The experience and knowledge of Janet Berres shine through on every page of her very thorough book. Indeed, the book alone is worth the price of this deck and book set, created by Llewellyn to showcase the author. If you don't have Janet's book already, here is a great chance to obtain what has been a very hard to find publication, originally issued by the author herself. The book and deck here go well together, but Janet Berres brings great things to Tarot with her insights, and her expertise will prove very valuable to anyone interested in continuing their studies ~ or building the perfect Tarot Library.

I bought this Tarot kit -- book and Universal Tarot deck, with bag -- mostly to have a second Tarot deck that I could keep at work for studying during my lunch break. I figured that the book would be fairly lightweight, and for the most part I was right.

The title, "Tarot Kit for Beginners," just about sums it up as far as the book is concerned. The card meanings were very basic, and I was a bit disappointed that only upright meanings were given. To its credit, the book does touch upon all the essentials a beginner needs to know, keeping a Tarot journal, etc., and it even delves a bit into correspondences with numerology and astrology before getting into card meanings.

If I were judging this kit on the basis of everything else that's out there, I would only give it three stars (a generaous three at that), since there are a lot meatier starter kits out there. But if you're just looking to wet your whistle on Tarot and see if it's for you, then for the price this kit is for you. Judging the kit on that basis alone, I give it four stars.