I'll admit it took me a while to get into the premise of this story. Once things got rolling and I bought into the return of the Knights of the Round Table to an almost apocalyptic future England then I was hooked. In a short summary take one part Arthurian legend, one part global business planet domination and destruction and one part "Wall-e" from the kid's movie a few years back add a dash of gay pride and treatment of refugees and you're off and running. It certainly helps to have some background knowledge of the Arthur/Camelot/Merlin tales since they are alluded to but not explained. An interesting read for a limited audience.

If someone handed you a fantasy novel with an Arthurian theme -- Lancelot and the Round Table and all that -- you would have certain expectations about the characters and the world they live in, right? Well, this debut novel is certainly “Arthurian” but I guarantee it’s not what you would expect. Not even close.
The main protagonist is Sir Kay, who in the stories was Arthur's seneschal and sometimes his half- or step-brother. Here’s he’s portrayed as Black -- there were plenty of Black people in pre-Saxon, he says, but their presence until after the bigoted Normans showed up -- and he’s regard himself as any sort of hero. He just tries to do his job and get on with things. The job of him and his fellow deceased knights being to sleep away the centuries, each under his own magical tree somewhere in Albion until the country needs him again. (Arthur sleeps, too, but England’s leaders have always tried to avoid summoning him unless absolutely necessarily because the Once and Future King is a bloodthirsty handful.)
So the magical knights have fought at Hastings, at Agincourt, on both sides in the Civil War (summoned by both the Stewarts and Cromwell), and in both world wars. Well and good, that’s what Merlin cast his elaborate spells to accomplish, but more recently, Kay was awakened to protect Britain's imperial interests in the Far East, and he doesn’t feel that was what he signed on for. Along the way, another immortal was added by non-Merlin means -- Christopher Marlowe, Elizabethan playwright, government functionary, spy, and assassin, who for four hundred years has served as a very efficient intermediary between the Round Table knight and the nation’s masters.
But now, a couple of generations in our future, Britain faces quite a different sort of crisis, and the newly awakened Kay is puzzled about how he’s supposed to help. The climate is changing and sea levels are rising, so it’s too bloody hot and much of the country is now flooded. The government has privatized the military and many of its own functions, and has sold off Essex to the Chinese for ready cash. There are a number of revolutionary groups struggling against the government, the corporate agents of climate change, and each other, and Kay falls in with one of those groups quite by accident (a small group of radical female environmentalists firebombed a fracking plant near his tree).
Kay doesn’t engage in politics if he can help it, his loyalty is to England itself and to its people, not to sectarian politics, so he jumps right into things, broadsword in hand, and it takes him a while to begin to understand just what’s going on. There’s also that huge mother dragon he needs to deal with that was created by magical tensions in the explosion, but slaying dragons is something he’s skilled at. He’s also going to have to figure out what to do about Lancelot, whom Marlowe has summoned, picked up in his “quad-pod” flyer, and taken to London for a briefing on what the politicians want him to do about those radical environmentalists. Lancelot, who (like Marlowe) is gay and has a thoroughly jaundiced about his own history as a fixer for the powerful.
It’s all very original, both in the author’s re-imagining of Arthur’s knights and in his take on the surrounding legends and what they might mean in today's world with its very different problems. The humor is sly and decidedly British in style and the narrative moves right along very smoothly and competently, even though this is a first novel. (Lee is still young enough to be pursuing a Ph. D. in creative writing.) Definitely an author to watch.

I'm really hoping that there will be a sequel to this. You spend just a handful of days with these characters but become fully invested in their stories. A wildly creative interpretation of past and future through the lens of mythology. When you have nothing left to lose except everything why not believe in a couple of Arthurian knights to help save the world.

Only lost a star for me because at certain points it feels as though it gets a little over scrupulous. Some passages get pretty depressing and I understand that it comes with the subject matter but the characters are so great it seems it would be better conveyed through dialogue or action rather than paragraphs.

Loved the story and would gladly recommend. Look forward to seeing if these characters get to continue their journey.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Kayla who is a knight has traveled to a different realm which is like no other he has experienced. It will take alot to figure out what he needs to do to adapt to this life.

First, let me say I normally do not read the Fantasy genre. I was asked to review this book, the plot in theory sounded interesting – imagine Merlin granting Knights of the Round Table immortality in exchange for agreeing to sleep under their oak tree until Britain is in peril and in need of saving. This is how the story begins, we meet Kay, a Knight from the days of King Arthur, who happens to be his younger brother. Kay awakens and climbs from beneath his tree to see a world under siege. I really was intrigued with this story but as I got into the story, the agenda of the author started to spill into the story rendering it difficult to finish the book. While I can understand, when an author wants to take stories, legends that have been told and reinvent them, what I couldn’t appreciate was how many agenda plot points were in the story. Let me count the plot points – Lancelot is gay, men of Anglo Saxon heritage are racists, hateful, violent war mongrels, Morgan Le Fay – still self-preserving has kindness in her, the earth has been destroyed by climate change ultimately the fault of the men, men who are fighting among themselves to maintain and gain power, Merlin is a mushroom growing drug dealer, and finally the women are warriors who are going to right the wrongs. The one character I did like was the female lead – Mariam. Mariam was interesting, she wanted to change the world but didn’t realize she could or what a nature leader she was. She doubted herself, she felt flawed and at times took the easy solution to a problem only to discover it wasn’t the best solution. It was this character and her growing development that kept me reading this book. The writing is fine, the story, although slow at times, does a good job of coming together and if you enjoy fantasy, then this reimagined story might engage you. I, however, found the story difficult to read.

Brilliant! I loved how Thomas D. Lee mixed Knights of the Round Table and environmental damage. The entire book is clever, fast paced and bloody brilliant. Well done!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for this title.

