false658923111Haven Stones: The Last Unicorn
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6589231-haven-stones
2976542Richard Carbajal11
Chapter 14: Chocolate Clowns
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Chapter 9: Parasites and Firebirds
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Chapter 8: Blood & Infinity.
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Chapter 7: Of Mice and Rats
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Chapter 6: The Last Unicorn
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Chapter 5: Golden Butterflies and Four-Leaf Clovers
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Chapter 4: Escorts and Haven Stones
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Chapter 3: Magic Scissors.
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On to chapter 2: six dead mice
202009-07-03T20:29:09-07:00972472112009-07-03T20:29:09-07:0030falseMon Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009Fri Jul 03 12:17:09 -0700 2009Mon Nov 23 10:44:33 -0800 2009 Fate, magic and perhaps good luck brings Gilbert to Dumpster who shows the boy into the magical world that resides in parallel with the normal world. He is like Door in Neverwhere who shows Richard Mayhew London Below.
In fact much of Haven Stones feels like Neverwhere but set in the desert heat of Las Vegas if it were mixed with The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. There's also a bit of Harry Potter in how magic is treated.
The setting and Carbajal's unique approach to magic are the strongest parts of Haven Stones. Carbajal lives in Las Vegas and that insider's point of view helps bring the city to life.
It suffers a bit from an abundance of flashbacks and info dumping in the last third of the book. Some of the motivation for the rivalry between the unicorn and the phoenix weren't clear to me.