am far from mastering any of this so I feel a bit leery about dismissing anything I rated a C or D because it is just possible I have yet to put in the time to understand how good it is. Because of that I strongly recommend you look at this package as a whole and understand that if something rated a ‘D” it is a subjective grade that I gave it and also to understand that that “D” or “C” should be compared against other material within the Lee Asher booklets. Overall this is a fantastic set of card magic that includes top card controls, bottom card controls, a DL, a steal, transposition plots, assembly plots, oil and water plots, and the list goes on. Anyone who is serious about card magic should get this set of booklets. Anyone who gets this set of booklets should force themselves to work through every trick and sleight in the book. I found that some of the stuff I liked the most wasn’t the obvious or “top billed” effect from the booklet. Furthermore, many of the effects and moves that I personally won’t use still gave me ideas on how to improve other effects and sleights I do use. Overall I can’t see any intermediate card magician not finding value in these booklets if they give them the time they deserve.
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