Diabolo Books

This book allowed me to master many new tricks, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing. If you want to increase your hand eye coordination, I suggest a diabolo. It lowered my golf handicap by 5 strokes.

If you are new to the diabolo and are looking for some help on what to do, then Todd's book is an excellent choice. This book has very clear explanations of the basics, yet still includes enough advanced ideas to keep you busy for quite some time. It also is the only instructional book I have found with a fairly comprehensive history of the art, including pictures ranging from the Diabolo Craze of the early 1900s to shots of modern performers. If you're interested in learning more about the diabolo than just tricks, this book is definitely worth picking up.

If you're looking for more advanced diabolo tricks than Todd's book has, then you should check out Donald Grant's series of books (published by Circustuff, and unfortunately not available on amazon.com -- check any juggling prop vendor, they carry them.)

weather you are a begginner or an expert, i think that every diaboloist should own this book

I liked the beginning of this manga quite a bit. It started out spooky, creepy, and kept you on the edge of your seat. But then I got entirely lost. It might have just been the fact that the author doesn't really tell you what's going on at first, but I couldn't keep track of the storyline. While I'm still going to buy the next novel, I don't think this is a manga that one should get if they haven't read manga before. Find a better series, if you get bored, go for this one.

While not exactly a newbie to the manga genre, I'm still far from an expert. Though, I must admit, Diabolo is one of the better series that I've read. I was compelled by the cover at first, because let's admit it, the art is very pretty, but once you get past that and actually read the pages, you're drawn into a story of deals with a devil and two boys' desparate attempt to rescue a girl before their 18th birthday, when they're destined to lose their humanity and become monsters.

Ren and Rai use the powers gained in a deal with the devil Diabolo to fight against the monster who, in a sense, created them when the deal went wrong and they were tricked. You get introduced to the characters through other people, who are being dealt similar hands by the same devil.

The art is beautifully drawn and the stories almost hypnotic in their ability to draw you in. There are some really dark themes involved, some could even be called controversial, and I get the feeling this series is not going to be for the faint at heart as it progresses. However, the story is one that keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next volume to come out and wondering what's going to happen next, as the clock counts down to Ren and Rai's birthdays, when things are set to change forever.

Diabolo is probably the best series i well ever read. where do i start?
first there are our charactors. there's Rai, a long haired beauty who has been an orphane and all alone untill he meets Ren, a short hair cutie. the two boys have an amazing relationship and are always there for each other.
when the two were younger, they were tricked by the devil and became diabolo themselves. they have till their 18th birthday before they lose their soals.
while this is an amazing book, i should give you warning that there is some very contraversial content. there is quite a bit blood and gore so if you don't like horror, this isn't your type of book. the series also deals with rape, hints of yuri (girl on girl) and Yaoi (guy on guy). there isn't anything explicet though, so if you don't mind little hints, then you can read this book.
for any manga lovers, i would definently recommend you add this book to your collection. the art is so beautiful and there is so much insight to life in this book.
God i love this series!! and i think you might too. ^___^

Ok, maybe for a normal manga in mainstream print Diabolo is as intense as they come. But for people who actively seek out disturbing comics, the "twisted" stuff in this series is standard-I'm just saying because there are those out there who intentionally looking for mind-f*cks,like me, and they shouldn't mistake Diabolo as a source of that. If you're looking for, say, something that scares you stupid like Hannibal Lecter, you might wanna look up Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. On the other hand, even though I bought this in hopes I'd be disturbed out of my skin, I got something completely different that I loved.

The stories are gruesome, sure, but they never reach the point where you're just perturbed and can't feel anything for the characters. But it truth you're far more interested in the human frailty of the involved victims than any amount of blood thier bodies can generate. Ren and Rai, the main characters, are perfect examples, and you love them to death for thier fierce protection of each other, which seems to be born out of grim necessity and not just stupid fluff filler. (You see that a lot in manga.)IN the first volume you don't see much of them till the end,but it's enough to make you both sad and touched.

