Unfortunately, I haven't received it yet. I'm eagerly waiting for it.

As there are no reviews yet here are a few comments from the Facebook group.

I’m reading it again on a train from Boston to New York. So brilliant sir, I wish you kept it to yourself. It deserves multiple readings! - Marc Salem

I’m just going through the contributions and loving everything in here. - Darren Woolf

Mark

Is this available from a US distributor?

I preordered and am waiting for mine too - very excited

Not currently. It may be at some point in the new year if I have any left.

Mark

Still nobody ready to write a review?

I’m really grateful to all those who pre-ordered but a lot of other people wait for reviews before making a decision and without reviews from people that actually bought the book they have nothing to go on. I don’t make a habit of having friends post glowing reviews of my material or hyping up my stuff. I prefer to let the material stand on its own merits and the honest opinions of people that bought the book. Unfortunately my material tends to get great feedback and comments but few reviews. In 3 years Harpacrown has only got 2 reviews on penguins site despite the collectors edition being almost sold out.

As you can tell from the quality of the book for the price point where a lulu softback would have done the job, my motivation isn’t sales and money but rather to provide something that is hopefully of value. The lack of any feedback is quite disheartening after so much effort has been put in to the product. Particularly when compared to pages of glowing reviews for some of the hastily put together ebooks filled with untested ideas.

On the plus side people are very quick to post if the product is sub-standard so I will take the lack of reviews as a form of silent appreciation.

Mark

Mark, it’s brilliant! I just don’t have time to do a full review currently. It’s a busy time of year. Anyone on the fence should take the leap. You won’t just learn loads of ‘Free Will’ effects, you’ll learn a shed load of mentalism approaches and techniques. Oh, and if you like ballsack jokes, you’ll enjoy this book! 😀

I’m not particularly enamoured with the Free Will plot

But I bought the book for Mark’s take on it rather then for something I might use

I think if you want reviews December is not a good time to release something....

I’m about 3/4 through and I’ve enjoyed it so far x

Yeah you’re right about Christmas and having the time for an in depth review particularly when gigging a lot in this busy busy window .
Marks book is great and as it’s not a one trick pony but a full treatise on the plot .
So to do the full review it deserves to cover all the chapters it does take a lot of time .
These will come I’m sure when people get a chance to chill out over Christmas and a lot of people got this as a Christmas present anyway and are quite rightly playing ball with their other halves and waiting for Santa .

Madison summed the book up well in his review , see below

Merry Christmas to all Gaz 🙂

Generally, this whole book is an exploration of the free will plot, but more specifically, *practically* every version in this book eliminates the I/You ambiguous aspect of free will.

Free Lunch - This is the one that starts it all. This uses several classic principles with fresh air breathed into them and combined to give you a really simple and incredibly direct free will effect. Mark also shares his beautiful updates to the out to lunch principle including a clever justification for a signature. This one also introduces a procedure which Mark calls equivoque, but I genuinely believe this is an advanced version of equivoque which feels NOTHING like equivoque. It’s very well thought out and written.

Free Balling - This version uses three different colored paper balls instead of objects. This allows you to eliminate the need for a stack of business cards (thereby eliminating the out to lunch principle.) This version also introduces a streamlined equivoque process. I love this streamlined version. Like before, I wouldn’t even call this equivoque. It’s such an advanced form. There’s none of the classic Magician’s choice language that magicians (and laymen) associate with magicians choice. The process feels very fair and they make all of the choices necessary with just one sentence being uttered by the performer. I think it’s brilliant.

Three Will - This one introduces a brand new concept I’ve never seen before. Without revealing too much, it allows you to make an ambiguous prediction with a drawn image which feels totally impossible to be ambiguous. The main difference is this is played between three people (the magician and two others.) To perform this one as written, you will need a detection device of some sort (such as sixth sense)

Free Will Rock You - This version is played with a physical representation of rock, paper, and scissors. Once again you need a detection device to perform it as written. In this version, the prediction tells who wins the game of rock paper and scissors between the magician and the participant. Mark pointed out to me, you can perform this without the detection device if you refer back to the equivoque process from the first two routines in the book.

Totally Three Will - This version gives the spectator 100% freedom in where they choose to place each object and yet, your prediction is totally correct. It uses the stack of business cards again but this time, there’s something extra added which gives you an insane amount of clarity in the placement of the objects.

Totally Way Out Free Will - This version is similar to the one before but in this case, the prediction is written on a folded piece of paper which is in view from the beginning. (You will need to be familiar with a Marc Oberon product to do this version.)

Fuel Injected Free Will - This uses a popular magic app to give you a photo prediction of where the items will be.

Quartermaster’s Coin by Steve Drury - This one is a larger performance piece with a stack of luggage tags and a coin which secretly holds a prediction. It’s themed around secrets and spies

Free Will Coins by Stephen Young - The free will is performed with three coins. The eliminated coin then bends. Admittedly, this is my least favorite one in the book. I feel the selection process in this is the fishiest and unlike any other selection process you’d see in real life. Mark assures me it plays better than it reads—and I’m sure that’s the case, but with so many other great variants in the book, I will PERSONALLY perform one of the others. There’s certainly value in the piece and it deserves to be in the book. It’s just my least favorite in comparison with the rest of the material presented.

