Caliban's War
Chapters - James S. A. Corey
Prologue: Mei
Four-year-old Mei is at her Montessori school on Ganymede, expecting a visit from her mother. Instead, Doctor Strickland arrives and leads her through unfamiliar corridors to a clinical hospital wing. A strange woman shows Mei her painting and takes her to a room containing a man with unnatural features imprisoned in a glass box. Mei screams in terror at the sight, leaving the nature of the experiments and Strickland's true intentions deeply unsettling.
POV: Mei Meng·On page: Doctor Strickland
Chapter 1: Bobbie
Private Bobbie Draper and her Martian Marine squad are stationed on Ganymede monitoring UN forces when an alert warns of shots fired. They discover the UN Marines are not attacking but fleeing from a terrifying, nearly indestructible creature that tears through both sides. Bobbie engages the monster but her weapons prove ineffective as it slaughters her entire platoon. The creature undergoes a grotesque transformation and detonates in a massive explosion, throwing Bobbie across the ice and leaving her the sole survivor.
POV: Bobbie Draper·On page: Corporal Travis, Private Hillman, Private Gourab
Chapter 2: Holden
Holden and the Rocinante crew intercept space pirates near the outer planets, with Holden seeking to intimidate them into surrender without bloodshed. The pirates capitulate after recognising the threat posed by the Rocinante. Fred Johnson contacts Holden from Tycho Station, urging him to travel to Ganymede due to an urgent situation unfolding there. Holden agrees, setting the crew on course for the next crisis.
POV: James Holden·On page: Naomi Nagata, Amos Burton, Alex Kamal, Fred Johnson
Chapter 3: Prax
Prax is working in his greenhouse on Ganymede when the station's mirrors begin falling and military conflict erupts overhead. He evacuates with his colleague Doris, clutching a single surviving soybean seedling as the station descends into chaos. Desperate to reach his daughter Mei at her day care, Prax navigates locked-down corridors and an explosion. He arrives at the school only to discover Mei is missing, with Doctor Strickland having already taken her.
POV: Praxidike Meng·On page: Doris·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 4: Bobbie
Bobbie regains consciousness after the Ganymede battle, her armoured suit removed and her entire platoon dead. Captain Thorsson interrogates her, demanding she explain why her platoon supposedly fired on a UN outpost, but Bobbie insists they were attacked by a monstrous creature. She urges him to check her suit's video log for proof, but loses consciousness before the footage plays. A doctor fights to prioritise her recovery, and Bobbie learns she will be sent back to Mars.
POV: Bobbie Draper·On page: Captain Thorsson, Captain Martens
Chapter 5: Avasarala
Avasarala attends a crucial UN military meeting where the escalating Earth-Mars tensions over Ganymede dominate discussion. She navigates hawkish military leaders pushing for force, arguing instead for diplomatic talks with Mars. Technical analysis reveals the Ganymede incident shares similarities with past protomolecule events, raising alarm. Afterward, she debriefs with her assistant Soren and reflects on the situation's gravity with her husband Arjun.
POV: Chrisjen Avasarala·On page: Admiral Nguyen, Admiral Souther, Soren Cottwald
Chapter 6: Holden
Holden and his crew, disguised aboard the freighter Somnambulist, arrive at Ganymede to deliver food supplies. They pass a tense UN marine inspection with Naomi posing as captain while Amos provides distraction. Upon landing, a corrupt customs inspector attempts to seize their supplies for the black market. Holden draws his weapon and forces the inspector to back down, ensuring the relief supplies reach the starving refugees.
POV: James Holden·On page: Naomi Nagata, Amos Burton
Chapter 7: Prax
Prax desperately searches Ganymede's security centre for information about Mei, encountering only bureaucratic indifference and long refugee queues. He scours hospitals, contact lists, and even brothels for any lead on his daughter. A visit to Basia Merton, father of another missing child named Katoa, erupts into a physical confrontation born of shared desperation. Prax resolves to keep searching despite his deteriorating physical state and the station's declining conditions.
POV: Praxidike Meng·On page: Basia Merton·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 8: Bobbie
Bobbie is aboard a Martian dreadnought, running laps to maintain her strength while coping with survivor's guilt from Ganymede. She participates in a debriefing where intelligence officers seek her insights on the creature attack, but she clashes with civilians who lack combat experience. Captain Martens, a psychologist, challenges her obsessive coping mechanisms and encourages her to confront her trauma. Bobbie rejects therapy in favour of vengeance, asserting her desire to fight whoever created the creature.
POV: Bobbie Draper·On page: Captain Thorsson, Captain Martens
Chapter 9: Avasarala
Avasarala investigates the connection between strange phenomena on Venus and the Ganymede attack, learning that energy spikes link the two events. She meets Jules-Pierre Mao, whose company has deep ties to the protomolecule, and engages him in a tense battle of wits as she probes for unreported information. Mao reveals his daughter Julie was lost during the Eros incident, adding emotional weight to the exchange. Avasarala discovers Holden is on Ganymede and arranges covert surveillance to monitor his activities.
