I may have a problem. This is the year for Arthurian retellings. I love this book. Such a great premise and released just in time for pride month.

A brilliant debut. I loved the imbued message of fighting the political right wave throughout the book. The Merlin and Lancelot storylines were the most enticing and intriguing but every character was a charmer when on page. Loved it.

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee is a hilarious book featuring many favorites from the tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This book was so fun to read and I honestly felt like I was watching a Monty Python movie the whole time! Kay is snarky and adorable and I love how he sees the world that he keeps getting yanked back to. Mariam is my favorite character and I think she could definitely save the world with her tenacity and cleverness alone, but it is fun seeing the team she puts together with Kay. With characters like Lancelot, Merlin, Arthur, and a super sassy Lady of the Lake, this book is so much fun. I adore the worldbuilding and magical systems and al of the eco-political conflict is intriguing. Plus there are dragons so that's always a win!!

THIS. WAS. SO. LONG.
I honestly thought I wouldn't make it through.
This is a very slow paced read.
The story itself is great; I've learned what fracking really is and I am quite upset about it.
I am unsure what the year is and it kind of bothered me.

Sidebar; this book felt like I was reading about the future.
On the nose, my guy.

Oh, and please, for the love.... take out all the extra apostrophes in the final book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this title.

Perilous Times is a sharp debut following in the tradition of apocalyptic books with heart. The premise of the story is (relatively) simple - climate change has wrecked havoc on the planet and the world needs saving. Kay, legendary knight of the Round Table, wakes up under his tree ready to fight the invading hordes, only to be met with rising waters and blighted forests. He quickly crosses paths with Mariam, a young activist determined to save the planet. What ensues is an adventure for the ages which requires both Kay and Mariam take stock of how much change one person can bring about and casts a new light on the Arthurian legends so many of us have grown up with.

A book about the end of the world is never lighthearted, and Perilous Times is no exception. The topics in this book are broad - ranging from the devastating impact of unchecked climate change, to starvation, animal cruelty, and addiction. Despite this, Lee keeps a sense of lightness in his book. Lee's world-building is fascinating, and his character work is sharp. He manages to create fully fleshed out characters with both a history and a future with only a few sentences. Many authors have written pulled from Arthurian legend for their novels, and Lee has taken these traditional stories and given them new life. His knights feel real in a way that can be hard to achieve in a retelling, and I'd love to read more about their adventures throughout history.

Overall I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a sharp side of wittiness with their dystopia. The characters, dialogue, setting, and plot are all excellent, and the book moves very quickly for one of this size. Thomas D. Lee will be going on my list of authors to keep an eye on, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

A fantastical and dystopian Arthurian re-telling. The evils of capitalistic greed and destroying the Earth, Perilous Times extremes the all to eerily reality of our world as climate change continues to worsen our planet. All while the world's business leaders continue to sow doubt and gaslight the general public to further line their pockets. We're plunged into a not too distant future where countries are flooded due glacial rising ocean, people displaced, racism and anti-immigration propaganda are rampant and the military forces are privatized mercenaries. Quite frankly, it's a lot to try to take in. Eerily frightening how too realistic this future is.

We're flung into Kay, a knight of King Arthur's Round Table, as he is resurrected from the Earth because "Britain is in peril". He meets Mariam, a woman fighting against those that continue to harm the environment and trying to protect the world. Set on a mission to save the environment, these two are thrust into perils that they couldn't possibly imagine. With many familiar faces from Arthurian history peppered along the way.

While I didn't particularly love this book, I did enjoy elements of it and the overall message that it presented.

Perilous Times is a debut novel by Thomas D. Lee. What it should have been, was an Arthurian tale set in modern day, fighting dragons and magic. What it was, is a SJW (social justice warrior) blend of one of the most iconic lore’s known with climate activism and the new everything is racist movement. Which is not my forte at all.

The premise is great. Some of the knights of the round table entered into a pact to be essentially immortal and resurrect when needed to help protect England. There have been times in history that they have been called upon when needed, WWII being the last time. It is not all of the Knights but Lancelot and Kay (a black Knight) are a few whose trees are still alive to keep them here.

I was so intrigued the first part of the book when Kay is waking from the earth and knows that means Britain needs him how. Getting a handle on how the world has changed from the way it was last time he slept. And then there is an explosion and a dragon appears into this world.

He knows all too well that dragons are not real creatures. They are manifestations of magic, entities from a different realm. Bursting through from the Otherworld in a monstrous form. They don’t usually appear for no reason. Usually they need a bit of help, from this side of the veil.

