The Well of Sacrifice

First novelist Eboch accomplishes quite a feat here: he manages to make the bloodletting rituals and human sacrifice practices of the Mayans the central point of this novel, yet creates a character readers will care deeply about: Eveningstar Macaw. Eveningstar, a resourceful and spunky girl, lives in a lavish city of gold near the jungle. Her brother, Smoke Shell, possesses the leadership qualities of a fearless noble who may one day sit on the throne. Her older sister, Feather Dawn, self-absorbed and haughty, has two redeeming virtues: her skill at the loom and her beauty. But when the ailing king dies and his high priest, Great Skull Zero, commands that all possible successors be thrown into the well of sacrifice to drown or be saved by the gods, Eveningstar vows to save her brother--and to stop Feather from being married off to the conniving Zero. Eboch cushions a plot of treachery and heroism with lush details of daily life in a ninth-century Mayan city that's beginning to crumble. Here, fathers wear green quetzal feathers; mothers cook tortillas, pumpkin and papaya; and beautiful girls with slanted foreheads wear rings in their noses and heavy jade and gold jewelry that pulls down their earlobes. Readers may blanch at some of the descriptions of ceremonies and sacrifices (""The king pulled the end of the rope through his tongue and dropped it into the bowl.... He danced with blood pouring down his chest""). Watching this unorthodox 12-year-old girl outwit a high priest, escape jail, rescue her sister and more makes for a fast-paced read. An author's note describes the historical context for the tale. Ages 9-up. (Apr.)