Let me say this now about the story- PLOT TWISTS. Nothing, I repeat NOTHING is what it seems. you get a shocker in every story. And it's wonderful. The art is terrific, but not in any distinctive style, I guess. Still, Ren and Rai are great-looking protagonists, and the supporting cast is more often then not just as nice to look at. The dialogue is very natural, and doesn't try to go over your head with the whole Diabolo stuff, like some series trying to explain what's going on with Hell's great plan do. In truth, the fact that almost everyone is left in the dark lets the reader feel the same anxiety they feel, with so much going on and only speculation to explain it. They're all confused and let you know they are,but stick to talking normally instead of having a few "magic words" that need to be defined.

There's only a few things that bug me about this manga, and they're barely worth mentioning. Ren and Rai don't get as much focus as they deserve, which would make sense if they're were weak characters, but they're not. They're fascinating and it'd be nice to see them more. Also, the way some of the characters meet is just too coined. Ren and Rai hear a random disturbance, and then run over to help.(Although sometimes they're tracking people down.)

Overall, this is a great series and I think people who are trying to move into the horror/mind-f*ck genre should start with this.

I never had heard of Diabolo when I decided to buy it ; I wasn't even sure how many volumes there actually were (actually, I discovered when I read it that there are only three volumes). I thought the art looked really pretty and the story seemed interesting with demons and stuff.

In fact, it is the story of two seventeen-years-old childhood friends, Ren and Rai, who are as close as brothers. They have been cursed by the demon ten years ago and are now "diabolos", human beings who will turn into monsters when they turn 18. Before that happens, they have given themselves the mission to protect other people from suffering the same as they did in the only way possible : by killing them before that happens.

I have to say that at first, I thought I had made a mistake buying those books. The first volume is pretty ordinary. It gives an overview of what Ren and Rai's lives must have looked like all these years, when they fought "diabolos" like themselves. Like every first manga of a serie, it only sets the story and main characters and helps to understand what their history is, without any real plot yet.

However, I was pretty amazed by the second book. New characters are introduced and they have more influence in the story. The plot starts to get a lot more developped and it really gets interesting. The third manga is even deeper, with a lot of plot twists, fights and treasons.

What I really loved about these series is, first, the art, which is constant eye-candy. The characters and background are truly beautiful (see previews on TokyoPop's web site). I also loved the many plot twists. I hate predictable stories and this one kept surprising me many times. Ren and Rai are also handsome, truly lovable characters who will please every bishounen-loving girl! I also like short series because the pace is always very fast so I loved the fact that we get to the core and the end of the story in only three volumes.

The one big deception I had in this manga was because I thought it might be a little shounen-ai, with both characters so close, but there wasn't. However, the good side of this is that the story might reach a larger public. I would recommand this manga to my male and female friends alike ; however, note that this series is rated teens 16+ horror, though I found it less violent than mangas such as Descendants of Darkness and Count Cain.

It was a good book and I never knew how to juggle before but after reading this book i found out how to in easy to understand steps.

I rarely see this book reviewed on juggling sites, where everyone extoles the virtues of books no longer in print. I bought this one on a whim. Turns out it is one of the best juggling books I own. I am a pretty adept, casual 3 ball juggler. So I didn't get too much from the chapters on learnign the 3 ball cascade. However, those same chapters turned my friend an avid anti-juggling maniac into a juggling fiend. The author got past the blocks I never could in teaching her to juggle. (And I have taught more than a two dozen people the 3 ball cascasde.) What intersted me was the chapter on 5 balls (still working on it) and detailed instrucitons on juggling with clubs. I am also working on a 3 ball Mill's Mess.

Definately worth a look see. The pictures are big and bright, the instructions are clear. I liked it.. it never makes it back to the bookshelf in my house... it is always on the coffee table because we are always looking at it for something or another.

PATHWAYS IN JUGGLING will keep you occupied from first, tentative steps in three-ball juggling through more complicated work with diablos and devil sticks. It's appropriate for many different skill levels, from novice to advanced intermediate. After you've mastered all the book's knowledge, you'll be ready to perform impressively before public audiences.

This learning process is made easier by the book's style. It's a very handsome, well-designed volume, whose instructive abilities are greatly enhanced by the use of full-color photographs. In many cases, the imagery is so clear, you don't absolutely need to read the accompanying text to understand how to perform the trick. Even so, each trick is carefully explained, and tips are liberally mixed in to help students overcome common problems.

