PERILOUS TIMES - Thomas D. Lee

Being a Knight of Arthur's Roundtable requires an oath to serve and protect but thanks to some shenanigans on the part of Merlin, those knights live a very long, obsequious life. They are not quite immortal, though from the perspective of mere mortals, they would seem to be.  When the world needs them the most to fulfill their oaths and protect Briton (and all humanity), they are raised from their buried tombs, under great, protected trees, and sent forth. Nothing but true death will stop them until they've met their duty.

We first meet Sir Kay, rising from the earth, not knowing what awaits him, but certain that it's something serious or he wouldn't be awakened. Not far away is a large complex making a racket and pumping noxious fumes into the sky.  He hears a woman scream and takes action. Shortly thereafter, the plant blows up and from the giant flames rises a great dragon which takes flight.

The woman, and now Sir Kay, fights against corporations polluting the earth.  She was a saboteur, planting bombs to blow up the complex. But it is clear to Kay that he's been brought back to fight climate change - this is the new threat to his country (before this, he was brought back to fight against the Nazis in WWII).

Also rising from the earth are Lancelot and, despite some trepidation, Arthur himself is brought back.  But the three are not all on the same side. Can Kay fight against corporations and money AND his fellow knights and former king?

The opening sequence of this book was absolutely stunning. The description of Kay's rising and the curiosity around what's happening are so well delivered - it's a perfect hook to get the reader interested.

When Kay heads off and takes the side of the screaming woman without question, I did begin to wonder how he'd know who he was supposed to be supporting and who he was fighting against.  The question never really goes away as we see how the different knights take different sides.  It's all metaphorical for how people see the crises differently.

Despite the strong opening and the suggestion we're in for a hardcore twist on the Knights of the Round Table in Modern Times, the book slyly pokes some fun at the trope.  Being raised from the dead doesn't come with sudden knowledge of behavior and mores for the current era, as we see when Kay defends a group of immigrants from some Aaryan group taunting and bullying.  That defense?  To gut a few of the men with his sword.  All captured on a cell phone, of course.

I'm a bit of an Arthurian aficionado and I knew this was something I was going to want to read.  I appreciated that author Thomas D. Lee kept the Arthurian portions of the book to a minimum and didn't try to make this out to be a complete take-over of England by its once and glorious king.  Instead, Lee weaves the ancient characters into the story very believably.  They've gotten good at adapting to new worlds, but it still takes some time to understand their purpose.

The idea that Knights of the Round Table could solve the climate crisis is a bit far-fetched, even for a fantasy like this, but it's metaphorical; it's allegorical.  The knights and king are showing us the path that we COULD take, if we chose to stand up and fight.

All in all, a fun read.

Looking for a good book? Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee is a brilliant, tongue-in-cheek blending of the Arthurian legends and the modern fight against climate change.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

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Perilous Times

author: Thomas D. Lee

publisher: Ballantine Books

ISBN: 9780593499016

hardcover, 496 pages