I was ready for a modern day fantasy where we are off to slay the dragon and figure out who on this side of the veil set it loose and why. But alas that was not the gist of the story as it was also filled with so much climate activism, brief meat shaming, some animal deaths (never my favorite), transgender and cookie cutter characters, white fragility and reverse racism bs.

There are moments that are pretty funny in the book. But, for me because of the issues mentioned above I never really got into the story and this was by far my most difficult book to complete in a few years. But if you are a fan of all the above mentioned items and an SJW, then those things would probably attract you to this story instead of detracting like it did for me.

That was always one of the perks of being in Arthur’s warband. You’d blunder into the forest and you’d happen upon a talking raven who could tell you where to find what you were questing for.

Perilous Times is a debut and I will absolutely be reading more of Lee’s work in the future. The book perfectly blends climate fiction with Arthurian legend while naturally weaving in the life experiences of its three socially marginalized narrators. The story is set in an unspecified late 21st century future when half of Britain is flooded; much of the population is living in refugee camps; the government has outsourced its army to (inevitably well-armed but incompetent) American mercenaries; and multiple rebel factions (communists, Welsh and Scottish nationalists, eco-feminists, etc.) spend most of their time infighting. The architects of the world’s destruction are a bunch of old white Protestant men who have made Faustian bargains with the devil in exchange for immortality. Merlin has enchanted Arthur’s knights to awaken and fight when the realm is in peril, and our story begins with Kay and Lancelot’s reawakening. Nimue, Morgan le Fay, Merlin, and Arthur all make appearances as well. In this telling, Lancelot is a jaded gay rogue and Kay is a well-intentioned but tired Black man born to Numidian parents who settled in Britain. Our third narrator is Mariam, a Black eco-feminist who crosses paths with Kay.

Lee does a good job of capturing the reader’s attention early in the story and maintaining it throughout. The ending is also a very satisfying HFN, even if I didn’t quite believe the transformations undergone by Barry the racist thug and a slightly unhinged Arthur.

The author’s bio indicates that he’s currently pursuing a PhD specializing in queer interpretations of Arthurian myth. I’m excited to read what comes next from the author in this area when his debut was so good.

With a little bit of Merlin's magic, he is brought back to ride again when his country is in Peril. This time when Kay comes back it is to a world that is a bit too warm, people who are a bit too hungry and Miriam, who is determined to do something about it all. They travel together trying to think of a way to reverse the damage done to the planet and hopefully save them all.

Overall, this was not my cup of tea. It felt more like I was reading a call to action from an eco-terrorist group rather than a story. Don't get me wrong, I totally get that we have some real world issues that have the potential to get catastrophic in our world, but I read to escape from all the doom and gloom. This novel did not feel like an escape. I wanted way more dragon battles, and knights coming to the rescue...instead I really just got knights fighting with each other and NO ONE knowing what they are doing.

This was probably not bad for the right audience, I am just not it.

As a lover of Arthurian retellings I have to say Perilous Times did not disappoint. It was so good and funny at the right times that I could not stop reading. I really loved than although it was an Arthurian retelling Arthur was not the main point of the story and that spirit of the old tales did not got lost in this contemporary piece.

Very enjoyable read! Really interesting and original story that grips from start to finish, with a dash of comedy thrown in for good measure

I love books about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table! Preilous Times was a humorous fantasy book that hooked me from the beginning.

Arthur's knights are called back from their slumber when Britain needs them. They find an island in need of help, experiencing climate change. The book could have been a bit shorter, and if you are a reader who does not believe in global warming than you might not enjoy this one. Personally, I loved it.

I started this book with very low expectations as it is not normally something I would read. I was offered an ARC and I accepted as the idea of the Knights of the Round Table being called to save the world when in Peril really intrigued me. I was pleasantly surprised with this very original and unique story. I enjoyed it very much.
Thanks to #Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

"I'm not taking life advice from a squirrel who used to be racist."

What the hell is this book? Admittedly, this was a really funny line to me. But the sentiment remains.

This book consisted of an ensemble cast who were all confused about what the hell was going on and what the hell they were supposed to be doing. We have that in common because I was also extremely confused and wondering what the hell they were supposed to be doing. Everything was so bloody confusing and convoluted. The point of view kept switching between Kay, Lancelot, and Mariam, but somehow I did not care much about any of them.

I thought I was getting an epic fantasy with knights and dragon fights. But instead, I got whatever this is.

This one takes place in a world not too far gone from our own… but just a little further down the path of climate change. The action is set in the UK, where flooding and food shortages abound.

