The wasting away of Britain faces Arthurian legends brought back to life from the depths of the earth. Knight Kay-King Arthur’s brother- and Lancelot are called from their graves to battle the men who have denuded and polluted the land and filled the skies with poison. Fighting alongside Kay is Mariam, an activist and force of her own.
Tense moments, humor, dragons, and witches combine with Kay, Miriam and Lancelot to make an engaging tale.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found the premise of this book quite interesting and I found the actual book just as interesting. I went into it not knowing much of anything about the King Arthur story, which is partly why I was drawn to it. What I loved most about this story was how it combined history with modern day issues such as climate change. I found both the characters and storyline well thought out, original and engaging.

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee, a title that initially caught my eye, but failed to catch and keep my interest. I do think others will enjoy it and wish to express my thanks for the opportunity to read it.

I absolutely loved this novel. Life changing to be honest! This one will stick with me for a long time.

In this episode, the future was a weird and medieval place…

Friends, friends, friends.

Welcome back to Teatime Reading where there are books in progress.

In late November, I got an email from my contact at Penguin Random House about a book that she thought I’d love: Perilous Times.

It’s always nice to get these opportunities, but the first sentence of the email got me eager to start reading.

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.

It certainly is a compelling read. Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, and Excalibur all had varying roles to play, but for me the three standouts of this book were Sir Kay, Mariam, and the setting of a post-apocalyptic Britain.

Sir Kay (and his immortality) is always called upon to save Britain from itself in times of great danger: and with climate change, rampant privatization, wars, and corruption all tearing Britain apart, the dragons seemed like overkill to me.

I kid, I kid.

I’m just giddy over the spectacular premise: immortal knights of the round table saving Britain whenever needed.

Mariam was a really compelling heroine in this futuristic, desolate Britain where factions and foreign powers rule the day. It was hilarious that both China and the United States had a say in this story. Private military companies from the US and the sale of half of the nation to the Chinese made for an interesting development for the immortal knights.

Mariam came across as a fairly classic protagonist with some fascinating strengths and weaknesses. Her desire to trust in the powerful knight to save a failing power was very relatable and the highlighting of her humanity amidst a changing land of mercenaries, talking squirrels, magic swords, and evil corporate machinations really surprised me.
Perilous Times is a fascinating book that was a refreshing standalone adventure. The characters, setting, and premise gripped me from beginning to end, and even though I’m the type of reader who always appreciates sequels, this felt very satisfying and I can’t wait for it to come out in May

It gets my full recommendation and I hope you give it a read.

Until next time, keep your bookmarks close.

Peace, Love, Pages.

3/5 stars

This one sounded really interesting, but it just really didn't hit all the bars for me. I had a really hard time staying interested. It was really weird and out there, but at the same time slow going and boring.

Cool concept, just didn't love it.

I never read fantasy but got talked into glancing at this novel…and a glance turned into a good week of reading about the surviving (reincarnated?) knights of the round table. It is definitely fantasy. The knights involved (Fay - Arthur’s big brother, Lancelot - a gay man who really likes drinking and does a lot of it, Morgan - who has come back as an elderly environmentalist and reverts back to Morganna, Merlin - who stays the same as always, and, of course, Arthur). It takes place in a modern world where mankind is close to destroying the earth and has the Brits going after the Saxons (an American group of mercenaries). There is warfare, spying, deaths followed by rebirths…anything a fan might hope for in a fantasy. It took me this long to read it because every so often I would catch myself Googling something or someone to learn more about it. This was really fun escapist reading! Thanks to Net Galley and Ballantine Books for an ARC for an honest review.

Perilous Times reached a solid middle ground for me, but I think it could've pushed for more.

The premise of Arthurian knights coming back to life to help whenever the realm is in peril, only to find that they were a bit out of their depth is a great start for the novel. I think the overarching theme that we don't need specific heroes to help us was apparent from page 1. The clash of internal dilemmas between Mariam, Lancelot, and Kay all showed the different sides of the coin on doing what's right. The humor placed into the dialogues added a brevity to everything and kept the story in a zone of adventure.

