An Echo In The City by K.X. Song Review

Title: An Echo In The City

Author: K.X. Song

Genre: Coming of Age/ Contemporary YA

Publisher: Rock The Boat

Pages: 352

Release Date: 17 August 2023

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Hello fellow book lovers! Today I'm sharing my review for  K.X. Song’s An Exho In The City. A coming of age debut that was a beautifully compelling, lyrical and nuanced exploration of class, identity, freedom and belonging. Which sees student protester Phoenix and trainee police officer Kai fall in love despite being on opposing sides of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests.

Synopsis

 SUMMER, 2019

PHOENIX attends a protest rally with her older brother, and it ignites a fire in her she didn’t know she had. The island city she loves is disappearing and she’s determined to capture the moment on camera. That night she accidentally swaps phones with the enigmatic Kai.

KAI never wanted to be a policeman, but his estranged father enrolled him in the Academy anyway. A chance encounter with a group of student protestors offers him a way to earn his father’s approval once and for by going undercover and infiltrating their network. Sparks fly between Phoenix and Kai, drawing them together even as they stand on different sides of the struggle. But when love is built on a lie, what chance does it have to survive?

Review

I honestly really enjoyed this and loved the poignancy and level of depth we explore in soo many of the characters we encounter. Particularly Phoenix and Kai, our MCs (and sole POVs throughout the story) who both struggle with the pressures of family expectations, their disconnected sense of identity and not feeling like they truly belong, in the city they call home.

Phoenix is by far the most outspoken of the two. However, having grown up between Hong Kong and America, Phoenix struggles to find connection with her cultural identity which leaves her feeling like an imposter.

It’s not until she attends a student protest with her brother (and his new girlfriend) that she begins to finally feel like she belongs. Her emotional journey to self-discovery and her privileged upbringing provided a unique and refreshing perspective that, when juxtaposed with Kai’s less fortunate background (and cautious, introverted personality) highlights just how different this star-crossed couple is.

And yet, it’s those same differences that allow them both to finally see past their own biases and learn to fight for the things they believe in. The romance was actually rather sweet too, if a little miscommunication-y, but the chemistry and slow burn tension between them was incredibly swoon-worthy.

There are also soo many immersive, detailed and evocative scenes that manage to lovingly capture the vibrancy of Hong Kong’s history, culture and people. By giving readers a glimpse into the vast and varied personal experiences, perspectives and opinions that made up the collective zeitgeist of the 2019 movement.

And with a list of further material (both books and videos) to check out, this is definitely perfectly placed to kick start important conversations around Hong Kong’s ongoing fight that we don’t get to see in all the clickbaity, international headlines.

Definitely a must read for contemporary YA or star crossed romance fans.

Also, a huge thank you to Rock The Boat for the (absolutely stunning) finished copy.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5

About The Author 

K. X. Song is a diaspora writer with roots in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Raised between cultures and languages, she enjoys telling stories that touch on collective memory, translation, and the shifting nature of memory and history.

She is the author of An Echo in the City and the forthcoming The Night Ends with Fire, her adult fantasy debut. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area

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