As the description suggests, certain knights of the Round Table have been given the ability – or duty, really – to come back from the dead when Britain is “in peril.” That’s a little loosely defined, and over the centuries, certain elements of society have learned to manipulate these warriors for their own aims. After sleeping underground for a century or so, they don’t know who’s who in the government, or what the new technologies are capable of – so they’re easy to manipulate.

Sirs Kay and Lancelot are brought back into this near future, where climate change might be the biggest peril? Well, there is also a dragon loose for the first half of the book, but maybe those problems are related.

Kay falls in with FETA – the Feminist Environmentalist Transgressive Alliance. His first encounter with them is when one of their group goes rogue and blows up a fracking site. Lancelot is working for the government, which is more or less on the other side of things. We follow each in their own exploits for some time.

Later in the book more characters from the old days show up, including Merlin and even Arthur himself. If we thought Kay and Lancelot were easily manipulated… wait until you meet Arthur.

One recurring theme here is that everyone is tired of fighting. The knights, the environmentalists, everyone. And they keep hoping that someone else will come along to fix things. This is why multiple parties are more than happy to see knights show up. This is why people are excited to bring Arthur back. Surely someone else will have some better idea than their own, right? But time and again, it goes awry. And each character has to learn that they have to keep doing their part. No one can just “magic” all the problems away – not even characters who can legitimately wield magic.

This book is definitely a satire, and has some great one liners here and there. Fantasy, satire, and environmentalism all in one story? Sounds like a great (albeit hefty) summer read to me!

Perilous Times is a retelling of the Arthurian legend set in the not too distant future of Britain. In this version, Sir Kay was a knight of the round table and brother to King Arthur and through a scheme created by Merlin, is reborn any time Britain is in peril. Over the centuries, Kay has been a part of multiple battles, just to die and start over. This time is a bit different when he wakes up and finds the world to be warmer and less green than it usually is and the magic seems out of balance. Kay meets Mariam, who is a climate activist, and together they set out to fix things. While aspects of this book were very interesting, such as how Kay deals with constantly being reborn, others were a bit dragged out, such as the stereotypes and flatness of some of the side characters. Even though the ending of the book was hopeful, it was mostly about the trajectory of climate change and how not much is being done to address it.

Lee's story is an interesting take on combining Arthurian legend and climate change. I enjoyed most characters, and the plot flowed well.
The biggest thing is that I just didn't get pulled into the story in a way that makes me truly enjoy a book.
I can see the appeal for readers that enjoy likable characters, an easy to follow plot, and retellings of classic tales.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

This was a delightfully different take on the Arthurian tales, with every character being considerably different than we traditionally think of them. I was surprised at the very beginning to find that Kay was the hero, and that Lancelot was not so great. The overall system was fascinating - the knights would come back when needed, then get killed in whatever battle they were fighting, such as the World Wars, return to the earth under their special tree planted by Merlin, then come back again.

This time, it's climate change - and basically the world is dying. The bad guys are cool with this, and are working on thinning the veil, so that they can go live in fairy land and let the earth go. Kay gets involved with a group of women who are fighting for the environment, to help them save the day - and the main hero here is a women.

It's a fascinating book - I started reading it, then wound up in the hospital for several weeks, but after another week, I was able to pick it up again, and enjoy it wholeheartedly. If you like Arthurian stories and are open to a completely different take on them, this is a very good read.

The Knights of the Round Table may be long gone, but that doesn’t mean they can’t come back. Whenever Britain is in peril, Kay, Lancelot, and the other Knights who once fought in Arthur’s name return to defend their home. They fought at Hastings, again at Waterloo, and did their best in each World War. But as Kay is reborn from the earth once again, the peril that faces Britain is an environmental crisis of apocalyptic proportions. Rising oceans, privatized military forces, and unruly gangs threaten the people who are left. When Kay runs into Mariam and her small group of female eco-terrorists he believes he can help. Yet the trouble in Britain may only just be beginning. Plus, is that a dragon??

With an incredible cast of characters that includes Merlin, Lancelot, Morgan le Fay, and even King Arthur, I truly had no idea what would happen with each turn of the page! At times the story felt a little slow, adding additional detail when I was yearning for action, but I also appreciated the depth that was devoted to many of our main characters.

Thank you NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book! Perilous Times is available as of May 23, 2023!

As someone who always connects to characters first, I had some troubles in certain spots. But as a whole, I think this is perfect for fans of Arthurian lore and who want to see them in a new light. It feels very much like a blend and I enjoyed the ways Lee can focus on the humor. There’s a sense of wryness which makes the comments seem humorous, even while there’s a chill to the ways they ring close to our own world.
Full review to come on YouTube