This is the fourth book I've read in rapid succession by RPG maven Kenneth Hite. The Antarctic Express is a Mini Mythos Book published by Trident, Inc for Atlas Games. It is a retelling of the famous HP Lovecraft novella At the Mountains of Madness while parodying the children's classic The Polar Express. It is a high quality hardcover, about the same length as a typical children's picture book. The price is a rather steep $19.95. I suppose this is because of the production costs for so many color pages. Chris Von Allsberg won the Caldecott medal in 1986 for his (at the time) strikingly original art; it is now a beloved Christmas story and has even been (regretably) made into a movie. The art for The Antarctic Express by Christina Rodriguez has been created in Allsberg's style, in service of the parody, and is actually quite good on its own merits. Pride of place goe to the picture of the surging shoggoth, crying "Tekeli-li."

My caveats about Where the Deep Ones Are apply to The Antarctic Express, but even more so.

First, this is not a book I would read to a young child. Inevitably parental expectations will be conditioned by a Christmas book, The Polar Express. At one point Professsor Dyer, taking the role of Santa Claus (and even drawn a little like him) looks at carvings of the Old Ones and exclaims, "The first life on Earth!" Decapitated bodies of the alien Old Ones, killed by shoggoths, are seen. In a scene mirroring Santa cracking a whip over his reindeer, Professor Dyer does the same with some sled dogs so he and the little boy won't be eaten by a shoggoth. Nope, not for kids.

Also, I do not see how you will make much sense of the entire plot if you have not read both The Polar Express and At the Mountaisn of Madness. What happens in the HPL novella is just too complicated to condense into a couple of pages. So for me, this book did not work as well as Where the Deep Ones Are. On the other hand, I liked it well enough as a Cthulhu mythos fan. My favorite part was the end where the boy, years later, is still haunted by the cry "Tekeli-li!"

So what to do? It's hard to know who this book is aimed at. I think die hard collectors and fans of Lovecraft, like me, will want a copy. Certainly aficianados of Lovecraftian art and comics will enjoy Ms. Rodriguez's work. Otherwise the $19.95 price tag is likely to be limiting. Personally I will continue to get the books in this series but I don't see this as being of general interest. ( )