On Jun 4, 2016, Jon Gower wrote:
Thanks to Paul at Vanish Magazine for the great review of my and Mark Parker's collaboration which is available as an instant download from Lybrary.com and Magicshop.co.uk.

Full review is in the June 2016 edition of Vanish Magazine. If anyone is interested in reviewing the manuscript for the ebook section of the forum please message me.

"Labyrinth - the illusionary journey of a lady through ever changing narrow pathways within a small elevated structure culminating with a surprise vanish."

On Jun 8, 2016, freefallillusion1 wrote:
Wow, what happened? Someone actually created an illusion with a premise other than "Watch me burn through a ton of equipment with no premise whatsoever"? Yep, looks that way! Jon Gower has done well with "Labyrinth".

Now, let me start by saying that this excellent illusion is not for everyone. Since it's not just another sword box style illusion, the performer will actually have to have some presentation skills (imagine that)! This also isn't a self-working piece that the aspiring illusionist can walk through with minimal rehearsal- both the illusionist and assistant will need to be thoroughly rehearsed to make this look good.

The premise is that a lady is shown inside a framework which contains pieces of maze walls (dividers which form solid walls from front to back). More walls are put in place, creating a series of pathways far too small for the lady to be there, yet her hand emerges repeatedly to show that she's actually in there within the impossibly small spaces. The lady's hand is directed toward the "exit", where it disappears in a puff of smoke. The frame is then shown empty for a final complete vanish.

Overall I think this is a great routine. Jon has created a wonderful story for the effect which totally justifies the use of a maze and the vanish at the end. Many puzzle type illusions involve the girl's hand waving through a hole in the prop, but in this one the hand moves through the pathways up, down, and sideways. I could see some creative performer using this to make the hand almost a character of it's own, giving the girl much more personality than just someone waving through a hole. One of my favorite parts of the presentation looks like this: The maze walls have been rearranged to form three distinct sections, and the center section is uncovered giving a view completely through from front to back. During this action, the girl's hand is protruding from the left section. As the magician goes to touch the hand, it pops inside and immediately emerges from the section on the right- and remember, the center section is open at this point! It's a strong moment of passing invisibly through space.

From a building standpoint, Jon provides only a few measurements. This is a good thing. Like any good illusion, Labyrinth should be built to accommodate a specific girl. On that note, did you see the drawing of the illusion and think "It's just another d*c*pt*v* b**e"? Well, not exactly- there are several intriguing concepts that work together to hide the girl. When built correctly, this one should be very deceptive all around (with a table too small to be the above-mentioned method). Also, there are no details given for things like how to build the base or how to attach the legs- if that's a new area for your builder, then honestly they aren't going to turn out a deceptive prop for this one. Any competent builder should have no trouble with the information provided. That said, nothing important is left out- Jon gives VERY detailed info where it's needed.

Overall I think this is great. As I mentioned before, it's not an illusion for everyone (mainly because there are loads of illusionists out there who won't want to put in the work on the presentation). That's also a good thing, though, because it won't be seen just anywhere and everywhere- far too many illusion shows involve an origami and sub trunk. This one won't fall victim to that. Some smart illusionist will see the potential, though, and they'll work out a killer presentation that you wish you had thought of first.

So- if you're a performer who can really tell the story (either verbally, or visually to music), you should check out Labyrinth!

On Jun 10, 2016, jcmagicman wrote:
Illusionman2 you should build it.