I think the relationships between the camps of past and present brought in a lot of context that was needed. The conversations between Kay and Nimue, Morgan and Lancelot, Nimue and Morgan, all helped to show who was working through their understanding of what went wrong with the world. Snapped in with Mariam, who was fed up with it all, created a bit of hilarity.

On the negatives, I think this didn't lean into the humor enough. The world is in dire peril! It's basically about to end! There was so much talk of death and destruction, Kay's dreams with the gods, and overall dark imagery that left me with a bit of a heavier feeling that the humor wasn't quite strong enough to pull me out. Don't get me wrong, the dialogue is quippy and made me chuckle, but not often enough. I needed more images of ridiculous things, like Barry the squirrel.

I also struggled a bit with the Arthurian legends aspect. Kay's internal dialogues tended to use the old Britonic names for everything Knights of the Round Table related, but then occasionally there was the more modern names slipped in. Caliburn used often, then randomly Excalibur. It made it harder to make sure you knew what they were talking about if you're not on top of King Arthur legends, and I was often second guessing myself. Especially when talking about cities and rivers. A consistency there would have helped.

Overall, Perilous Times was a fun read, and dug its heels into an actual issue in our world. Who would save us? Will it be ourselves?

Sir Kay, one of the immortal Knights of the Round Table, is called back from the dead to help Britain recover before they are destroyed by climate change. A little weird, but overall, a fun, interesting read. I especially enjoyed that the women in the story were very influential in solving the problems of the world! And King Arthur and Lancelot were depicted quite differently than usual lol! Thank you to the author and publisher, and NetGalley for this imaginative tale.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and Random House for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

This book is a cute twist on Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

I just loved the cast of characters. I loved the women's roles in the book, but felt the knights overshadowed the women a bit to much.

The fantasy realm and magic were beautifully done. I loved the immortality and futuristic setting. Who doesn't like the idea of being immortal and processing magic, right?

Overall the story is fast moving, eventful, humorous in places and also exciting.

I would recommend.

What a wonderfully original premise! Perilous Times combines a dystopian future ravaged by climate change with Knights of the Roundtable--neither of these topics would normally be at the top of my list, but this book totally worked! Sir Kay is reborn (as an adult) over and over again, whenever Britain needs a little extra help. That's certainly the case now, as there's chaos everywhere, and the entire planet is at risk. He teams up with a young eco-warrior to try to save the day. The book is both charming and wise; it raises important issues in a clever and entertaining way and was so much fun to read. Thanks to NetGalley and PRH for the ARC!

I went in to this book not expecting much, I figured it would be another Arthurian retelling but about climate crisis. And, we really wasn't. The Arthurian parts were important, but this isn't a rehash of the legends themselves, instead this takes the knights of the round table and puts them in a position to help save the world. Their battle this time is against climate crisis, something that is a huge issue and in this near future setting, has started to really ravage society and push them steadily towards the point of no return. Mixed in are new characters and ideas, and when it really comes down to it, the ones really saving the day are the modern characters. I was more intrigued with the concept of Arthur's knights being resurrected each time the Realm was in danger, and how their immortality differed from that of some of the other characters, like how Marlowe made a deal with a demon. This set up was a really interesting way of bringing these characters into a modern story, and I really wanted more of it. when we finally do get more of an explanation from Merlin, I was disappointed in the truth behind it and felt that it lacked the interest it had at the beginning. This was a good read, but takes on a bit much, and the overall focus trends more towards climate issues than knights and dragons.

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee. This is some creative writing! When the realm is in peril…arise from beneath his tree Sir Kay from the Knights of the Round Table. Who has been saving the realm for a 1000 or so years. Mariam an eco terrorist who is trying to save Britain from flooding from climate change, air pollution from companies. This was a different take on King Arthur and his Knights. The author kept me interested. And was curious to where the story was going to go. Sometimes a bit too much on the climate change. I did like the characters. I would recommend this book. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this book.

