Crusade is a very well-written book which accurately portrays the English crusade on the holy land, showing the two perspectives in very interesting way, and original way. It follows two boys:, Adam, a serf in the service of a local knight, goes to Jerusalem, to find the holy dust to save his mother from Purgatory. He is brought up believing that the people of the Holy Land or Saracens are 'infidels' and are to be despised, but after having met a Muslim boy he starts to question what he has been taught.

Salim, is a boy who lived in Acre all his life. When his family hear that Acre is going to besieged, his father quickly gives him away to a doctor to be apprenticed: he has no idea where it would lead him, least of all the mighty Saladin's war camp.

Crusade develops into a complex arrangement of mini-stories, all being drawn together with great skill, so that the story is nicely paced, with many twist and turns to keep you hooked in. One of the great things about the book is that it doesn't just make the characters think about their beliefs and prejudices, but the reader will also find that it asks some challenging questions, which are quite difficult to answer, unless you can be truly honest with yourself.

Salim has had a stunted leg ever since a disease at the age of two. He will never take over his father's job as a merchant as his older brother, Ali, is far better than him. So when he is sent off with the doctor, though he dislikes him at first, he find there are many more opportunities. He daydreams an awful lot about things in which, most of the time, he rescues his older brother Ali from the crusaders. “He imagined himself galloping with glory up to the walls of Acre, wearing a Mamluk coat of mail and with a Mamluk sword in his hand. He'd charge with them into the sweating, red-faced ranks of infidel Crusaders under the banner of the great Sultan Saladin ... he'd scatter the  the enemy with the sheer force of his courage and the might of his razor sharp-sword, under the very eyes of his brother, Ali, who would be staring down at him helplessly from the city wall.”

Adam chooses to go on the crusade save his mother from Purgatory and avenge 'Our Lady'. He has no idea how hard it will be, and what will happen to him during it. As the crusade goes on he finds it harder and harder to fight on his beliefs he held previously.

I think this is a really good book, which captures the themes of the actual Crusaders and Saracens of the time. It gives it in a completely unbiased review which puts it ahead of other books on the shortlist. This is a serious contender for the award, and deserves to do extremely well: 9 out of 10.