The Painted Boy

DeLint, Charles. (2010). The painted boy. New York: Viking. For reasons he doesn't quite understand, James (Jay) Li travels to a desert Arizona town, leaving behind his family in Chicago. His grandmother, who is head of the Dragon Clan, has worked on his physical and emotional training and kept him from having friends in preparation for this trip that will help him fulfill his destiny. An amiable teen with the ability to communicate with animals and other members of the nearby animal clans, Jay also bears a huge dragon tattoo that covers his back and appeared when he was eleven. Although he knows some of the expectations that have been placed on his shoulders, he is unsure exactly how he will meet those expectations. Jay quickly realizes that the town is in trouble, chiefly due to the gangbangers who deal drugs and tout a violent lifestyle. They are led by the feared El Tigre who brokers a truce with Jay. Jay agrees since he has had no experience in calling forth his dragon nature. But the unnecessary death of the drummer of Malo Malo, a local band whose members are friends of a woman who has befriended him awakens the dragon nature, shocking Jay and all those around him. Unless Jay can find a way to tame that nature and use it carefully, he will be punished by other members of the Dragon Clan.

Despite its desert setting, the author takes readers into a place where animal spirits are active and offer advice that may help or hinder someone on a quest. This is engaging urban fantasy that will keep fans turning the pages as quickly as they possibly can. The evolution of the characters, especially Jay, seemed natural and carefully delineated although the villains remained fairly one-dimensional and static throughout the tale.

Favorite Lines: "No, this world was real. It was just a different kind of real" (p. 198).