Alien Yeti-like Protagonist, 3 stages of life + book split into them, last of his species, Pre-2000s Book

Question

I read this book in the 90s and gave it away but now want to reread it. The main character is a male fur covered yeti-like creature and part of a species that have 3 stages of life and the book is split into these 3 sections (with the last being titled "Monolith"). The entire book takes place on a planet that is half super heated and volcanic, half frozen wasteland and all life lives where these two sections meet. Humans are the "bad guys" and basically have come to the planet and hunted the protagonist's species to extinction. As the assumed last of his species he lives out his juvenile life away from humans in the colder/snowy/frozen part of the planet. He becomes aware of a female of his species that has been captured by humans and is going to be taken off world. He then rescues her and they go off to mature and have offspring. The offspring and his mate are hunted and killed or abducted and taken off world by humans. As the actual last of his kind he passes into the senescence/old age/Monolith stage of his species life cycle where he becomes huge/tall and wanders the wintery wastes alone. While doing this he becomes aware of an outcast group of "Rememberers" (another species that are small with big heads and able to remember and recite lots of information, a bit like the Mentats of Frank Herbert's Dune in their role as biological computers). The book ends with the protagonist taking these "Rememberers" up into the frozen wastes and teaching them how to live and all about his species and their culture with the idea that "my species might not survive biologically but their culture will live on in this new group".

I hope that's enough to go on as I've been searching for this book for years without any luck.

Thanks.

Answer 1

This reminds me of Frostworld and Dreamfire by John Morressy.

Amazon product description:

The Onhla are a race of hunters on the frozen planet of Hraggellon. Half Beast, Half - human, wholly inscrutable, they and only they can hunt down the silver pelted corwal. When the Onhla are decimated by disease, only one of their number survives. Hult the last of the Onhla must set out for the far planet where legend tells that other Onhla settled long, long ago. A perilous odyssey into the unknown to save his race from extinction.

I can't find my copy, so just a brief checklist from memory:

3 Stages of Life

Yes. Two stages apparent at the start. The Onhla use some sort of hunting dogs which turn out to be a sort of juvenile stage in their life cycle. There is a mythical third stage which the protagoniost becomes at the end.

Frostworld

This speaks for itself. My memory is of a frozen plant. I don't recall the hot, volcanic part.

Female of his species

As I recall, he hears of a related species on another planet (possibly taken from this planet at some time in the past). He travels there to find a mate.

Humans are the "bad guys"

There were some bad guys. I can't remember the subplot but it had something to do with a showdown in the most frozen bits. The bad guys were after something valuable - minerals or furs.

The offspring and his mate are hunted

I don't recall the detail but from the review linked to below:

Clell is obsessed with two things: gorwol pelts and revenge. He was injured in Hult’s escape, and there’s this whole “nobody insults the Sternverein” kind of thing going on. He, Orm, and some soldiers venture to the night side of the planet and find the remaining Onhla, massacring them and capturing the young, figuring they’ll be able to raise them up to hunt gorwol.

A more complete review here.