The Beast Master
Andre Norton
 It tells the story of Hosteen Storm, an ex-soldier who travels to a distant planet with his comrades, a group of genetically altered animals with whom he has empathic and telepathic connections. The team are hired to herd livestock, but Storm still harbors anger at his former enemies the Xik, and has sworn revenge on a man named Quade for actions against Storm's family in the past. In this novel and the following series, Norton explores aspects of Native American culture (specifically that of the Navajo) through metaphors in Storm's life and in the culture he adopts on his new home world.