Perilous Times: A Novel

Thomas D. Lee

May 2023 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

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.

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.

About the author

Thomas D. Lee believes all sorts of things about how art and literature can be used as tools to fight for a better future, but mostly he just wants to make his readers laugh. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester, where he is currently studying for a PhD specializing in queer interpretations of the Arthurian mythos. He frequently considers emulating Merlin and becoming a hermit in the woods who speaks only in riddles. Perilous Times is his first novel.