But for me, one of the best features is simply the book's size. PATHWAYS is a large enough volume to stay flat on a table, so you see the can glance at the photographs while holding your juggling objects. The large format also means the photographs are themselves large and easy to see from a distance. This saves tremendous time, and is certainly one of the strongest reasons I pull this volume before others when I want to practice.

What's in this volume? You get six major sections, covering something on the order of 50 distinct tricks. First is an introduction to juggling three balls, followed by variations on three-ball juggling, club juggling, juggling more than three items, stealing and passing, and, finally, using devil sticks and diablos. The how-to sections are followed by the weakest part of the book: an all-too-brief discussion of equipment and a two-page section on performing in public.

These last sections are almost wholly inadequate, in my view. Though the equipment section does introduce you to the basic tools of the trade, it does nothing to tell you how to get that equipment. While it may have been that the authors were trying to avoid appearing to endorse particular sales outlets, or maybe that they thought that listing specific addresses might have "dated" the book, their lack of specificity is truly woeful. Juggling outlets are not uniformly placed throughout the world, and some ideas of where to go for supplies would've been extremely helpful. Likewise, the equally scant section on performing doesn't go a long way to explaining how to put together an act. As far as it goes, it's a good enough essay, but it, too, is hardly explicit. In future editions, the authors would be well-served by including at least a "further reading/viewing" section to direct their students to examples of fine performance, so as to show ways that individual skills might be put together into a coherent whole.

These two flaws aside, however, PATHWAYS IN JUGGLING is a highly recommendable work. If you have any aspiration of becoming a competent juggler with a deep repertoire, this is the book you want.

PATHWAYS IN JUGGLING will keep you occupied from first, tentative steps in three-ball juggling through more complicated work with diablos and devil sticks. It's appropriate for many different skill levels, from novice to advanced intermediate. After you've mastered all the book's knowledge, you'll be ready to perform impressively before public audiences.

This learning process is made easier by the book's style. It's a very handsome, well-designed volume, whose instructive abilities are greatly enhanced by the use of full-color photographs. In many cases, the imagery is so clear, you don't absolutely need to read the accompanying text to understand how to perform the trick. Even so, each trick is carefully explained, and tips are liberally mixed in to help students overcome common problems.

But for me, one of the best features is simply the book's size. PATHWAYS is a large enough volume to stay flat on a table, so you see the can glance at the photographs while holding your juggling objects. The large format also means the photographs are themselves large and easy to see from a distance. This saves tremendous time, and is certainly one of the strongest reasons I pull this volume before others when I want to practice.

What's in this volume? You get six major sections, covering something on the order of 50 distinct tricks. First is an introduction to juggling three balls, followed by variations on three-ball juggling, club juggling, juggling more than three items, stealing and passing, and, finally, using devil sticks and diablos. The how-to sections are followed by the weakest part of the book: an all-too-brief discussion of equipment and a two-page section on performing in public.

These last sections are almost wholly inadequate, in my view. Though the equipment section does introduce you to the basic tools of the trade, it does nothing to tell you how to get that equipment. While it may have been that the authors were trying to avoid appearing to endorse particular sales outlets, or maybe that they thought that listing specific addresses might have "dated" the book, their lack of specificity is truly woeful. Juggling outlets are not uniformly placed throughout the world, and some ideas of where to go for supplies would've been extremely helpful. Likewise, the equally scant section on performing doesn't go a long way to explaining how to put together an act. As far as it goes, it's a good enough essay, but it, too, is hardly explicit. In future editions, the authors would be well-served by including at least a "further reading/viewing" section to direct their students to examples of fine performance, so as to show ways that individual skills might be put together into a coherent whole.

These two flaws aside, however, PATHWAYS IN JUGGLING is a highly recommendable work. If you have any aspiration of becoming a competent juggler with a deep repertoire, this is the book you want.

Contained the best explanation of Mill's Mess I've found. Easy to read with lots of color, I liked the pictures. Entertaining and useful.