An Echo in the City details the story of two teens seventeen-year-old Kai, and sixteen-year-old Pheonix or just Nix. The main story focuses on the Hong Kong protests for democracy against the Chinese government. Kai, is a police officer in training, striving for his father’s approval, while Nix is a student who alongside her brother and his girlfriend protests for Hong Kong. Nix and Kai meet accidentally after switching phones and from there out, they fall for each other. There is one issue however, Kai is working for the police who arrest protestors, and because of this, he is forced to keep his job a secret from Nix. Overall I’d give this book ⅘. It was a good read, some parts did induce emotion, and there were some funny bits throughout the story. The only flaw about this book was that I felt like the author was trying too hard to make the kids seem like kids, making their personalities a bit artificial.
An Echo in the City
About This Book
Two star-crossed teenagers fall in love during the Hong Kong protests in this searing contemporary novel 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 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?
