Veles, also known as Weles or Volos, was widely worshipped throughout Slavik territories around the 10th century. Had you heard of this deity before reading the book? Why do you suppose the author chose to include Veles and not a better-known figure?
I had not heard of this deity before. I wonder if the author had some previous tie to Veles in terms of it being Slavic (is her background Slavic) or if it just popped up in some research that she did and on a whim she decided to include it? I usually don’t care for mystical, spiritual, or supernatural plot lines, but the author didn’t overdo it in this case.
That’s a good point, @Julie_P. I’d love to ask the author when she learned about Veles.
I agree with you about supernatural elements in a book and was really happy the plot didn’t rely on that, that Veles was a product of imagination and not a true presence. I thought the author handled that exceptionally well.
Maybe like many readers of The Hunter’s Daughter, I was not familiar with the deity, Veles. So, of course, Googled it and the description seemed to fit perfectly into the story. Not sure who/what a ‘better-known figure would be. Looking at a list of “Forest Gods” the only one I recognized was Pan whose reume didn’t seem quite right for the role.
Velez was new to me, too. I agree with you, Julie, that the author didn’t overdo the legend.
I had not heard of Volos but I found it interesting precisely because my lack of knowledge kept me curious. While I am not a fan of the supernatural I did find this an interesting choice in the context of the story.
I think it was ambiguous and can make an argument for it either way.
I had never heard of Veles before reading this story. Using a mythical creature that is not well-known permits an author to take some dramatic license. That may have been part of the author’s motivation. Or she could simply have recognized that Veles was a perfect choice to tell the story she imagined.
I knew nothing about Veles. I thought that was a bit creepy.
I and not heard of Veles before reading the author’s books, I think it worked for the story line and am not aware of another figure that would have been better.
I feel this figure, whom I never heard about before was unnecessary and was one of the reasons I didn’t love the book enough to give it 5 stars.
I completely agree with Janie. There was just enough information readily available on Velos that he fit in perfectly with the story.
I was not familiar with this character. The fact that he was more obscure made the mystical presence more likely to have control rather than a creature a reader was familiar with.
Like a number of other people have said, I had never heard of Veles and Googled it when it came up. The fact that it was not well-known made it work better in my eyes. A “better-known figure” would have been almost cliche. Somehow, Veles worked well with the DNA variant and the way in which Solvinic utilized nature throughout the story.