Crusader is not your typical young-adult book. For one thing, it's five hundred ninety-one pages long, and with the intense, dynamic writing style of the ingeniously endowed Edward Bloor, that length makes for a roller coaster ride of impossibly unpredictable twists and turns, red herrings and shocking secrets revealed at each step along the way, going and going until one might think that it just couldn't go anymore. Then you realize that you're only a quarter of the way through the book. Edward Bloor is a master writer. His debut novel, Tangerine, blew by the expectations that I could ever have for any author's first effort, unfolding with the seeming skill of a story told by an author seasoned by decades of experience at inciting emotion and gripping his readers in the throes of excitement. Crusader is very similar in the power and magnitude of its scope, taking its sweet time to close slowly in around the unwinding plot that is Roberta Ritter's life. Roberta is a junior in high school, and she assists her father and her uncle's family in the operation of the virtual reality arcade that they own, in the languishing West End Mall. The arcade's fare is exclusively comprised of virtual reality games, known as "experiences", and for five dollars a pop the customers can immerse themselves in these experiences that briefly transport their senses to another time and place. Roberta's life is heavily wrapped up in the dark, deadly secrets of her past, however, as well as in the deep secrets kept by her family and the people around them. Roberta gets caught up in the dispute between a young Arab-American mall vendor named Sam and a teenage worker who goes by the nickname Hawg, from her family's arcade. The massive density of the book allows for the resulting ripples of this heated conflict to be treated with uncommon depth, and for a large number of side characters and other issues to naturally blossom from the story as it goes along. Some of these issues follow Roberta throughout the entire book and others find a speedier resolution, but they all contribute to the furtherance of the plot as its dark net begins to tighten, as Roberta begins to find out how all of these ostensibly unconnected portions of her life really fit together in a giant puzzle to point her toward information about the unsolved murder of her mother seven years ago, and the stunning revelations about the people who were involved in it. Crusader is marked with deeply running lines of noblest virtue and yellowest cowardice, often even coming from the same person. The list of characters is long and important, each one playing some significant role in the narrative's scope. So many people cannot come together in one space without sparks flying, and when enough sparks get together they will always be sure to ignite any scene. That's exactly what happens in this book; not once or twice, but over and over again. There are so many profound pictures of the meaning of our lives and the lives of the people living around us to be found in this book that to launch into an explanation and analysis of them all would take a review nearly as dense as the book itself. The frightening darkness and glowing promise of humanity pours from this novel's every page like water, sustaining the reader to make the entire trip of almost six hundred pages on the edge of their seat nearly the entire time. Rarely have I seen such perceptive characterizations and sharpness of plot focus in any book as in this one. Crusader is a work of art and of unsurpassed verve that should be enjoyed and experienced and allowed to wash over oneself like the powerful waves of an ocean at the shore. This is a book with true knockout potential, the fruit of a writer who has quickly come to be one of the greatest in his field. All in all, I think that Crusader has the power to change minds, and to lead the reader into the realm of self-examination and understanding of the people around themselves, in the way that only the most important books of all are able to do. So many major issues are convincingly addressed in this book, and all with the incredible skill of Edward Bloor as writer. Readers will find themselves thinking long and hard about this book well after the final page has turned, a sure testament to the ability of Edward Bloor in his creation of the story. I would give at least three and a half stars to Crusader, and probably the full four.
Honestly, y'all, I am just glad to finally be finished with this book, because I feel like I've been reading it for-freaking-ever. It's long, just a smidge under six hundred pages, and I was only reading it at work, on lunch hours and breaks. Plus, I went on vacation in the middle of it. So, it really has been a long time. But! It's not just me. The book contributes to that too. Because it's a weird little (well, not little) thing and it made me contemplate stopping and tossing it away on more than one occasion. I guess it speaks to things that I didn't? That I felt compelled enough to see where Bloor was going with it? Er, anyway. About the book itself. First off, it feels extremely dated. And not just because working at an arcade that centers on virtual reality experiences is at the center of it. Remember back in the nineties, when everyone thought that VR was going to be the future. That was cute. There are other things about it that locate it very specifically in the time it was written, but that's the most prominent. Next, characterizations. Eh, not so great. I kind of hated almost everyone and almost none of them felt fully rounded. Most of them I wanted to punch. The one who is most developed is Roberta, the central protagonist, and I just did not get her. Very frequently, I felt like she had Asperger's, and if that's true, than I maybe like this more. But, I don't think it is. I think she's sheltered and odd and the writing is off-kilter. It just did not work for me. And the plot twists - don't even get me started. There are too many coincidences and/or things that are completely improbable and/or stuff that goes down that makes no sense and/or have no point. And the revelation that I suppose is intended to be jarring is painfully obvious for hundreds of pages in advance. I just, I don't know. The thing that bothers me the most is that I think, buried deep in there, is something good. The bones of the story are there. The potential exists. A handful of peripheral characters could've been really interesting, if more was done with them. I think Bloor is not a crappy writer. I'm sure they didn't make with a first-time editor. I don't get why this book had to be as mediocre as it was. Or, why the ratings for it are so high on here. Oh, well.
Do You like book Crusader (2001)?
The book Crusader by Edward Bloor was exciting, but it was ultimately unsatisfying because it dragged on at times. I would not recommend this book. One reason that it was exciting was because it said, “Then Kristen’s right arm shot up like a rocket.” (107) This scene was exciting because it was a fight. A reason why I didn’t enjoy the book is because the author wrote, “So don’t go calling me Hitler. So don’t go calling people fat Arabs.” (123) This shows that the book is extremely racist. Another reason why I didn’t enjoy Crusader is because it stated, “The blow knocked him up into the air.” (293) This made me sad because someone dies in a very harsh way. Although I did not really like this book, you or other people might like Crusader.
—Robertp
I have not read Tangerine, but I certainly will after this. Multiple themes are handled deftly and maintain the reader's interest throughout the story. The characters have dimension and the plot lines are seamless. Roberta Ritter wants to become a newspaper reporter someday, but for now she works for free at her family's arcade. Roberta's mother has been dead for years and her father spends all his time with his girlfriend, leaving Roberta to fend for herself. The community at the mall where she works takes the place of a family for Roberta. She starts to make choices that reflect her forming values and dreams and discovers something about her father that changes their relationship forever.
—Annie Oosterwyk
In this book, a young girl works in the family business running an arcade. The author really connects the main character to young kids in the real world, by telling about her friends at the mall and her family life. The author then brings in the world of fantasy, with the arcade game "Crusader." The young girl, Roberta, becomes facinated with this game as do the many customers they get. The author sucks you into the book and you can feel as if you are in the game when it is played, in the mall with Roberta, and experiencing everything the characters feel. I highly recommend this book to young adults.
—Ashlee Reynolds
