The first round of novelisations of Doctor Who happened back in 1965. "The Crusaders" is the third of these. (Novelisations did not recommence until 1973 under the Target banner.)The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Vicki arrive in twelfth century Palestine, and are soon split up: Barbara is captured by the Saracens, while the rest fall in with King Richard the Lionhearted. While Ian is knighted and dispatched with a message to Saladin and to rescue Barbara, the Doctor and Vicki are caught up in court intrigue. Given the way things go, one could argue which of them is in the most danger.
Strong characterisation by David Whitaker (author of both the original script and this book) makes this book a very good read (sadly, we only have half of the story still existing on video), and yet again demonstrates that the historical stories were often very good, exceeding the science fiction stories in some cases.
This book is illustrated by line drawings. I wish it wasn't. They aren't very good.
