Y’know when a synopsis reminds you of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Ben Aaronovitch? Well, the synopsis reminded me of those writers but the execution…not so much. The world building was interesting, with the environment destroyed by climate change and England requiring support from King Arthur and the Knights. There’s background for each character which, for me, wasn’t explored enough - it made the characters a bit thin for me and I probably would have preferred more time spent with who they are. Maybe that’s for the next novel? Could it be that this reminds me of the first novels of the writers I mentioned? Maybe. Only time will tell.

I'm a big fan of Arthurian legend so this seemed to be right up my street. I was a little disappointed to learn that it's not the first time the knights have returned, I was hoping for lots of humour with them having to cope with modern technology etc. There's no humour in the book at all. It seems to be set in a not-too distant future although the time period isn't specified as such. It had an interesting opening but it gets grim very quickly. The first few chapters describe the general state of the world, and how badly Britain is struggling, what a dystopian nightmare it has turned into, and it all makes for very depressing reading. It steadily gets more depressing and by about chapter 7, I'd had enough. If I'd not been reading this for a NetGalley review, I would have given up at that point.

Several things in the plot don't make sense. The dragon is the symbol of Wales so surely killing one then means killing or harming Wales. It doesn't seem like it's a good reason for someone to be monarch. I didn't understand the significance of Marlowe. He's the only non-fictional character in the whole thing which is very odd. Why does he tell the knights what to do? Also it's mentioned that King Charles has abdicated and that means there's a vacancy for a monarch. That isn't how it works at all! If the king abdicates, the next person in line to the throne becomes the new monarch, there's never a vacancy!

There's also a lot of discrepancy with regards to Arthurian legends. Most of them say that Lancelot is French so he wouldn't have any love for Britain as described. It also seemed odd to make Kay black. There was also some confusion regarding Arthur's swords. There's one part where his three swords are named: Excalibur Caliburn and Caledfwlch. Caledfwlch is the Welsh name for Excalibur so that is the same sword. Caliburn seems to have been made up solely for this book. The sword from the stone is broken early on in his reign and he is then given Excalibur from the Lady in the Lake. It would make far more sense and be a more powerful symbol if Excalibur is used in the book, rather than some made-up sword.

I was pleased by the amount of diversity in the book, both with different races and the inclusion of LGBT+ people. However, that wasn't quite enough to save the book. The plot is dragged out far too much and I really struggled to get through it. I was incredibly relieved when I'd finished it which is not a good thing for any book! I've debated between whether this book is 1 or 2 stars. Ideally I'd give it 1 and a half but as that's not an option here, I've decided to be generous and round it up to 2.

4.25.

This was a really fun time. I had little knowledge of what this book was about aside from the fact that there was a Muslim female protagonist and a bunch of Arthurian lore. The book follows multiple POVs, the main ones being Mariam, Kay and Lancelot. The latter two are Arthurian knights, but they're not the heroic knights as we know them. Mariam is a woman who wants to instil change but doesn't know how to go about it. What we see is a mish-mash of old legends coming to life in modern times and boy, is it done well! It was fun to read historical references but through an alternate lens. It's history as we know it... but not quite.

Even though Lee plays on this absurdism throughout the book, he also tackles some heavy themes: climate change, the role of women, the role of the 'average' person in impacting societal change, as well as topics like having self-belief and knowing one's strengths. It was unexpected but in a pleasant way.

Overall, the tongue-in-cheek humour coupled with interesting characters and a wildly magical world made this a book that I will definitely remember. I recommend going into with little knowledge about it because it's one of those books that will take you on a wild journey. You kinda need to buckle in, accept that it's not like anything you know about typical Arthurian lore, and let it take you where it takes you.

PS: thank you NetGalley for the e-arc.

Legend says King Arthur and his knights will rise up and defend Britain when it is in peril. The legend is true, and the knights of Arthur have been popping up to save the realm over the centuries. Now, at some point in the future where climate change is at a point of no return and division amongst the people is at its highest, a dragon makes an appearance, and the knights awaken.

The premise sounds good, but I found myself wishing to hear more of Kay and Lancelot’s backstories in all the historical wars they had secretly fought in. I couldn’t get into the main storyline because the dystopian future was playing out like a bad day doom scrolling through all the extreme views and hate fuelled posts on Twitter. I hoped for something with more laugh out loud moments. This was a DNF at 20% in for me.

A brilliant read. Kay is woken because, as before, when he has been woken, the realm is in peril. From floods which cover most places, and dragons, which have magically appeared, and other dangers, such as modern nazis.
This is humorous and pithy about the state of Britain not so far into the future. Lancelot is woken as well.
This is a wonderful and witty novel, that has some hard truths in it. A good example of humour, one which made me laugh out loud, is where Kay says to one of the modern nazis that they must be French becausey are called Humpreys. I would recommend this novel highly, because it is an excellent read and so insightful and humorous.

This appealed to me twice over, first because there’s lots of Welshness (as you’d expect!) and second because I studied Spenser’s Faerie Queen at university - which made quite the impression - and this book reminds me of it! As well as reminding me of Terry Pratchett if world-weary (and bone-tired) Vimes had decided that knight-errantry, not policing, was his true calling. Thoroughly enjoyable and I’m still looking up all the mythical figures mentioned so that I can carry on the vibe by reading their associated tales.