Literary devices can include figurative language and sensory details. Every book has some, but the amount will vary. For example, this sentence contains both of those literary devices to describe the rain on Haidoral Prime during a battle.

It smelled like vinegar, clung to the molded curves of the modular industrial buildings and to litter-strewn streets, and coated skin like a sheen of acrid sweat. (Ch. 2)

These literary devices are designed to set the scene, and describe what Twilight Company is facing. The first one, “smelled like vinegar,” is a sensory detail. It helps you picture the scene by telling you what the rain smells like, and comparing it to a smell you likely know. The second one, “coated skin like a sheen of acrid sweat,” is a simile. It compares the rain to sweat. It also describes the smell with the word "acrid." This is a simile because a simile compares one thing to another by describing it with the word “like” or “as.”

Another example of a literary device is a metaphor. The description of Hazram Namir thinking about how much he hates urban warfare is an example.

The thought of sleep flashed into his mind and broke against a wall of stubbornness. (Ch. 2)

Thoughts do not break, and stubbornness is not a wall. This is a metaphor because it compares two unlike things by describing something as something else. His stubbornness is compared to a wall, like it is something physical. 

The book describes a civil war, so there will naturally be a lot of descriptions. Sensory details describe how the battlefield smells, sounds, looks, feels and even tastes.  These descriptions help the reader picture the battle and understand what the characters are going through. Figurative language is useful in science fiction because it can help the reader see something that does not exist in our world.