Sci fi. Space voyager enslaved. Guy lands spaceship on planet, goes hunting, has issues with ship. Read in 1980s.

[Michael]

I read a book as a kid back in the 80s that keeps coming to mind, or at least the fragments and i'd love to get it back.

In the story there is a guy that lands his spaceship on a planet and i believe he goes hunting but had issues with the ship and was later picked up by another group who i believe sold him off. What i do remember is he was put to sort items and they were various colours and he became very efficient at it which then helps him in a fight he had later in the book.

[Andy]

This sounds a bit like Catherine Asaro's "The Last Hawk" where a stranded space traveler is captured by a society that uses a strategy game involving patterns of blocks of different shapes and colors. This book is from 1997 though.

[Kris]

The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro for Andy's suggestion.

[Michael]

Thanks i will take a look, if it is i'll mark the post as solved.

[Andy]

Bump.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Michael, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

[Genesistrine]

It's Galactic Odyssey by Keith Laumer.

(Also collected in Odyssey)

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Michael (OP) was last active on the site in March 2016.

[Michael]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Michael, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

This sounds like it from the synopsis. Let me find a copy and confirm! So excited!

[Michael]

Andy wrote: "This sounds a bit like Catherine Asaro's "The Last Hawk" where a stranded space traveler is captured by a society that uses a strategy game involving patterns of blocks of different shapes and colo..."

Genesistrine wrote: "It's Galactic Odyssey by Keith Laumer.

(Also collected in Odyssey)" Sor

Not sure if this was it but will add to my list but @lobstergirl's suggestion sounds a lot more like it.

[Kris]

Thanks for the update, Michael. I moved your request back to the "Unsolved" folder. I added a few book details to the topic header - feel free to edit it.

[Kris]

Google previews of Galactic Odyssey by Keith Laumer - Genesistrine's suggestion:

- https://www.google.com/books/edition/...
- https://www.google.com/books/edition/... (You can Search Inside for keywords.)
- There are different cover images.

Quotes from the book:

- (p. 118) ... an enterprising merchant had draped the front of his stall with scrap of cloth. From the colors, I judged he was color-blind, at least in what I thought of as the visible spectrum.
- (p. 132) ... his cheery, sub-cellar voice. "You hands learn to sort ..."
- (p. 133) ... what looked like tangle of colored spaghetti riding on it.
"Watch," Fsha-fsha said, and I followed through as he sorted them into six categories. Then I tried it ...