Ok I read this back in the 70s. It’s probably from the 50s or 60s because it was already in my house as a kid.
I thought the name had “spire” in it but maybe it was just next to The Spire on the bookshelf. I want to say “The Iron Spire” or “The Spire of Mars” but I’m not getting hits on those.
It was set on Mars I think. There was a primitive civilization of gargoyle like creatures. Maybe they were genetically manipulated humans?
There was one human on the planet. And he had some high tech equipment available to him that protected him from the gargoyles. The equipment recognized his DNA as human but not the gargoyles and so it would only work for him. But there was a throwback gargoyle that had soft hanging skin that the equipment also thought was human.
I think the human had a spaceship and he could climb the ladder and get in but if the gargoyles touched it they were shocked. I cant remember if the throwback gargoyle was his friend or enemy.
I was under 10 when I read it and didnt like it. I decided I was too young to understand it and read it again in my teens and still didnt get it. I’d like to find out what the story was really about.
Omega Man was one of my favorite movies as a kid, I would’ve easily recoginized it.