POV: Chrisjen Avasarala·On page: Jules-Pierre Mao, Admiral Nguyen, Soren Cottwald·Mentioned: James Holden, Julie Mao
Chapter 10: Prax
Prax meets a young Belter boy who accesses security footage showing Mei alive in the company of Doctor Strickland during the attack. He learns that all children from Mei's therapy group have gone missing, presumably taken by Strickland. A food riot erupts on the station, reflecting the desperate conditions as supplies dwindle. Amid the chaos, Prax spots James Holden in the crowd and decides to approach him for help.
POV: Praxidike Meng·On page: James Holden·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 11: Holden
Holden manages a relief depot on Ganymede run by missionaries Santichai and Melissa, receiving insufficient medical supplies for the growing refugee population. When an explosion triggers a mob demanding access to a freighter loaded with food, Holden and Naomi intervene. Naomi uses the threat of OPA firepower to force corporate security to release the supplies. Afterward, a battered and desperate Prax approaches them, begging for help finding his missing daughter.
POV: James Holden·On page: Naomi Nagata, Praxidike Meng
Chapter 12: Avasarala
Avasarala balances family life with her political duties, sharing warm moments with her husband Arjun and grandchildren. She receives intelligence that Admiral Nguyen is redirecting a warship toward Ganymede without authorisation, suspecting he wants to provoke conflict with Mars. Avasarala manoeuvres military resources to reduce provocations while analysing the broader threat from Venus. She prepares to confront Nguyen directly over his dangerous ambitions.
POV: Chrisjen Avasarala·On page: Admiral Nguyen, Soren Cottwald, Arjun Avasarala
Chapter 13: Holden
Holden and his crew search Ganymede's damaged corridors for Mei, bringing food to barter with a hacker for security footage. Amos physically intimidates the hacker to secure video showing Mei's abduction by Doctor Strickland. Prax explains that Mei suffers from a rare genetic condition requiring regular medication, making her a target. The group discovers multiple children were kidnapped and prepares to breach a mysterious door that may lead to where Mei was taken.
POV: James Holden·On page: Amos Burton, Praxidike Meng, Naomi Nagata·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 14: Prax
Prax recovers his strength aboard the relief ship while Amos prepares firearms for the rescue mission. Holden shares alarming updates about Ganymede's collapsing environmental systems, and Prax explains the concept of a cascade - how interconnected systems fail catastrophically once a critical threshold is passed. Amos gives Prax a loaded gun, marking his transformation from passive scientist to active participant. The group encounters hostile locals but Holden leverages his notoriety to form an unexpected alliance for the mission.
POV: Praxidike Meng·On page: Amos Burton, James Holden, Wendell·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 15: Bobbie
Bobbie endures a tedious diplomatic meeting between Martian and UN representatives on Earth, frustrated that nobody is discussing the creature that killed fifty soldiers. She breaks protocol to demand the assembly address the monster threat, and an older woman in a bright sari - Avasarala - encourages her to speak. Thorsson threatens disciplinary measures for the outburst and plans to send her back to Mars. Bobbie ventures outside the UN complex alone, experiencing Earth's open sky for the first time and grappling with agoraphobia.
POV: Bobbie Draper·On page: Chrisjen Avasarala, Captain Thorsson, Captain Martens
Chapter 16: Holden
Holden leads an armed team through Ganymede's eerie corridors searching for Mei, establishing strict communication protocols. They discover an abandoned laboratory and find the body of Katoa, a boy from Mei's therapy group, devastating Prax who knew the child. The group encounters a dozen armed individuals in another room, and Prax's emotional outburst nearly triggers a violent confrontation. The stakes of the rescue mission become painfully clear as evidence of experimentation on children mounts.
POV: James Holden·On page: Amos Burton, Naomi Nagata, Praxidike Meng, Wendell·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 17: Prax
Chaos erupts as Prax accidentally fires his gun during a confrontation, witnessing the gruesome aftermath of the ensuing firefight. The team races through corridors filled with death as they push toward where Mei might be held. They discover evidence of violence from a mysterious third party also involved in the conflict. Prax clings to hope that Mei is still alive, driven forward by parental determination despite the escalating danger.
POV: Praxidike Meng·On page: James Holden, Amos Burton, Wendell·Mentioned: Mei Meng
Chapter 18: Avasarala
Avasarala meets with Secretary-General Sorrento-Gillis, who gives her a blank cheque of resources to investigate the Venus situation, though she suspects ulterior motives from Errinwright. She recruits Bobbie Draper as her liaison to the Martian military at a bar, forming an alliance based on shared desire for truth. Avasarala receives an urgent update that Holden has started a firefight on Ganymede involving a botanist named Praxidike Meng. She orders immediate support to bring Holden and his group in, recognising this could be pivotal to understanding the protomolecule threat.
POV: Chrisjen Avasarala·On page: Bobbie Draper, Sadavir Errinwright, Admiral Nguyen, Soren Cottwald, Esteban Sorrento-Gillis, Captain Thorsson·Mentioned: James Holden, Praxidike Meng
Chapter 19: Holden
Holden is overwhelmed by memories of Eros as he encounters black protomolecule filaments on Ganymede, insisting his crew prepare for immediate escape. He makes the agonising decision to abandon an injured man despite his moral objections, and Amos challenges him on it. The crew is confronted by armed mercenaries, leading to a desperate firefight in which Holden is severely injured. He is ultimately captured, leaving the crew in a dire situation.
POV: James Holden·On page: Amos Burton, Naomi Nagata, Wendell