The Beast Master — Andre Norton

Left homeless by the war that reduced Terra to a radioactive cinder, Hosteen Storm â€�" Navaho commando and master of beasts â€�" is drawn to the planet Arzor, to kill a man he has never met. On that dangerous frontier world, aliens and human colonists share the land in an uneasy truce. But something is upsetting the balance, and Storm is caught in the middle. He had thought the war was over â€�" but was it? “Miss Norton endows this story of a homeless, revenge-driven man with her own inimitable touch. The result is a compelling and compassionate tale.” â€�" The New York Times Book Review