Is there any author-created mythos that you consider as being interesting?

[warpus]

Tarquelne - good analysis, explains your take on the distinction very well. I must say that I'm very tempted to agree with it, but I haven't really thought too hard about what exactly mythos means to me either. It's almost as if it's a word with many definitions, all of them appropriate in various contexts

 

[Kyriakos]

In my view the line between a "mythos" (in quotation marks since it refers to the special meaning the term has in English in relation to literary creations) and a series of recurrent motifs or common environments or even characters, is not that ambiguous:

If one has a series of works where computers are intelligent or conscious in some way, this is not really enough to make the work a "mythos", for many reasons (eg the idea is not original, the common motif is not really one that defines the boundaries of the created world, etc). But if one has a series of works where it is revealed or hinted or alluded to that the entire world they take place in is existent in some computer program, then it can be a mythos, much like the similar barriers of the cosmos in Lovecraft's work, where elder beings created everything, for reasons unknown even to those who happen to observe such a discovery

 

[Lillefix]

Iain M. Banks and his Culture universe is one of the most interesting mythos I've ever poked my head into. I just finished reading Excession and it was crazy how the author was able to present large-scale ideas.. universe/multiverse-scale ideas, while at the same time making the book about personal struggles of individual characters. Very well done, I highly recommend any of the books

I've almost finished Consider Phlebas. Not very impressed, although I liked the part with the fat cannibal and the relationship between Horza and Balveda(unfortunately it's note expanded upon). Is it worth trying the next book? I generally like Space opera.

I felt the whole thing was a bit disjointed.

 

[warpus]

I've almost finished Consider Phlebas. Not very impressed, although I liked the part with the fat cannibal and the relationship between Horza and Balveda(unfortunately it's note expanded upon). Is it worth trying the next book? I generally like Space opera.

I felt the whole thing was a bit disjointed.

Yeah, I had a similar reaction to it. I really enjoyed various parts - and reading through them, but didn't think that the whole was that well assembled out of those parts. Mind you I feel like I missed bits here and there simply because each chapter would jump around so much. I was looking hard for the "point" while reading every chapter, and I did not really see it until the very end. I think I will have to re-read this book one day perhaps.

What else have you read by him? I just finished Excession and enjoyed it immensly. I would rate it very highly as a space opera or just a sci-fi novel or whatever. If you're into space operas you should like it - there is mystery, giant space fleets, dark humour, interesting settings, galaxy-spanning action, and very interesting characters. Probably my favourite book by Bank that I've read so far.

I'm going through Surface Detail right now and am finding it equally engaging. Both books are have definitely been page turners for me, while Phlebas really wasn't, and neither was Endjinn. The Algebraist was very good, but I found it a bit slower moving. Player of Games was decent, but I found the premise not as engaging overall, so I didn't enjoy it as much.

 

[Tarquelne]

Yeah, I had a similar reaction to it. I really enjoyed various parts - and reading through them, but didn't think that the whole was that well assembled out of those parts. ... I just finished Excession and enjoyed it immensly. I would rate it very highly as a space opera or just a sci-fi novel or whatever. ... Player of Games was decent, but I found the premise not as engaging overall, so I didn't enjoy it as much.

Those are my three favorite Banks books.

I'd say Excession is far and away the most *fun* of any Culture book. It's an easy read, often amusing, lots of high-tech intrigue type-stuff, and is set much more within the Culture itself than most of the books. What's not to like?

CP, OTOH, reminds me of big fat Russian classic. I loved it, but it's not what I'd call a "hoot."

I had a relatively low opinion of Player of Games the first time I read it. I think I was jonesing for something more like Excession. I'd say it's sort of half-way between Excession and CP, offering something of each, but lacking the best features of either one. The second time I read it, though, I beleive I was able to appreciate it more on it's own merits. (I also found the premise engaging - I'm not a game *designer,* but I've been known to mod-the-heck out of pen and paper RPGs and PC games, I'm a fairly hard-core gamer, and I've been known recruit people for small jobs.)

Ah... this isn't a thread on the Culture books is it? I'll edit this later if I can think of something mythos related to say.

EDIT: Oooh, I've already got something

I tend to think that the lore behind the Fall from Heaven 2 mod should count.

I agree completely. I especially like how "precepts" were handled. And - as with the other game mythosici (that's the plural, really!!!) - having it not fully laid out in novel-format IMO strengthened it's mythos-value.