As soon as this book came to my notice it became a must read. Some of my earliest story memories are of The Knights Of The Round Table and their adventures so every time a re-telling comes along, there I am. Thankfully Perilous Times, the debut novel of Thomas D Lee didn't disappoint.
One of the core points of Arthurian legend is that in Britain's hour of need Arthur and his knights will return to do what is needed to save the day and as this tale sets out it quickly becomes obvious that there have been quite a few hours of need already. Now though the country is struggling with Climate Change, fracking is happening all over, Essex has been sold . . . the list goes on and this looks like it could be a quest too far for Sir Kay and Sir Lancelot.
As well as the knights the main character here is an eco-activist, Mariam and while she seems a bit 'lost' in the magnitude of the task ahead at times it's cool to see her grow and learn just how strong she can be.
The reworking of the legends around Arthur and co works for the most part even though some of the Knights maybe are not quite as you remember them - but hey, it's been a thousand or so years, people change.
There is a lot to enjoy in Perilous Times - humour, adventure, cracking story telling, the Britain we get here is not the Britain of today but it's maybe not far off. There were some areas of the story that felt a bit preachy but those were few and far between and didn't spoil it at all.
4/5* For a first novel this is really good. I'll be keeping an eye on this author in the future for sure
I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review, all thoughts and comments are my own and not influenced in any way.
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