TOUR: An Echo in the City by K. X. Song

An Echo in the City by K.
X. Song

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance

Publishing Date: June 20, 2023

Synopsis:
Two star-crossed teenagers fall in love during the 2019 Hong Kong protests in this searing contemporary debut about coming of age in a time of change.

Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is… until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing.

Seventeen-year-old Kai sees himself as an artist, not a filial son, and certainly not a cop. But when his mother dies, he’s forced to leave Shanghai to reunite with his estranged father, a respected police officer, who’s already enrolled him in the Hong Kong police academy. Kai wants to hate his job, but instead, he finds himself craving his father’s approval. And when he accidentally swaps phones with Phoenix and discovers she’s part of a protest network, he finds a way to earn it: by infiltrating the group and reporting their plans back to the police.

As Kai and Phoenix join the struggle for the future of Hong Kong, a spark forms between them, pulling them together even as their two worlds try to force them apart. But when their relationship is built on secrets and deception, will they still love the person left behind when the lies fall away?
Content Warning: grief over death of a parent, police brutality, political unrest

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REVIEW

This novel follows two star-crossed teens on opposite sides of the Hong Kong protests.

Phoenix, from a wealthy family with Ivy League expectations and plans for her to move to America, just wants to stay home in Hong Kong. She finds herself at a protest where she learns that her home is at risk of disappearing as tensions heat up with mainland China.

Kai is an artist. At least until his mother dies and he is forced to move back to Hong Kong with his father, a highly respected police officer who expects Kai to enroll in the Academy. As much as he hates it, Kai craves his fathers approval. What better way to gain that than to infiltrate the university students protesting and report their plans back to the police. Sounds easy enough, until he starts falling for one of them and wonders if he is on the right side of all this.

I learned A LOT from this book. I barely remember hearing about the protests on mainstream news but this was a very digestible introduction to the topic with a unique perspective! Seeing how both sides truly believed in what they were standing up for was interesting but I really enjoyed the focus on speaking up and being true to yourself and what you know is right. While this is a love story at its core, it transcends beyond that to be a heartbreaking tale with a hopeful message. Not only does it tackle political injustice and police brutality, but also family dynamics, cultural aspects, and coming of age decisions. I can’t speak to the representation or the portrayals accuracy to those who experienced this, but I think it will be eye opening to others like myself and a baseline to do more research.

ANNOTATIONS