Sky Knife is a young man cursed with an unlucky name - a name his mother saw in a vision and pledged that her son would bear, to honor whatever destiny the gods had decreed. He hasn't the luck to take one of the usual paths charted for his people: farmer, soldier, merchant - all these roads are closed to him. The only hope for him lies in service at the King's Temple, where - he hopes - the gods will make clear his purpose in the world. But as a novice priest he has little hope of fulfilling his destiny. That is, until a human sacrifice goes horribly wrong, priests begin to die, and the skies fill with dangerous portents and visions. Magic of all sorts seems to cling to Sky Knife like a shroud, but if he is daring and lucky enough, he may just find out the answer - and, in doing so, win a place among his people. Sky Knife is a compelling and evocative portrait of ancient Mayan culture.
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Marella Sands has an M.A. in anthropology from Kent State University and has devoted years of study to ancient Mayan culture. From brutal human sacrifice to the daily concerns of a people for whom magic is as common as the air that they breathe, she has created an evocative portrait of a people and a way of life totally unlike our own. Sky Knife is her first novel.