Ah ... the paradox that is Darwin Ortiz. He's simply complex or complexly simple? If you can do a perfect faro, a pinky count, some false deals and work with a memorized and/or stacked deck, you can do just about everything in Darwin Ortiz's repertoire. Basically he only relies on a very small set of technical skills to do some incredibly amazing magic. Yet this small set of skills anything but simple. It kind of reminds me of that time that Adele Set Fire to The Rain . . . it was quite the paradox, but it was beautiful to behold!

Obviously even Ortiz's complete (and I do mean COMPLETE) mastery of these moves/techniques is not the only thing required to do his effects. You need audience management skills, timing, personality, character, etc., etc. But from a strictly technical stand point, if you are adept at the aforementioned technical skills you already have the skills you need to perform these effects from a technical stand point.

The personality, character, etc., that you may or may not have is also critical as mentioned. Thus we can thank the gods of the pasteboards for sending us Lessons in Card Mastery. Though the title is accurate, it, too, is a bit paradoxical like its author. Beyond lessons in Card mastery you will find lessons in "connection" mastery and "audience" mastery, and several other "masteries." (I just made up that word). Of course the title is two-fold. It's also about the plot of much of the work in the book. This book is (nearly) all about demonstrating to your audience how much mastery you have over a deck of cards. You know . . . the kind of stuff that's scary in a "holy crap! I will never play cards with you EVER" kind of way.

If you're familiar with Ortiz's Scam & Fantasies with Cards then you'll certainly recognize in Lessons in Card Mastery the same top quality production level and production style. These books both look and feel very similar to each other.

Let me tell you one of the best things about everything (including this book) that I've read from Ortiz. Even the stuff that I can't do or wouldn't do is interesting to read. Often when I read a book, I'll skip certain effects that don't "fit" me or that are beyond my skill set. I'll read a few paragraphs and just stop. With Ortiz, that rarely happens. Of the thirty effects found in this book there were only one or two that I didn't bother reading all the way through. And even those had interesting parts that I did read. At the end of each effect you'll find performance tips, clean up ideas (if needed) analysis and theory behind much of what you just read in the method section.

Ortiz has a brilliant mind and is very good at expressing his thoughts, theories, methods, effects, personality and performance style on paper. Imagine this: I have not yet mastered a perfect faro; I cannot do any type of false deal and I suck at pinky counting. I do work with a Si Stebbins stack, but that's about it. Yet, this book is still worth the $55 bucks to me. Imagine if you are adept at even one of those things that I'm not . . . this book is an easy investment.

I won't be going into any depth as to what the effects are and so forth. I'll just say that they're mostly gambling related. If you're looking for a Texas Hold 'Em based routine, you'll find it here. Not everything is purely gambling style. But just about everything clearly communicates the message that if you did gamble, you would always win. In my estimation, the effects all range from good to excellent, but I realize that this is a matter of taste, so it has no impact on the review. Thus my not dwelling on it other than to give you the following overview:

There are some effects in this book that I could do right now with my current weak skill set . . . some that are really good, and really easy. One of which (Card Sense) was used by a magi friend of mine to totally fool me. There are several excellent effects that require a lot of skill to demonstrate how much skill you have. One effect in particular (Best of The Best) is an effect where you apparently (among other things) are able to center deal any card called for. The method: Actually Do it! That's some crazy stuff. I'd say that the range of material is for people on the more advanced side of the "intermediate" category up and through to people who have crazy, crazy, crazy skills and everything in between.

I would even advise beginners to consider this book because it's an excellent study on what's possible and even if the techniques are well past your abilities, the theory, analysis, etc. is not. This book is loaded with gems of effect, gems of theory, gems of . . . well you get the idea.

There are three main categories in the book, Gambling Mastery, Superhuman Mastery, and Supernatural Mastery. It's a nice progression and ironically often the technique gets easier as the category gets more impossible. I truly believe that even a performer who does NOT use playing cards could do worse with his $55 bucks.

Is the ad copy accurate . . . yes . . . for sure . . . if anything, it's under-stated. For those of you who are "visual" learners, first let me say that this book was very clear and very fun to read, and second, you need to read my article The Ultimate Visual Experience . . . Reading. Either way, you need to pick up a copy of this book.

Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!