Customer Reviews

The Well of Sacrifice

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When I was in 6th grade my teacher was reading us "The Well of Sacrefice". It started like any other book but then it started to get better and better until it was like no other. I was never really intrested in stuff past the Revolutionary War but after this book I have been reading on the Mayans every chance I get. We would be in class, and the teacher would stop so we could go for a recess but we would rather give up are recess then stop reading. I enjoyed this book a lot and that is why I am making my voice heard. Sydni

Eveningstar Macaw lives in an ancient Mayan city, where high priests and kings are the ultimate rulers. She helps her mother get herbs from the jungle for her mother is a healer. Eveningstar knows the jungle inside-out. One day she comes upon a group of 'savages' who are enemies of the Mayans. She immediately warns everyone in the city. The savages are caught and some are kept for sacrifice while the others are kept as slaves for the noblemen. Eveningstar met a savage boy in the jungle and named him Small. Evening Star's family took him in as a servant. Eveningstar's oldest brother, Smokeshell is met with much honor after the capturing of the savages for he helps capture them. When the old King Flint Sky god dies,the evil High Priest, Great Skull Zero is left to rule. Great Skull Zero does not want anyone to threaten his spot on the throne, so he calls out a list of men who will be thrown into the Well of Sacrifice. All of these men are noblemen, and are soldiers who are highly respected. Among the chosen men are Smokeshell and Feather Dawn's fiance.(Feather Dawn is Eveningstar's snotty and headstrong sister) Eveningstar quickly figures that Great Skull Zero is only having those soldiers killed for his own greed, and not for the Gods. From there the story takes a great leap from peaceful to dangerous and suspense-filled. Excellent book!

When the king of the great Mayan city dies, the high-priest starts sacrificing anyone who stands in his way of being the most powerful man in the city. Only Eveningstar, a Mayan girl, has the courage to stand up to the evil high-priest and save her city.

"The Well of Sacrifice" is a fast-paced, exiting book filled with adventure, and is a great way to learn about the ancient Maya. There are many interesting plot twists. This book is also fun to read, and the words flow nicely. I would reccomend "The Well of Sacrifice" to almost anyone.

This riveting story tells of Eveningstar Macaw, a Mayan girl in the ninth century. While Eveningstar is in the jungle, she sees the Maya's enemies, the Savages. (Her relationship with one of them, Small-Shield, blossoms into a love.) She runs to her brother, a warrior, and he captures them. Later the city begins to fall to ruin under the rule of Great Skull Zero, the high priest. He sacrifices her beloved brother. When Eveningstar resists, he captures. She must find courage to save her city, her family, and herself from Great Skull Zero.

The Well of Sacrifice by Chris Eboch is a very interesting and exicing book. The story is set in the Yucatan Peninsula in the ninth century, and tells about a Mayan girl trying to save her city. Eveningstar Macaw is a brave,adventurous and clever girl. The Well of Sacrifice is about how one Mayan city might have fallen apart.

In the beginning of the book, Eveningstar met a Savage. Though he was an enemy of her people, he was kind to her. Next, the king died and the high priest took over the city. With the help of the Savage, Eveningstar worked hard to save her family and the city, making the high priest very angry. Finally, the high priest threw Eveningstar into the Well of Sacrifice.

The author included many details about the life of the ancient Maya. For example, people in Eveningstar's city worshiped Mayan gods, like Itzamna and Ah Puch. Also, Eveningstar went out into the jungle to gather plants, such as snake root, to use as medicine. In addition, their food included tortillas, corn, fruits, squash and beans.

The Well of Sacrifice is an adventure-filled book. Readers ages nine and up would enjoy reading this book.

I had the good fortune of reading a final draft of this book. It set a gripping story in a well-researched, utterly convincing setting. The heroine is likable and believable. I recommend it highly.

Chris Bloch's "Well of Sacrifice" is a fictional anthropological tour of Maya life set during the tenth century just as the Maya civilization has peaked and the mighty Mesoamerican civilzation starts to crumble. This wonderful book, targeted at 6th grade and up, is strong in historical and cultural content and makes a terrific complement to an educational program, or in preparation for travel to the Yucatan or anywhere in Central America where the Maya had significant presence. Imbued with cultural context, Bloch's narrative makes the educational content fully engaging.

