The Sundays in Bed With… meme, hosted by Midnight Book Girl, dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning. Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today!

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee

This is yet another Arthurian retelling. You know me, always looking for another one! This one has a “twist,” so to speak, in that it is quite contemporary but includes fantasy elements. One of the main points of view is from Sir Kay, who in this version is a Black man. There is also a lead woman of color and a side character who is a transwoman.

At the time I put this post together I was 38% through and I am absolutely loving this, both for its uniqueness and for some of the emotional lows. This book incorporates a lot of topics we experience today, like global warming, racism, and fake news. And it voices it in such a way that is very relatable to the average person just trying their best day by day. It’s incredibly insightful. I’m loving it so much that I’m savoring it instead of trying to read it as fast as possible.

About the Book

Author: Thomas D. Lee
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publish Date: May 23, 2023
Print Length: 496

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.

“A brilliant collision of ancient mysticism with modern madness.”–Robert Jackson Bennett, bestselling author of the Founders Trilogy

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.