The Painted Boy

Gr 9 Up—De Lint returns to the imaginary location of The Mystery of Grace (Tor, 2009) in this novel set in the American Southwest. Jay Li is a 17-year-old Chinese American transplanted from Chicago's Chinatown to the desert. The title comes from the dragon tattoo on his back, which emerged from his skin when he was 11. Jay is a member of the Yellow Dragon clan, and, thanks to a mystical family inheritance, an actual dragon on a quest to protect mankind. His quest leads him to Santo del Vado Viejo, a town overrun by bandas, gangs, where he is taken in by Rosalie and Anna. Shortly after his arrival, it becomes clear that he is there to discover his dragon nature and to free the town from the gangs. Encounters with the "cousins" (animal spirits in human form), the gang leader El Tigre, and the mysterious Rita move Jay into an uncertain future that he only half understands. The novel travels back and forth between omniscient narration and Jay's first-person journaling, and while the threads work together, they are sometimes repetitive and oddly juxtaposed. Minor discordant notes regarding cultural and local knowledge may jar readers familiar with the geographic areas or cultural communities; the mythologies of both Chinatown and Santo del Vado Viejo seem superimposed on the locales instead of emerging organically from them. Characterizations are sketchy, making it difficult to invest emotionally in the players. The moderate pace does not negate the dramatic action, however, and that may be enough for de Lint's fans.—Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL