Towers of Dawn — Todd Maternowski

The holy men of Exmortus Abbey have unearthed a terrible evil. To save their floundering faith, they dug up an artifact of immense power -- and unleashed the demon avatar of long-dead gods. Ash Xavier, a brilliant young knight-in-training, survives the avatar's brutal onslaught on the Abbey only to see his entire world crumble around him. With no weapons, no horse, no map and no chance, he must use his wits alone to take the artifact across hundreds of miles of hostile terrain to safety in the fabled city of Helios -- provided he can survive that long. EXMORTUS, BOOK I: TOWERS OF DAWN is a work of epic dark fantasy in the mold of George R.R. Martin or Gene Wolfe, with fresh angles on the classic literary problems of growing into adulthood, sword-and-sorcery adventure, love and sex, friendship and betrayal, guilt and innocence, murder and exile, battles on land and at sea, creepy demons and how to deal with unkillable beasts at the worst possible times. EXMORTUS: TOWERS OF DAWN is followed by the second book of the trilogy, EXMORTUS BOOK II: TEMPLES DIABOLIC, and the third and final installment, EXMORTUS BOOK III: TOMBS OF HALF-GODS.