Perilous Times

A Novel

By: Thomas D. Lee

Narrated by: Nicola F. Delgado

Length: 20 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

“If you like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, you’ll enjoy Perilous Times. . . . An utterly original take on Arthurian myth.”—The Times

A POPSUGAR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

Legends don’t always live up to reality.

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.

Kay once rode alongside his brother, King Arthur, as a Knight of the Round Table. Since then, he has fought at Hastings and at Waterloo and in both World Wars. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, the army’s been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold to foreign powers. The dragon that’s running amok—that he can handle. The rest? He’s not so sure.

Mariam’s spent her life 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, she dares to hope that the world has finally found the savior it needs.

Yet as the two travel through this bizarre and dangerous land, they discover that a magical plot of apocalyptic proportions is underway. And Kay’s too busy hunting dragons—and exchanging blows with his old enemy Lancelot—to figure out what to do about it.

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

Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach.

But who will be fit to wield it?

With a cast that includes Merlin, Morgan le Fay, the Lady of the Lake, and King Arthur himself—all reimagined in joyous, wickedly subversive fashion—Perilous Times is an Arthurian retelling that looks forward as much as it looks back . . . and a rollicking, deadpan-funny, surprisingly touching fantasy adventure.

©2023 Thomas D. Lee (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[A] hugely entertaining yet thought-provoking cli-fi novel . . . The book [is] properly hilarious, that kind of whimsical and observational humor that Fforde and Pratchett fans are going to love. . . . Lee has brought Arthur’s legends into these modern, perilous times.”—The Fantasy Hive

“A breakneck pace and a compelling urgency that pulls readers along on a wild, glorious, and epic ride . . . Highly recommended for lovers of Arthurian reinterpretations and climate-disaster thrillers.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Full of dark humor and insights into the ills of the twenty-first century, [Lee] hits close to home by asking readers to reflect on how King Arthur would save modern-day England if it were plagued by rampant racism and political infighting as well as the devastating effects of climate change. . . . A fresh, irreverent perspective on the well-known myth.”—Booklist

This book was, I thought, going to be full of tropes

I couldn’t have been more wrong! It was an original and fascinating new idea: Kay and Lancelot, Nimüe, and Morgan Le Fey as well as the “real writer of Shakespeare”, who are all brought to life when Britain is “in peril”. Or who have stayed alive for 100’s of years. (1,000yrs really) Not only are the names of knights pronounced correctly, the women members formerly not on the round table are shown to be both powerful and strong, while the men are strong, but not perhaps the brightest bulbs on the tree. Their oft-broken thousand year ‘sleep’ under their personal tree when called upon to save Britain leads to some fascinating insights about Merlin, as well as Arthur. I have a degree in medieval history, as an undergraduate, and I was fascinated by the new ideas awaiting Kay and others as they confront their beliefs, climate change, pollution and other problems of the modern world.

Fascinating take on the Legends

I really really enjoyed this book!
Mr. Lee did a fascinating and wonderful job blending the people we know from history into a somewhat forward in time future that isn’t looking so good for humanity as a whole.
I loved the narrator’s voice, and she did an excellent job infusing distinct personalities and ways of speaking into each character.
The plot reads like something not so far in the future- that we’re barreling towards at a breakneck pace, but which will have no helpful (semi-helpful?) Druids, knights or Kings of old to rescue us. Are we doomed without them?
I think not.
It’ll just take more work.
Kudos for a very interesting book that sometimes made me want to strangle people, but who, in the end, got out of their own way and did what needed to be done.

Would love to know if Galahaut’s tree lived.

Fun read

A delightful and fun take on knights from the round table clashing with people in the new world.

It was okay-ish

If you’re a traditional fan of Arthurian legend you might not like it. The idea of bringing feminism and climate change into the legend of Arthur is a unique concept but not well done in this book. A bit predictable and slow. Just wasn’t my cup of tea. The narrator was okay. Not great with voices but has good pacing.

Concept had potential

I like the concept of the immortal knights coming back during times of peril. It had potential but the author chose to fill it with thinly veiled leftist politics.