Rock Paper Tricker by Mark Elsdon - This is a fascinating version of the plot. The performer writes a prediction which is folded and left in full view. Three business cards are then removed and the performer writes one word on each. The participant shuffles, pockets one, and divides the last two between the performer and another spectator. The cards are revealed to each bare a word: either rock, paper, or scissors. The prediction is revealed. It perfectly predicts who has which word and who beats who. It includes the participants name on the prediction for clarity.

Group Dynamics by Drew Backenstoss - This can be found in architect of the mind. You play a round of word association then a round of free will. At the end, your prediction is correct of who holds what, and then they open your wallet to find a second prediction which correctly reveals the last word of the word association game. This is a very solid piece which is perfect for mix and mingle situations. I loved it in architect of the mind. It’s just as great in this format.

The Will of the City by Michael Murray - This is a version of free will that can be performed over the phone. The participant puts you on speaker and puts the phone facedown on the table. You send a text and tell them not to read it. They get three objects, shuffle them up, put one in their pocket and dedicate one to the performer. They check the text and it perfectly predicted where each object would be. A very effective version and very Michael Murray.

Improbity by Patrick Redford - This is Patrick’s wonderful solution to the I/You ambiguity. In this prediction written on a post it note, it clearly states who will read the prediction and clearly states the performers name in it to remove all ambiguity. It can be seen in his penguin lecture and in a book/digital book with the same name. Wonderful take on the plot.

Chandaulope - Here Mark shares how to make his Chandaulope (his two way out envelope) He goes further to teach how it can be made to hold 4 outs. And then he tops that by showing how it can be constructed to hold 6 outs.

Totally Free Will - The spectators get to keep half of a torn prediction from the beginning. After they make their selections of where to place each item, they open both halves, put them together, and find the performer predicted their choices with perfect clarity and no ambiguity. This is Mark’s ultimate version. It takes some work to make it up properly, but once you do, you have a very solid piece which is pretty much the “ultimate” solution and it has a very intriguing presentation (which can be applied to many of the earlier versions)

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. If you have any interest in the free will plot, this is the best of the best. It’s also taught very well and Mark’s humor shines throughout. If you’ve never been a fan of the free will plot, odds are, there’s at least one version in this book that will change your mind.

Madison

Cheers, guys and yes I appreciate that December is a busy time. However other than Gaz there wasn’t so much as “The book is nicely put together.” I’ve had a bunch of messages saying how much people are loving the book, even a few who have read it from cover to cover twice but not a word in this thread.

A few words here are massively appreciated so thanks again.

Mark

The book is nicely put together. I’m using the techniques of the book, but in the context of a fortune telling routine where the location of the items reveals the fortune, and then I show the validity of the fortune by showing that I predicted it ahead of time. Very hard hitting and fun. Getting great reactions.

Great to hear that the book has helped you to create something completely different. I wanted this book to be as much a springboard and toolkit as a collection of effects.

Mark

Mark, are you going to do a Alakazam Academy? btw! although I have received your book it is currently wrapped up under the tree, my family won’t see Me much for the rest of the day whilst reading it. I may have to even retire to the blokes reading room (the loo) so as not to be disturbed!!!!!

I have no current plans to do an Alakazam academy. Peter did ask me to do one but when I tried to sort out the details he went radio silent on me and so I put the academy material into Harpacrown 2 and Totally Free Will instead. I have been asked to do Penguin though but it’s not until the summer.

Mark

Looking forward to that then!

This is a fantastic idea and very clever! Thank You for sharing.

As much as I love the Free Will principle, I approach it cautiously. It’s a wonderful and very clever method but, in my opinion, easy to get wrong. Having spoken to Mark about his routining of Free Will, I knew Totally Free Will would be something a bit special. Now I have the book, I can happily report he’s exceeded that already high expectation. Like with Harpacrown, each routine has been thought through carefully, with every step having meaning and context within the performance. It’s taken the method to an entirely new level for me and with so many routines and ideas, I’d imagine there’s something in here for anyone with even the slightest of interests in Free Will. The guest contributions bring new angles and presentations into the mix too.
This has genuinely reignited my feelings about Free Will and I know I’ll return to this book again and again. I’m a huge fan of Mark’s thinking and would love for him to approach another principle with such detail in the future at some point (*hint,hint).
Also, the book itself is a thing of beauty and sits perfectly alongside my copy of Harpacrown.

I’m thinking of releasing Free Will Rock You as a stand alone effect. It will include 4 versions, the one in Totally Free Will and a version with no ambiguity, then 2 versions that do not need the extra something, one using the Free Will principle and the other with no ambiguity.

This is what the included props look like. The pebble is magnetic.

Worthy of a release?

Mark

Click here to view attached image.

I cant help you Mark as I don't have your new book but


I loved the props!! They look amazing!

So if the routine is as good as the props are then just release it...

😉

This is a quick and dirty performance of one of the versions with no ambiguity. The other no ambiguity version would look very similar. If I do release this I will get some better quality performance videos for the trailer and will film instruction videos.

https://youtu.be/RMgkKq1G14A

Mark