/lit/ - Literature

Reposting from last thread

I've been trying to remember a book I read in my high school library.

The main character is part of a low-tech human tribe that exists on a seemingly post-apocalyptic word with many other tribes of different intelligent species. All said tribes hunt each other for food. I think the MC's tribe is inbred and dying or something and he goes on a journey which eventually leads to him discovering the entire planet is either a giant show for the galactic populace or is how the various races decide who gets what planet or something I don't exactly remember. He somehow cheats the system to send his gf off planet into safety.

I specifically remember there being a river scene where a sentient aquatic species is trying to eat them. And I believe they kill a white, meat-skeleton humanoid and eat him describing the meat as "sweet"