Schizandra and the Gates of Mu by Laura Bruno

An ordinary Sedona school day turns cosmic when 13-year-old Schizandra faints. What prophets have whispered for millennia has finally come to pass. Schizandra Ginger Parker has crossed the veil, and now she holds the key to human evolution. But her visit to the underworld marks only half the journey. The galaxy itself depends on her awakening. Will Schizandra conquer her own mythic demons? Will strangers unite to save her so that she can save the world? Humanity has come this far before – many times – but fear has always stopped the transformation. Can Schizandra lead Earth back to Paradise? Readers will laugh, cry and shiver their way through Book One of the Schizandra series.

Shazzie reviews Schizandra and the Gates of Mu

I've always wondered where the novels were that I'd want to read! With more people waking up every day, the need for switched-on fiction is growing ever more pressing. Laura's ability to write a book like this without everything becoming a raw-vegan-yoga-cliche is notable. She achieves this because she truly lives this lifestyle, fluttering from dimension to dimension, pulling it all back into 3D words. And happily, though the characters are also flitting from dimension to dimension, they are all very interesting and funny, with not a trace of brown rice and sandals to them. It's like reading about people we know doing things we do: drinking yerba mate, ignoring phone calls, '80s pop music, drowning in spam and emails, 2012, feeling ascension, finding crystals to heal instead of calling your GP, tarot card readings, synchronicities, modern classic literature, the history of the future and of course yoga. Laura even mentions the non-leather seats of a Jaguar, and all us vegans know how frustrating it is to have to buy half a cow when we just want a nice car.

With lines like "I will love you forever for thirteen cacao nibs", "When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and then not pay" and "Give me liberty or give me death", we are blissed with profound realisations coated in chocolate fun. And, yes, Laura squeezes the history of cacao, real chocolate into the novel. The novel draws us into the desert and its desolation, weirdness and otherworldliness so well you start to feel the cold odd nature of the place, despite its heat. Telepathy, teleporting, all we want and need to make a quantum leap to the next level of communication manifests in this work.

Laura skillfully weaves a tapestry of an orphan's magical journey, the prophecies of 2012, a mystic grandmother descended from witches, twin maiden reflexologist great aunts and alien-like cacao guzzling frog creatures. The orphan, Schizandra, has an ability to see pain and illness in others, but she doesn't really understand her power. However, it's clear she is a metaphor for being the centre of the universe, a portal for transformation. And as with our personal growth, we can only truly heal when we become the centre of our own universe, creating life from our thoughts. We come to realise why so many have a foot in both worlds, afraid to truly let go: because this is the "time of no time" according to the Mayans. As she rebirths, we realise that we all have to do the same and leave the old world for once and for all.

The work we do on ourselves reflects perfectly in Schizandra's condition. While reading tarot cards, Tom explains that Schizandra's very reason for incarnation is to trigger evolution and ascension of the species. "This Ascension process would only occur in a calm and loving heart." Yes! It's all about the love, love. Laura pulls together the stories of all involved at the same time, as everyone works in their own way to save and rebirth Schizandra, which in turn does the same for all of humanity.

This unique work of heart is so fast paced it almost reads like a short story, yet it's a full-sized flesh on vegan bone novel. I furiously flicked through the pages wanting to know how our own end will spark our own beginning, in rebirth.

Review by Shazzie.