While Maya nobility and royalty play a key role in the story, the focus of Bloch's book is on the common people, specifically one young girl named Eveningstar Macaw, and how, through the will of her personality, changes this one Maya city. The Story is not action-filled until the last 40 pages or so, but it moves quickly and Evengstar is well-developed.

She's very respectful and religious, but not blindly so. She's free-thinking and logical, while also proscribing to her deep religious foundational beliefs (sacrifices and all).

Through Eveningstar, author Bloch takes the reader on a tour of Mayan society, and this what makes the book truly standout. We read about the Maya culture, religion, as well as their calendaring system. As Eveningstar finds her way through the difficulties of Mayan life, the reader learns about the society's professions, food, hobbies, trade, death rituals, medicinal and construction capabilities, and military. Bloch even builds a scene at a ball court, found at many Maya sites throughout Mesoamerica. The story concludes with a view into some of the climatological, military, religious and societal reasons as to why the Classic Maya age came to an end.

Bloch takes the archaeological-based realities of Maya life, and communicates it through a strong and simple narrative.

I enjoyed this book as an adult. It puts flesh on the bone of a people I know relatively little about. I'll ask my 11 and14 year olds to read it before we travel to the Yucatan and visit Chchen Itza and Tulum.

The Well of Sacrifice by Chris Eboch is an amazing book about a Mayan girl named Eveningstar Macaw who has to save herself and her family from an evil high priest named Great Skull Zero. The story takes place in a fictional Mayan city during the ninth century. Other important characters are Eighteen Rabbit, Eveningstar's father, Blue Quetzal, Eveningstar's mother, Feather Dawn, Eveningstar's sister, Smoke Shell, Eveningstar's brother, Small, the family's Savage slave, and King Flint Sky God, their city's amazing god-king.
I would recommend this book to readers who are interested in other cultures, are studying the Mayans, or just want to try something different. Readers anywhere from ten to twelve years of age would enjoy this book though thirteen and fourteen year olds might like it as well. Girls and boys alike would agree on what an amazing book it is. If you enjoy an easy read, read this book.

I read The Well of Sacrifice, by Chris Eboch, for a school assignment. I thought it was an excellent read. It's about a girl named Eveningstar Macaw. She's a Mayan who lives in the Yucatan Peninsula in the 9th century. While in the jungle gathering plants for her mother, who is a healer, Eveningstar sees a group of savages, probably preparing to attack her city. At the time, Eveningstar's city had been fighting with groups of Indians from islands in the Caribbean, and they called them the savages. Eveningstar alerts her older brother, Smoke Shell, who gathers up a group of men and attacks the savages. Her family is then promoted to noble status, and after the king dies, many people want Smoke Shell to be the next king. But the evil high priest, Great Skull Zero, wants to be king. He makes an order to have Smoke Shell and many other men sacrificed to the gods. Along with her servant, Small, Eveningstar sets out to save her brother and her whole city from the wrath of Great Skull Zero. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone, boys and girls, who is interested in the Mayas or wants a good book to read. I would say it's good for people ages 10 and up, but only because there are some scenes that might frighten younger children. It has a lot of action, and it taught me a lot about the Mayan culture. This was a very entertaining and exciting book.

After reading "The Well of Sacrifice," I became a devout Chris Eboch fan. This novel is so captivating, you should definitely plan to read it straight through, the heck with everything else! Eboch has an extraordinary skill for transporting the reader to another time (ninth-century) and place (a Mayan city) from the exciting first-person narrative of Eveningstar Macaw - a young Mayan.

From the first line..."Even in the middle of a clear day, much of the jungle is as dark as a room at dusk..." to the last, you'll be drawn into a world that you barely knew existed. Ancient Mayan culture will literally come alive as you learn about Mayan food, survival, animal and human sacrifice, war, betrayal, religion and bravery. Names like Eighteen Rabbit, Great Skull Zero and Feather Dawn will fascinate you as you follow Eveningstar's struggle to expose the evil High Priest's motivations in sacrificing the city's young male nobles, including her brother. Her boldness makes her an enemy of the regime, and she is condemned to be cast into the Well of Sacrifice. How will she escape to rescue her family and city from the evil taking them all to perdition? You have to read "The Well of Sacrifice" to find out!

History courses from sixth grade through college should make this book required reading -- Jodi Lea Stewart, Author of Summer of the Ancient - Silki, the girl of many scarves