Author: Todd Maternowski
Publisher: Self-Published
Publish Date: August 1, 2011
Source: I received a copy from the author. This did not affect my review.
Why You're Reading This Book:
- You're a fantasy fan.
- You like a good adventure story.
From Goodreads.com: "A group of battle-weary knights from the ancient monastic fortress of Exmortus Abbey have unearthed something... unholy.
A new star hangs low in the horizon, directly over the hellhole where half the Abbey's knights lost their lives, a star that some of the men claim is following them...
And back at Exmortus, Ash Xavier, an impatient young knight-in-training, is beginning to unearth ages-old secrets beneath the Abbey's vaults, oblivious to the horrors hurtling at him through space...
EXMORTUS, BOOK I: TOWERS OF DAWN is a work of dark fantasy in the mold of George R.R. Martin or Gene Wolfe, in which every standard fantasy cliche is skewered and boiled alive, and where the heroes and villains are not what they seem."
My Two Cents:
This is the perfect book for anyone who likes a good adventure story. It is a fantasy and while I don't usually read fantasy, this one is not overwhelming with its fantasy elements. This book could be one to get me to read more fantasy! I liked that Maternowski was able to sort of "normalize" the world so that the reader was not bombarded with all these different creatures and powers that you have to then remember what they are and what they do, which can be overwhelming(a factor that has turned me off from many a fantasy book in the past).
Ash is a young knight. He belongs to an order of great knights who he greatly respects. He also believes that he is destined to be among the greatest of the knights when he gets a little older. He's very arrogant at first and looks down on a lot of the younger knights in the order. He eventually grows and changes and becomes way more likable throughout the book, which is sort of a neat transition. He goes on an adventure with several characters after the order of the knights are attacked by a mysterious demon who appears first as a star.
There were definitely some parts that were pretty crude and I was a little grossed out. This book is not for the weak of heart (or stomach for that matter). I almost felt like the crudeness of Steed, another character in the book, was over the top and I'm not sure if I understood the reasoning behind being bombarded with just how crude Steed was.
I would say that this book is a good cross-over for those who don't usually read fantasy books but want to try a good one.
What a nice and fair review. As a fantasy reader, I'll have to keep my eye out for this!
ReplyDelete