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.

I received an arc of this book from NetGalley. Mild spoilers below.

In the near future, amidst climate change and political havoc, Sir Kay of the Round Table returns from the dead and crawls out from beneath a tree beside a fracking plant. In this world, the knights of the Round Table return from the dead when England is most in need, resulting in immortal knights that have fought at Waterloo, in all of the World Wars, and are awakened now when climate change threatens the world, and pollution summons dragons.

I love the premise of this book so much, and generally found it incredibly fun. I think this will also be a very fun audiobook. The antics of the knights have a tendency to overshadow the stories of the activists like Miriam, but I also find that they can be a welcome respite from the general feeling of climate doom. I think some of the dialogue could stand to have been edited down in many places, and there is a tendency to meander, but overall, a good time!

In times of peril immortal Knights of the Round Table return from their rest to help manage the threats in Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee.
Sir Kay makes his way from beneath the earth yet again to serve Britain against whatever peril now faces it, but Kay finds the resurrections to be increasingly tiring; having fought in many battles and wars throughout the past thousand or so years he’s returned to strange new worlds with new technologies time after time but this is yet another version of the world, strange in novel ways with the rising water levels, privatized armies, and magical oddities running amok where they ought not to be. Mariam has devoted her life to endeavors aiming to better her country and the lives of those who reside there and her latest effort to disrupt a fracking rig has gone slightly awry, leading to the fiery explosion of the rig and the release of a dragon, neither of which is ideal. Paths intersecting, Kay joins Mariam on her mission as part of the feminist ecoterrorist group she’s a part of while he figures out what his broader objective should be and why strange things seem to be happening now that haven’t in the past when he resurrects. As the two go on a quest through the land it is soon apparent that something grander is at play as Kay and Mariam learn of ancient powers pulling the strings to suit their agenda regardless of the impact it will have for ordinary people and the pair devise plans to try to thwart the worst from arising.
With an exciting concept that mingles historic Arthurian legend with contemporary-to-mildly futuristic events and concerns with writing that incorporates clever humor, a magical story unfolds with characters questing throughout the land in an effort to save it from dystopian ruin as a result of the actions of corrupt powers and corporate entities whose attitudes have greatly impacted the planet’s climate while also facing existential matters of a more personal nature. The narrative is composed primarily of close third person perspectives of Kay and Mariam, with occasional moments coming from Lancelot and Marlowe, which while helpful in filling out the story to address the motivations behind actions and behaviors were so infrequent that they resulted in a slightly off-kilter feeling; the brief exploration of the backstories of the knights was quite interesting and it would be intriguing to have more on that aspect of the story instead and exploration of the characters’ backstories could have helped to flesh out the logic behind the baddies’ choices beyond selfish greed. The way that characters were presented, especially the historic figures, drove home the ideas of being able to achieve great change when working as a united front and that people, and history, tends to be multifaceted and judging it on one aspect or with a rosy, nostalgic lens has its dangers.
Overall, I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have been loving fantasy lately, so I thought that I'd love this. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. I didn't enjoy the dystopia vibes and the political talk non-stop.

However, that's exactly what the book says it is, so I'm not faulting the book for any of that. It just wasn't my vibe. The writing and concept were great!

Thank you so much for a chance to read this!

Thank you NetGalley, Random House, and Thomas D. Lee for the opportunity to review this ARC of Perilous Times.

I love a good apocalyptic dystopian novel, and fantasy is my preferred genre for pleasure reads - so it was a lovely surprise to discover that Perilous Times was both in a way completely unexpected; imagine the cycle of Desolations from Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, but set on our world perhaps 20 years into the future.

This was a fun, thought-provoking, and well written adventure.

Set a few decades in the future, Britain is in peril, there are climate wars, and the world is on the verge of collapse. Centuries before this, we discover the knights of the round table have made an agreement with Merlin in exchange for immortality to be resurrected to help save Britain from destruction. This was a fantasy tale with fun historical characters mixed in, and I adored it! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

**Thank you, Netgalley and publisher, for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee was a great read, I enjoyed the characters and the setting. It feels like something that could happen if magic was real. I would love a prequel with the Knights during the wars and their relationship with one another.

For an actual review of the story, this will be no help, because the book started in 3rd person present, which I hate, so I didn't get far at all. Maybe that changes further on, but I couldn't do it. Reading 3rd person present is like fingernails on chalkboard for me.

clever!! i'm such a sucker for man-out-of-time stories I'll bet it has to do with my childhood enjoyment of rip van winkle. anyway, very well written and voicey in the best way

I liked the concept and the message more than the execution. I think the fight scenes could have done with quite a bit of editing but hey that's me, some people may like the action more than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC!
The concept of this story sounded interesting- Knights of the Round Table coming back from the dead whenever Britain is in peril and needs heros. It was more dystopian than I was originally expecting - set in a future where the earth is being destroyed by climate change. It took me awhile to get into the story, and once I did get to the action I felt like the conflict was resolved too easily. I found I was more interested in the knight’s backstories than the actual plot of the book. I did enjoy the humor and was interested in each POV character, but I was a little let down overall.

I was given this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I really liked this book, it did seem a little heavy handed on the climate change side of things - which is to be expected since that was exactly the problem with the world they were dealing with, it just felt it got a little bogged down and preachy at times. I do with the author would have flushed out the characters a little more, I didn't really connect with much of them but I found the backstory of the Arthurian knights fascinating.

Honestly, I want a prequel, I want to hear about Kay and Lancelot in the world wars, that would be a great book.

Author Thomas D. Lee has excellent story-telling skills that could net him five star reviews all day long. He knows how to keep a reader engaged, develops complex characters with flaws while making them likable, and can weave a plot. His dialog is well done with an appropriate smattering of humor.

Unfortunately those skills are nearly wasted on this über-niche ecowarrior take on the Arthurian legend. Lee makes inclusiveness unwieldy, creating unnecessary characters just so he can cover all of his PC bases. The book is so preachy that it must be assumed the reader is considerably below average intelligence, otherwise he could have gone more than a few pages without a diatribe against “Big Business” and “The Man.”

Had this been written with the general reader in mind, Lee could have racked up 5-star reviews. As it stands it gets 3-1/2 stars from me. While Lee makes valid points and great observations about human nature, he is far too philosophically heavy-handed in this book. My thanks to Ballantine Books via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are strictly my own and offered without recompense.

#periloustimes #NetGalley #ifcatscouldread #rescuedismyfavoritebreed #bookstagram #catstagram #catsandbooks #booksandcats #kindlesallthewaydown

This book was interesting, I enjoyed it I wouldn’t say it’s a new favorite or anything but I did like it and it was a good read.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC