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Crusader

3.6 of 5 stars 3.60 · rating details · 508 ratings · 64 reviews

Roberta Ritter hopes to be a journalist one day, but for now she's stuck working at her family's arcade in a dilapidated shopping mall. From her vantage point behind the counter, she sees all the goings-on at the mall--and some things she sees are disturbing. Racism, dirty politics, and drugs are all part of the scene. Roberta doesn't like it, but she's just a fifteen-year...more

Paperback, 496 pages

Published April 1st 2007 by Graphia (first published October 15th 1999)

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Aug 13, 2011 Lana Tessler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: real-life-drama

In Mrs. Tessler's Class: Culture Shock

An odd book and I really couldn't decide if it horrified me or engrossed me, which is I suppose why I like it. This was a very deep read for a YA book and one I'd recommend more for teens or adults rather than middle-school level, though some emotionally mature readers may enjoy it as well. It follows the exploits of Roberta, trapped in a neglectful but not abusive family, and working at the family arcade in a mall while she tries to puzzle out a series of h...more

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Dec 15, 2009 Lana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-literature

An odd book and I really couldn't decide if it horrified me or engrossed me, which is I suppose why I like it. This was a very deep read for a YA book and one I'd recommend more for teens or adults rather than middle-school level, though some emotionally mature readers may enjoy it as well. It follows the exploits of Roberta, trapped in a neglectful but not abusive family, and working at the family arcade in a mall while she tries to puzzle out a series of hate crimes, prejudices, and the myster...more

1 like · like · see review

May 08, 2009 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adults-reading-ya-lit, a-7th-and-8th-grade-middle-school-t, high-school-and-beyond

I liked this book a lot. The main character is a budding high school journalist who mother died when she was very young- of a hear attack, her dad says Mom's heart just stopped beating.
She is now and has raised herself, her dad is mercurial he doesn't really check in with her. The girl is used to this, and doesn't really care she just deals. The people around her who care are noticing though.
Her dad, with her help has run a video arcade all her life. Her uncle and his family are in transition-...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Jenn Estepp rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teenage-wasteland

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 t...more 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. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jun 17, 2011 Ted rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm currently half way though this book I like it but the characters I just don't like. The only real character is Roberta (which is probably the point). Her dad neglects her to the point where you have to ask why does he even come home?, her cousin's alright, her cousin's friend is so vapid and naive that you just want to slap her. Roberta herself seems very sheltered and isolated (most probably) to the point of cluelessness on such simple things as swirlies.

As for the arcade that she works at...more

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Mar 11, 2010 Josiah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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.

Edwar...more 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. (less)

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Nov 08, 2011 Robertp rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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. Anoth...more

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Mar 25, 2011 Kathleen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2011, young-adult

In an exaggerated version of reality we discuss race, violence, video games, journalism, and educational standards. With a clever, curious female heroin using her wits to track down the her mother's murderer, this book ought to be right up my alley. However, the aggrandized nature of the characters' interactions make this novel most suitable for people who found Crash to be a realistic representation of human nature.

This book full of value judgments, coincidences, prayer, and hyperbole even tho...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Annie Oosterwyk rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: coming-of-age

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...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Amber rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There was a lot going on in this book and I think that was the problem. Throughout the book I was trying to figure out was Bloor was attempting and ultimately I'm not sure. Bloor deals with journalism and media, education, video games and virtual reality, the definition of family, racism and hate crimes, politics, problems between social classes . . . And most of it is pretty heavy handed. That said it's not a bad book, but it's not on the same level as Tangerine Tangerine or Story TimeStory Tim ...more

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Sep 01, 2009 Sandra Strange added it · review of another edition

Shelves: not-recommended

Roberta Ritter’s mother was murdered. She works in her father’s arcade in a failing mall in a deteriorating section of town. Hate crimes against an Arabic shop owner in the mall escalate and involve people Roberta knows, and threaten her own picture of the world. This novel includes actions and language that may offend teen readers. More objectionable, in the interest of political correctness, the Arab owner gives a version of history that isn’t entirely accurate, twisting events and presenting...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Rachel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked up this book with a lot of expectations, and I'm sorry to say those expectations were barely met.

Let's start off by talking about Tangerine by Edward Bloor, a book I read and loved. I could barely put this book down, it was mysterious, exciting, and even a bit frightening. It was well written and well developed; looking back on the book, the dark twist completed the puzzle Bloor created for his readers.

So when I found Crusader, I was very excited to start reading it. I noticed it was lo...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Jacki rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-fiction

I don't know how Edward Bloor does it. He writes these books that may not be the most exciting, action packed pieces ever, but still I can't stop reading. He makes me love the characters too damn much. Every one of them was unique, important, and a picture of realism. They grabbed my attention, won my affection, and then played out their part of the story in an emotion-invoking way. He's a powerful writer.

This book was particularly pointed--covering a variety of important social topics from clas...more

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Oct 19, 2008 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a re-read, but its a book worthy or re-reading periodically. Bloor's stories are dark, but ultimately they are about forgiveness and resilience. They are also often about fathers and children, which require both forgiveness and resilience.

Roberta is the sort of child who falls through the cracks - she is a good student, but perhaps not brilliant though she has discovered journalism as a passion. Had she not had a passion, there would have been no real point to the book, I suspect. Bloor...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com

A Crusader is someone who supports a certain cause and a Crusader is also a knight in the 11th-13th centuries who fought to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. Both of these definitions come into play in this long but wonderful mystery.

Roberta Ritter is a shy and lonely girl. She is plain but only because she doesn't really care how she looks. Roberta's father owns, along with his brother, a virtual reality arcade in a failing mall in Florida....more

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Jul 19, 2008 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-as-child

I loved this book as a kid, though I remember picking it up hoping for something closer to Vivian Vande Velde's "Heir Apparent," with descriptions of virtual fantasy experiences. However, this book is anything but. Though mostly set in a virtual arcade, the main character Roberta has never played a game. Instead, she helps out her family in running the arcade, while going to school and learning to be a journalist. Unfortunately, the virtual games are racist in nature - the customers can choose t...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Jonathan Hardy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Read it back in the 6th grade, picking it up merely because I was judging this book by its cover and thought it would be cool. Had very little to do with knights in shining armor, but I read it all the way through anyway. It introduced me to some concepts that I wasn't aware of as a ten-year old. Not a bad book--one that I'd definitely like to pick up and read again, simply because my views of the world have changed so much since I read it twelve years ago.

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Jul 29, 2009 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, islam, favorites, mystery

I was actually looking for Edward Bloor's book "Tangerine," which has won lots of awards. But "Tangerine" was checked out, so instead I picked up "Crusader". The cover illustration made me expect (dread, really) a tired and predictable time-traveling fantasy novel. But HOLY COW, this book isn't at all what it appears to be on the outside. For one thing, there's no time-traveling or fantasy. The story is about a teenage girl in Florida whose family owns an arcade store in a dying mall. It was sus...more

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Sep 11, 2009 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, mystery-thriller, young-adult

I wasn't all that impressed, to be honest. I picked it up because I remembered really liking Tangerine when I read it in high school. This one was not as good. Bloor doesn't seem to know what he's writing about-- is it about muckracking and murder mysteries, or is it about the evils of prejudice? The mystery parts are by far the best, though even they're just okay. The passages dealing with racism are didactic and repetitive, and seem to be aimed at much younger kids than the apparent target aud...more

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May 19, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I kept reading this book just to see how the author would pull together all the loose ends. So many issues & so many characters! At the end I felt disappointed that the author seemed to have felt young adult readers needed a pretty package (Mrs. Weiss's gift)and a moralistic overtone (pray & forgive)for a successful conclusion. It didn't match the more cynical and dark tone of the rest of the book.

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Apr 22, 2010 Felicia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this in 2002 when I was 12. I'm not sure how got this book in the first place. Just saw it on my bookshelf & decided to read it.
I can't remember all the details of the story line, just that I loved the book & later bought Tangerine. I wanted to read it again but sadly I lost it during a move.

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Aug 11, 2011 Neill Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Roberta Ritter works in a virtual reality store for her father and uncle in a failing mall in southern Florida. As a series of hate crimes occur they seem to be linked to some of the games in her father's store. She tries to discover the perpetrator of the hate crimes but keeps learning more information about her mother, who had been killed by a robber in their last store.

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Nov 09, 2007 Holly Thompson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So far I've read to page 356. I havent read it in a while but what I've read so far is pretty good. I just havent had time to sit down and read. Anyway, "Roberta Ritter looks plain and shy, but her life isn't as boring as people think. There's a dark and deadly secret in Roberta's past: her mother was murdered years ago, and the identity of the killer is still unknown. Roberta spends her afternoons working in a failing arcade in a failing mall, where the only action comes from a violent game cal...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Molly Grimmius rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

I did not love this book which was incredibly disappointing after really enjoying TANGERINE. He was way too telling...I do not care what the girl had to eat for breakfast everyday. A lot of random things happened,and it never seemed like a big deal, and I figured out the end too early. I wanted it to be another good one to recommend to my students, but it is not.

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Jan 03, 2009 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not as good as Tangerine. I liked the complexity, but felt that there was one death too many. I also never really got what was going on with Karl, ADHD doesn't begin to cover the symptoms described, yet everyone seemed okay with that diagnosis. I did really like the lesson Roberta learns, to not dig your grave and line up to be shot.

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Nov 30, 2011 Andrea L rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: thriller, crusader

It was a mix between a mystery an action though its for young adults a book.Were a girl whose lost a parent can relate and thank god I cant. She will realize that she wont be able to hide the fact that her mom was murdered.And not only that she must save her friend/co-worker from jail and prove that he didn't commit a crime of vandalism.

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May 04, 2011 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked the story behind Crusader, but I think there was just too much filler; I was really only interested in about two-thirds of the book. The most interesting part was when the main character, Roberta, was beginning to put the pieces of her mother's murder together, but unfortunately this only came into play during the last few chapters. As a side note, I found it very hard to believe that a 16-year-old solved a murder that the police couldn't, especially since the murderer had unique feature...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Meredith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

I had read this before, years ago, I realized about 15 pages in, but couldn't remember it well enough, so I went ahead and read it all again. Roberta is a fascinating character - seemingly naive, retiring, and remote, until the end of the book where she emerges as assertive, cunning, and strong.

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Jan 29, 2010 Ariel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was an okay book , kind of weird though . I only read it because there was nothing else at the house the other day . I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone because all the other really good books out there , and this was just mediocre .

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Apr 04, 2010 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of my fav books of all time! This story has a haunting tale, and I don't think I will ever forget it. I read this book at least five years ago, but I still remember most of the story. This book will make you feel for the charectors.

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About Edward Bloor

Edward (William) Bloor

Personal Information: Born October 12, 1950, in Trenton, NJ; son of Edward William and Mary (Cowley) Bloor; married Pamela Dixon (a teacher), August 4, 1984. Father to a daughter and a son. Education: Fordham University, B.A., 1973.

Career: Novelist and editor. English teacher in Florida public high schools, 1983-86; Harcourt Brace School Publishers, Orlando, FL, senior editor...more

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“But be careful about the parts you agree to play...You never know when one is going to stick.” — 4 people liked it

“A person is not really gone until everyone who knew them is gone.” — 4 people liked it

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