#BlogTour ‘Perilous Times’ by Thomas D Lee

‘Perilous Times’ by Thomas D Lee

About the book…

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.

Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully damn 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 fought at Hastings, and at Waterloo, and in both World Wars. After a thousand years, he thought he was used to dealing with a crisis. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, armies have been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold to the Chinese. The dragon that’s running amok, that he can handle. The rest? He’s not so sure.

Mariam’s devoted her life to 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, a figure straight out of legend, she dares to hope that the world’s finally found the savior it needs.

As the two quest through this strange land swarming with gangs, mercenaries, and talking squirrels, they realize that other ancient evils are afoot. Lancelot is back too–at the beck and call of immortal beings with a sinister agenda. And if their plans can’t be stopped, a dragon will be the least of the planet’s worries.

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

Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach–and Kay’s starting to suspect that the hero fit to carry it is close at hand.

My thanks to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for the blogtour invite and publishers Orbit for my gifted copy of ‘Perilous Times’ by Thomas D Lee which is out on May 25th!

It’s the age old question- did the tree grow from Sir Kay, or did he grow from it?

When Britain is in need of rescuing-mostly from its own stupidity-King Arthur and his knights will return to right the natural balance of things. Or, make it worse by Arthur’s presence weakening the link between this world and the next.

Sir Kay, Arthur’s foster brother, is our jumping on point to this dystopian nightmare, returning a record breaking 3 times in one day, allowing the reader’s a whistle stop insight into Merlin’s resurrection stone, and Arthurian myth, whilst laying down an environmentally and culturally inclined plot.

And, let’s face it, I have been on this planet for nearly 5 decades and I cannot remember a time which would not have been made infinitely better by the presence of dragons and knights.

For they are supposed to be noble, just and fight for righteousness-or, in this modern age where everything is maximised, streamlined and post-fact , post-reality , media friendly and packaged neatly, do we recognise what they stood for, or, could still?

Kay and Mariam, a wannabe environmental agitator accidentally makes this worse than she had planned, embark on a journey of collective and self discovery as they try to work out what exactly it is that they are fighting for.

The belief system which has us clinging to ancient stories and ancient glories has carried these instantly recognisable figures for centuries. What keeps us returning to these stories and why do we tell them over and over again?

I have read that this book is funny, as in Terry Pratchett funny. I laughed one hell of a lot, and this is just between us, but I don’t find Terry Pratchett that funny…Sorry, I appreciate that he is a genuine national treasure , just not someone who tickled this funny bone .

Relevance to current events and ongoing situations which honestly could be finished with a strategic bit of attack on Westminster-and didn’t I cheer to read that crumbling edifice to the patriarchy was on its knees-and some friendly dragon fire. Let someone other than white, old men with a sense of entitlement have a crack at things because honestly, they have done a terrible job of keeping Britain whole. Divide and rule, exclude not include-gay knights? Why the hell not ! Bravo!!!

In reminding us of an idyllic past, Thomas D Lee reminds us of what could be. If we just let go of what has a stranglehold on our society then there is a chance to return a country to its people. What I loved was the whole ‘chuck the reader in the deep end and just keep them flying by the seat of their pants’ attitude of the story. It rattles along at a fair old pace and whilst yes it does address-rather necessarily in my humble opinion-the dangers of climate change, our increasingly fractured sense of nationality has left England isolated and without a sense of identity.

To shake it out of its torpor is going to take a colossal act. And here come the knights…

I thrilled to the race of adventure, very much appreciated the Welsh aspect of the Arthurian myth which is so often overlooked by writers and historians alike, that representation mattered very much, so thank you Thomas!

You never felt lectured, which I believe has been a bone of contention in other reviews, the seamless weaving of current political and cultural issues is , to this reader, seamless and needed in a fantasy novel more than any other. For centuries these knights have been returning to right wrongs and maybe its time to be accountable for for way behave in order to avoid having to call on symbolic relics and clean up our own messes?

Thoroughly recommended, it has made me want to dig deep into my book shelves and re-read the classics, thanks Thomas for reigniting that need. I loved it and hope you will too.

About the author…

Thomas D Lee is a Manchester-based author of fantastical and historical fiction. He has recently sold the rights to his debut novel, Perilous Times, to UK publisher Orbit, Ballantine in the US, and Heyne Books in Germany.

Perilous Times has been described as a “sharply witty and relevant” novel, mixing Arthurian legend with contemporary fantasy (as well as several other timely topics such as climate breakdown, Brexit, toxic masculinity, talking squirrels, and flying ice cream vans).

Links-https://thomasdleewriter.wordpress.com/about-2/

Twitter @thomas_d_lee @orbitbooks