The story was super unique magical adventure. It has a world disaster, dragons, witches and knights, magic mushrooms and Merlin. The story off the world coming to an end due to climate change is so relatable and the different factions fighting and no one listening. It hits a little too close to home in this day an age. I loved the King Arthur knights rising to save the world. Mariam was an amazing feminist that just needed a little help in believing in herself. The story was well thought out and really different. I recommend for anyone that likes a good save the world adventure, friendship, coming of age and learning to stand up for yourself feel good story with dragons and time traveling nights, this is the story for you.

TW/CW: Death, violence, fantasy violence, language, thoughts of suicide, war, body horror, incest

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from Ballantine Books and NetGalley and am voluntarily writing an honest review.

Perilous Times is the story of near-future England, and its struggle with a climate situation that has spiraled entirely out of control. Sensing the peril in the land, two Knights of the Round Table (yes, from Arthurian legend) awake with the goal of saving their land – or at least helping those who are already trying to make a difference.

This is a good book. While that paragraph above seems to make this a weighty book, it really isn’t. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is fun to read. The story was really unique, and I really enjoyed Lee’s treatment of some of the characters. The whole thing with them being bound to the trees was also very interesting. The writing was good (for the most part) and while the book was very long, I didn’t really get bored.

There were two little issues I had with this book, however. Once was that the author seemed to over-rely on sentence fragments. In my mind, once in a while there’s no problem with using fragments in order to convey a certain feeling. But using it continuously and multiple times a page just seemed a little too much. There’s nothing wrong with complete sentences, either. And second…I know I call this a lot, but I don’t see why every book has to be 500+ pages anymore. This book moved less slowly than many I’ve read, but it was still more bloated than it needed to be at almost 600 pages.

Over all, though, I really enjoyed this book and I would recommend it to fans of fantasy and disaster books/movies.

This book is SO MUCH FUN! What a unique twist on a tale we all know. The characters of what can be conceived as a boring old fairy tale/adventure tale were given new life, especially Lancelot, in this insanely fun and zany retelling of the Knights of the Round Table. I found myself laughing out loud so much that my husband is so excited to read it when it is released in May.

This was just not a tale that held my attention, I’m afraid; a bit too all-over-the-place with characters that weren’t relatable.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC opportunity.

This book was very unique and clever. I liked the drive to protect the earth and fix the pollution. It motivates me to do what I can to protect the earth. I liked that there was feminism in the book but it wasn’t too in your face. I’m a fan of all things Pendragon, but wasn’t thrilled with the portrayal of Arthur. Overall I felt like there wasn’t a character that I really loved. They were all kind of meh. Didn’t love the book, didn’t hate it.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing this advance copy of Thomas D. Lee's 'Perilous Times.'

If you're not a progressive/liberal with an acceptance that different people live different lives than you do, or do not accept that we - humans - are creating a climatic future that will result in chaos and suffering, and don't believe that power and greed are among the roots of all of our problems then avoid this book. Luckily, I accept and believe all of the above so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The premise is that King Arthur's knights of the round table return when his kingdom is in peril which they've had to do numerous times over the centuries. In this telling, the peril is a combination of climate change and its impact and the ambitions of the rich and powerful which would wreak even more havoc on the nation (and planet).

There are several main characters, mostly plucked from the Arthurian legends, but with some great additions including a very strong 'modern' female lead. Plus Barry. I won't spoil it but, Barry.

What I really enjoyed was the way the author combined some really fine humour with the seriousness of the planet's potential fate and that, in the end, there's optimism - it is a tale of fantasy, after all.

I don't if a series is possible out of the main character pool but I would love to revisit with them again in the future. I think, if he was inclined to, the author could take us back to the knights' adventures in some of the previous times of peril referenced in this book - I'd certainly welcome that.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Arthuriana AND the climate crisis AND feuding political groups in a Britain set 20 or so years in the future? I went in not know what to expect. Dystopia meets King Arthur and so much going on in the world plus magic, I was all in. I could not put it down until I finished. I really enjoyed this retelling and I thought the characters and the book was well developed and I enjoyed every second of it.