It is twenty-third century Mexico City, and Azucena wants to be put in touch with her twin soul, Rodrigo. She is given his information by the Consumer Protection Agency, and they share a perfect night of love before he disappears as part of a sinister plot by Isabel, the planetary presidential candidate. Azucena does not know why Rodrigo has disappeared; she just wants her twin soul back, so she undertakes the dangerous task of finding him. This involves past life regressions, as well as body exchanges and interplanetary travel. During her quest she finds allies in people she had previously scorned, her landlady, Cuquita, and her guardian angel, Anacreonte. Through the past life regressions, both hers and Rodrigo’s, Azucena discovers that some unresolved issues from their previous lives, as well as the lives of Isabel, are behind the problems they are now experiencing.

In Laura Esquivel’s twenty-third century, music has been severely restricted because of its ability to induce emotion and to regress people into past lives. A free CD is included in this book so that the reader may listen to the music when a character regresses. During these musical interludes in the novel, mostly works by Puccini, the text is replaced by very vivid drawings that illustrate the previous life of the person regressing. The music and illustrations together make vivid the emotion that Esquivel is trying to detail. The illustrations were done by Spanish artist Migurlanxo Prado. Also interspersed throughout the text are poems and songs that are titled “Interludes for Dancing.”

The science-fiction plot line of THE LAW OF LOVE is very different from Esquivel’s earlier work of historical romance, LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (1993), but her point and her frank writing style remains much the same. THE LAW OF LOVE is a very different and entertaining read.