Series of sci-fi books from the 80s featuring a Jedi like character [duplicate]

Question

I've been trying to recall a book (or books) I read many years ago. It featured a main character that was a highly trained martial artist, part of an order of Jedi-like warriors.

I can only remember bits and pieces but I do remember the protagonist surviving a trek across a deadly desert as one of the last tests he had to pass before becoming a fully fledged member.

He also had to best several other trainees in combat, a feat he managed to achieve but had severe injuries at the end of the fight. I'm assuming the book was printed in the early 80s but I can't be sure, it could have been anytime from the 70s to late 80's.

If anyone has heard of this book (was it a series?), I'd love to know what it was called.

Answer 1

Young Legionary by Douglas Hill

First published in 1982 as a prequel to the (oft-asked-about on this site) Last Legionary quartet, Young Legionary describes Keill Randor's life with four short linked short stories. The first of these stories, "Ordeal" describes Keill's rite of passage to become a Young Legionary at the age of 12. This is a trek through desolate mountains and a desert region of the planet Moros, including what turns out to be an atypically high number of encounters with dangerous animals.

The final story is "Games", where Keill has just graduated as a full Legionary and is competing in the Martial Games of Moros. This includes various rounds of combat, with one round being an all-against-all where the other 3 participants attack Keill simultaneously at the start. Keill wins that match and others, but requires medical attention after several of them.

Regarding the Jedi-like description - the Legionaries of Moros do not possess superhuman powers, but they are trained to the peak of physical abilities and focus on mental discipline, to the extent that in-universe this is considered to be a borderline mutation that makes Legionaries almost unstoppable against most opponents.