Caliban's War Literary Elements

Science Fiction

The novel is set primarily in space near planets across the solar system.

The novel is told from a third-person point of view.

The novel is tense, violent, intense, mythological, judgemental, energetic, and helpful.

James Holden is the novel's protagonist and the mysterious alien race are the novel's antagonists.

The major conflict of the novel is the one between humans and Martians as they struggle to cut through the misinformation and try to avoid war.

The space battle between different factions of the U.N. and the Martians is the climax of the novel.

The super soldiers being an invention of a rogue faction of the United Nations is foreshadowed early on in the book by the interactions of some of that body's leaders.

The sheer evil of some of the members of the U.N. is understated throughout the novel.

There are a number of allusions to the previous novel in the series, to other science fiction novels and films (like Battlestar: Galactica), to science and scientific concepts, other popular culture, mythology, and religions (particularly Buddhism and Catholicism).

As things grow more tense between the United Nations and Martian Republic, violent imagery becomes more common in the novel.

The Martians seemingly have no super soldier technology, yet are blamed for the deaths the super soldiers bring.

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The U.N. is a metonym for the United Nations, which governs the entire Earth.

The Rocinante, Holden's ship, is personified.