The Witches of Vegas
By Mark Rosendorf
Rated: 4 stars ****

This is a Young Adult (YA) book that combines glitz, theatrics and magic and young adults in a rather unique and splendiferous way that will lead young adults into a spell-binding story like no other in what is the first of a new series. Book Two is called “Journey to New Salem” and will be coming soon. A third is also being written. So, Isis, Zack and The Witches of Vegas will be back for further adventures.

Thank you to Mark Rosendorf for getting in contact with me to review The Witches of Vegas.
Discover more below…

About the Author

Mark Rosendorf is a High School Guidance Counselor for students in the New York City Department of Education’s special education district. He is also a former professional magician. Mark shares his knowledge of magic with his students as part of the school’s Performing Arts program.

Mark is also credited with published novels in various genres including The Rasner Effect series. He eventually decided on an early retirement from writing. When asked why, Mark’s usual answer was because he lost his favorite pen.

Then, one night, at two a.m., a new and unique story shot into his brain like a lightning bolt, screaming for him to write it.  Suddenly, despite the decision to never write again, Mark found himself spending several nights taking notes on the characters and their stories. That is how The Witches of Vegas, Mark’s first young adult story, was born.

Blurb

Where can Witches and their vampire mentor practice their powers without being discovered or persecuted?

By using their magic, the Witches of Vegas become the number one act performing on the Las Vegas Strip—a great achievement for them, but not so much for the magicians—who can’t possibly keep pace.

Isis Rivera is the adopted fifteen-year old daughter of The Witches of Vegas. Zack Galloway is the teenage nephew and assistant to the last magician left in the city. Although they should be rivals, when Valeria, a four-hundred-year-old witch with a long-seeded grudge against humanity arrives in Sin-City, both teens act to bring their families together to stop the evil hag in her tracks.

But can the combined witches’ powers and the ingenuity of the magicians be enough to stop Valeria from taking over the city and possibly the world?

Review

There’s glitz and glam and magic with the theatre act – The Witches of Vegas at the Sapphire Resort and Casino’s main theatre, where Isis, Sebastian and Luther also are. There’s defying acts of magic, which is surprisingly described well, with the thrills conveyed within the writing.

Zack takes readers away from his Uncle Herb who taught him a lot of what he knows, to the Witches show as he becomes hungry for more ambition in the magc world and to see bigger tricks and defying feats of gravity. He then also stumbles across Victoria Hunter who is a debunker who exposes magic tricks.

Selena is one of The Witches of Vegas who almost hides behind doing magic shows and doesn’t want to tell the world that she a bonafide witch in-case there is a backlash of consequences because they are so different. In someways, in a subtle way this is about identity and being different and the fear of people being scared of something that they do not know, even when shown through more of a supernatural way. It also shows a bit of, perhaps, a second chance at life through Isis, who was It’s also about witches and vampires doing what they do best and putting on a show. There are however some twists and turns when Valerie, a rather more wicked character, comes into it and Isis is in a bit of trouble and elements of action and trepidation that become quite page-turning, come into play.