Deadman Switch joins a small but growing number of science fiction novels which use space opera devices to explore issues of religion, ethics, and character. James Blish's A Case of Conscience (1958) is a famous predecessor, with a Jesuit protagonist and a race of lizardlike Lithians almost as alien as Zahn's thunderheads. More recent examples include Sheri Tepper's Grass (1990) and Lois Bujold's Barrayar novels, although in Bujold's books honor replaces religion as a source of values.