Magical History Tour Volume 4: The Crusades felt easier to read than the others I have read in this series. Not that it was a younger read, it is still for the aged 8 to 11 (young 12) reader, but it
seemed to have less information than Fabrice Erre’s other historical graphic novels.
The Crusades are shown in a more European centered manner but touching on some of the non-Christian people and events of importance. The highlights of the crusades are presented in a simple manner, but not necessarily simplistic. Of course, there could be more added, and those pieces can be found in other sources.
The characters/narrators Annie and Nico once again tell the history that we are learning about by “time traveling” from now to then. This time Annie teaches Nico not just history, but also the social implications of things like how the word 
crusade and jihad started and how they came to their modern meanings. Also, Erre shows how the “holy wars” became less “holy” and more worldly and keeps it still accessible for the younger crowd. I would have liked to have seen more information, but in the short format, this is not easily accomplished.
The end includes a short gallery of people mentioned or who are important to the subject, plus a glossary of some of the terms the reader might not be familiar with.
Sylvain Savoia is back with the medium detailed images that compliment the text. Some issues I have with the text might come from it being translated, but any real issues I have with the illustrations is I wanted more color. Perhaps my understanding of the subject is off, but I assumed more color to the clothing as one example. Plus, more detailed to the images themselves would have been appreciated. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this book (or the series) I personally think that maybe the Crusades were not the best subject for this more cartoon format.
