Sounds like an Andre Norton novel and is to a degree. Hale Enbo is a planetary scount, indentured to the Ginli, an alien species, who regard other species as lesser species. Hale liked his life but felt he had to leave when he found one of his friends on a vivisection table.

He finds himself on a planet where his life changes and embarks on adventures to learn more. His life is about to be very different.

It's not bad but somehow it really has an idea that's interesting but the characters don't really catch me. I didn't really care enough about what was happening to Hale and didn't really see that he had a huge motivation to continue. ( )