Perilous Times
by Thomas D. Lee
Pub Date: 23 May 2023

An immortal Knight of the Round Table faces his greatest challenge yet—saving the politically polarized, rapidly warming world from itself—in this slyly funny contemporary take on Arthurian legend.

Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully damn tiring over the years—or at least that's what Sir Kay's thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth, yet again.

Kay fought at Hastings, and at Waterloo, and in both World Wars. After a thousand years, he thought he was used to dealing with a crisis. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, armies have been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold. The dragon that's running amok, that he can handle. The rest? He's not so sure.

Mariam's devoted her life to fighting what's wrong with her country. But she's just one ordinary person, up against a hopelessly broken system. So when she meets Kay, a figure straight out of legend, she dares to hope that the world's finally found the savior it needs.

As the two quest through this strange land swarming with gangs, mercenaries, and talking squirrels, they realize that other ancient evils are afoot. Lancelot is back too--at the beck and call of immortal beings with a sinister agenda. And if their plans can’t be stopped, a dragon will be the least of the planet’s worries.

In perilous times like these, the realm doesn't just need a knight. It needs a true leader.

Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach--and Kay's starting to suspect that the hero fit to carry it is close at hand.

It is a unique book; a modern fantasy where Arthurian characters come back to a future time to save Britain when it’s facing climate change and political woes. It’s humorous and contemplative, as well as full of action. But it isn’t as straightforward. There are female characters that are active in saving Britain, and at times, it’s evident they don’t need help from these resuscitated characters, as well as a few other twists. It’s an enjoyable read.

Thought I’d stretch and read this book. I’m sure some will enjoy it. It’s well-written, but just couldn’t keep me interested.

I was so excited to get an invitation from Random House Publishing to read this book. Its not my normal genre by any longshot, but I’m always up for trying new things!

Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully tiring over the years—or at least that's what Sir Kay's thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth, yet again. Mariam and Kay have both devoted their lives to fighting and trying to solve the world’s problems. As the two quests through the world they realize bigger evils are at play and if they can’t figure this out then the dragon is the least of their worries.

This one pushed me out of my comfort zone that’s for sure. This book was fantasy, and as you might be aware, that is not a genre I particularly enjoy. But how could I say no to dragons and climate crisis and a society in peril? I couldn’t and I’ve been meaning to give fantasy a shot, so I tried. However, no matter how hard I tried, this one just wasn’t for me. The writing wasn’t particularly for me, I think I find fantasy books to be overfully fanciful and that was the case. This one also got muddled between the plot and the subplots. Now if you are interested in a book that will push you to your limits, with well-developed characters, and deliver a nice rich story, then check this one out.

This one hits the shelves May 23rd! Thank you so much to @netgalley, and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, @randomhouse, for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I love anything Arthurian, so I am thankful for the ARC from Netgalley. Kay is an immortal knight of the Round Table sworn to protect the realm from peril. He has seen snippets of British history, mainly through battlefields and is awakened in our modern times to save the whole world.
This is a lighthearted fantasy novel. The characters are likeable, and a bit different from the tales of King Arthur that are commonly known. There was a point when I worried this was going to turn into a climate change rant, but it was a deftly handled and enjoyable twist on modern problems. Kay runs across friends and foes in his quest, familiar characters from Camelot that are not what you would expect. He finds a new friend, Mariam who needs his help to win the war. Or does she?
I enjoyed it enough that I would love a chance to follow these characters into new adventures. But unlike many fantasy novels this story stands alone and complete. The pace was fast and fun. The writing was simple, clear, and direct. This is the kind of book that makes me think, “Just one more chapter.” Thomas pulled off an exception first novel and I hope he writes more.

King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table being resurrected when Britain is in peril is just crazy sounding enough to be absolutely amazing. Perfect for fans of medieval fantasy books - only this one is set in a future where the Earth is very much in peril itself thanks to human behavior. There's references to historic world events these Knights played a role in winning, old feuds to understand, multiple narrators to keep the readers guessing, and references to magic & dragons & old Gods & Otherworlds.....

Will the Knights be able to save not only Britain, but our entire planet?

This book was not my usual genre so I was pleasantly surprised! It took me on a ride from beginning to end and I’m definitely glad I read it. Would definitely recommend!

Not bad for a debut novel!! I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the plot itself. It was a little slow going at first but it’s relatively easy to understand. I really love how Kay and Lancelot’s character developed. Merlin continues to be a whack job in almost all of the Arthur retellings or stories so that was entertaining. Definitely would say it’s adult fiction if anyone is reading.

This book is way outside of my comfort genre, but I enjoyed it. If it weren't sent to me to read, Im not sure if I would have picked it up. But I'm really glad I gave it a chance because I liked it. It was a bit long, but I understood the reason for the length!

This was quite the enjoyable read. I thought the pacing was great, the main character was enjoyable, the story was easy to follow along. It was easy to get lost in these pages. The imagery at the beginnings of the resurrection of our MC was vivid and immediately set the tone for the headspace our MC was in.

The balance between the plot and subplots was great in my opinion, I have found with other novels I've read that they are advertised as one thing but you read it only to realize it's 99% politics and this novel was most certainly not the case.

I would recommend this to adults who enjoy the fantasy genre!

I was grateful for the offer of this ARC by the author, Penguin Random House and NetGalley, because I enjoyed Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I was tempted by the ties to Arthurian sagas with some familiar Knights of the Round Table appearing to save the modern world of England, dying because of the ravages of climate change and evil government and capitalism. The plot is light but the exposition is prodigious. Should England be saved, once again, by these ancient heroes? Will they support the feminist climate warriors, who seek to blow up the corrupt, racist, classist, misogynist elites who care nothing for the rights of the land itself? Stay tuned for more volumes, I am sure, to continue the gory adventures. . . but count me out. Too much of a muddle, with an emphasis on mud. 3 stars.

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee is an interesting story
I enjoyed the writing and once I started getting into the flow of thing's it really took off for me.
The story was interesting and intriguing. With characters that kept turnig the pages.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House & Ballantine Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Honestly, I went into this book with low expectations? Arthuriana AND the climate crisis AND feuding political groups in a Britain set 20 or so years in the future? It could end up really terrible or really lovely.

And the answer was that it was lovely. It was deftly written, with a careful eye to scope and not going too overzealous with it while still following a strong thematic through line and ideology. While there were some weaker moments, especially along personal qualms for how some characters were portrayed (but ymmv on that), I found the whole thing a fascinatingly rich story that I genuinely had an incredible time with!

This didn’t grab me. It’s very English in its references and not overly universal. That’s fine, but I don’t have the patience to research every reference to English history I don’t understand. It’s odd really wordy too. I like farce, but I can’t deal with wading through all the long winded writing.

I loved the way this book uses the Arthurian legend to add to the story, it had a great premise and delivered on its premise. The story was what I was hoping for and really worked both as a retelling and as a original story. The characters were well-developed and I enjoyed the way they were written. Thomas D. Lee has a great writing style and I can't wait to read more from him and hopefully able to read more retellings.

“It’s taken me two hundred years of very careful selection to bring out the right traits, to isolate the right enzymes. At first I was confined to spellwork and incantations. But it’s much easier with modern technology. A bit of high-tech genome splicing, a bit of old-fashioned hockety-pockety, and I made my own special fungal cocktail! What do you think of that, eh? I’m rather proud of it.”