This books is well written, and while fantasy, seemed different than other titles I've read in the genre. I will say that the quality of writing is good for this book, but unfortunately it just wasn't quite what I was looking for.

If the premise sounds interesting, then I would say to go ahead and try it out. Unfortunately, this one just didn't resonate with me.

This is an interesting and different take on the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur’s court. In this story, the earth is possibly past saving and evil rules. I admit there were a few times I was lost, trying to make sense of the names and places. I did enjoy the book, as it is much different from my normal reads, mostly dark, with a sliver of light.

I really liked how this book talked about the environment, and how difficult it is for people to reconcile against a common enemy because of political differences, as often fantasy ignores the infighting if it isn't the entire plot. I also enjoyed how it was a mix of fantasy and dystopia (which is one of those concepts that is a lot more commmon in arthuriana than really anywhere else), and also mentions how blind loyalty to any one thing is not always good, or even good most of the time.
However, it was not an amazing book by any means, and I have a few problems, the main one being the white supremacist redemption arc, in which he discovers that immigrants are people too and then immediately returns to his white supremacist nazi group. On a less problematic nore, some of the characters were just annoying, and there were some minor plot holes, most notably involving Lancelot's character

A quirky, darkly comedic adventure featuring the ancient figures of the Arthurian legends on an alternate, future earth, drawing parallels to and making points about the real earth of the present.
This was an enjoyable read, and at no point did I expect what was coming next. The writing is great, though sometimes the themes come across pretty heavy-handed. I don’t really like being preached at, even if the message is something I agree with. But otherwise it’s a funny, exciting and well-paced novel. There’s a lot of social and political commentary and there are some LGBT characters. This is an impressive debut novel and I’d recommend it to fans of YA, New Adult, and Adult Sci-fi/Fantasy who are looking for a fresh take on the genre.

I am very interested in British history as well as Arthurian literature, so I was excited to read this! I loved it! This book was filled with history and a mix of fantasy with humor. I really enjoyed and I appreciate having the opportunity to review this book through Netgalley. Thank you, Random House- Ballentine for the great read!

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee in exchange for an honest review. I've grown up with different tellings of the Arthurian legend and so I was very interested in the plot of this book. I really enjoyed the new ideas thrown into an old legend. Very fun read and something I'd like to read more of.

An innovative twist on the King Arthur legends, Lee has created a post-apocalyptic world where the environment is doomed and our heroine Mariam is an eco-warrior. Lee matches her up with Kay, a knight of the Round Table, who has been resurrected over and over again to fight in wars from Waterloo to World War II, and is characteristically jaded about human nature.

All seriousness aside, this book is a fun read. The premise seems slightly absurd with a climate crisis and King Arthur but Lee has managed to weave all the threads together to create a commentary about the positive power of individuals and belief. I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did and this is one of my favorite reads of the year.

Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

I love Arthurian legends, so I was really curious to read this one. It didn't disappoint. What I loved most was that it's such a genre bending book. History meets fantasy and even meets humor. Well done!

What a fascinating premise! Immortal knights of Arthur’s round table coming back from the dead whenever Britain is in peril. This time Sir Kay climbs out from under his royal oak to help a group of female eco-terrorists. Britain is in bad shape from the environment,
Lancelot also climbs out of the earth but he is working for an evil immortal group who has aligned with the Devil. Kay and Lancelot have a past grievance with each other but they both agree they do not want King Arthur back. Will they work together to prevent this or fall back into old habits?
I enjoy the idea of this novel but the future is dark and includes every political issue there is - global warming, refugees, private armies, etc.
It is well written with humor and likable characters but too political for me overall.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

DNF. 22%
I tried, repeatedly, to read this and just couldn't get into it. It's really slow and not interesting for me. I'm sorry.

I'm a huge fan of the Arthurian legends, and have been since I was really young, so I absolutely loved this contemporary retelling! I think for anyone who is tired of typical fairytale or mythic retellings, this is definitely a book to check out!

This was a good read I really enjoyed it and will definitely be looking in to the arthur more definitely recommend

I really liked the different take this story has. Dystopia meets King Arthur, but Arthur and his kingdom aren't exactly what you expect. Britain is in peril, global warming is killing the Earth quickly, and they are looking at the end of times. There is no one leadership, and everyone is fighting for control. Oh, and magic is being released into the world in the form of dragons. Some of the knights of the round table have been preserved for this purpose,
but is a hero really what is needed or the people themselves.
This book is LGBT friendly and deals with economic issues. I recommend this book to someone looking for a dystopia/ fantasy mix up.

Well I'm a sucker for Arthurian legend books, so naturally I smitten with this one. Although, I'm going to totally honest here...I think it could still do with some editing. It's a wee bit messy with characters and storylines. (Like the whole mushroom thing was cool, but seemed to be quickly abandoned.)

These are quibbles though. Overall, the premise of this book is superb. (And I LOVED that Arthur is a total douche. Yes! That tracks!) It moves very quickly, has a light breezy tone, and solid action scenes. I wanted WAY MORE of Barry the squirrel. (Favorite line: "I'm not taking life advice from a squirrel who used to be a racist!") That character didn't really DO a whole lot, but I liked the idea.

As much as I wanted this book to be centered on Miriam and the bad ass FETA women, I felt like they were pretty regularly overshadowed by the antics of the knights. Ultimately this is a feminist story, and the women save the day, but they were a little one dimensional on the page. Other than Miriam and Morgana the rest of the bunch don't have much of a personality.

The climate change stuff was a downer, but it IS a downer in real life. I guess sometimes I felt bad for having fun on this ride when the over-arching premise of the book is that we're destroying the planet, and unlike the dragons and wizards and shit, that part is totally true.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.