The Painted Boy
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- 7,49 €
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- 7,49 €
Description de l’éditeur
A lost young man, torn between his human and dragon heritage, embarks on a mysterious journey in this young adult fantasy novel.
“Charles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them.”—Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles
“Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint’s vivid, original world.”—Alice Hoffman, New York Times bestselling author of Practical Magic
His secret lives on his skin.
James Li should be in Chicago, finishing high school and working at his family’s restaurant. Instead, as a born member of the Yellow Dragon Clan, he is on a quest even he does not understand. Jay’s journey takes him to Santo del Vado Viejo, an Arizona desert town overrun by gangs, haunted by members of other animal clans, and perfumed by delicious food, the whole town moving to the beat of Malo Malo, a barrio rock band whose female lead guitarist captures Jay’s heart. Here he must face a series of dangerous, otherworldly—and very human—challenges not just to survive, but to prove his worth to the clan.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in the American Southwest, de Lint's latest successfully blends Chinese and Mexican legends. Jay Li seems like a normal kid from Chicago, but he has a painful secret. At age 11 the image of a dragon suddenly appeared on his back and his grandmother Paupau, the family matriarch ("She's kind of like Marlon Brando in The Godfather"), revealed to him that they were both dragons. Now, however, he has dropped out of school and, with Paupau's encouragement, taken a bus across the country to the town of Santo del Vado Viejo. There he is pursued by gang members who work for the mysterious and possibly supernatural gang lord, El Tigre; Jay must make peace with the local otherworldly beings, master his powers, and defeat El Tigre. Although this contemporary fantasy is a bit talky (perhaps exacerbated by the journal Jay begins partway into the novel, through which he occasionally adds his first-person perspective on events), de Lint (Dingo) is a dependable performer, and this multicultural fusion of a gritty, modern setting with mythological elements should find fans. Ages 12 up.
