Coming from a reader of the whole series: the second season has much better writing and budget, and the actors have also worked together long enough to gel well. Aside from the casting of a certain Martian girl (someone should introduce the director to some real Marines), I think they avoided major errors and everyone in the house is eagerly awaiting the next season.

This can be the problem with adaptations. If you've read and enjoyed the books, you not only possibly know whats going to happen but you have specific expectations. Personally, I haven't read The Expanse and have enjoyed the series.

In the first episode the Belter they arrested was supposedly 7ft tall, frail and thin. They tortured him by hanging him from his torso until his heart collapsed due to gravity. The belters have only been in space a few hundred(?) years so physiologically they wouldn't look that different from earthers.

I wish more people could attempt anime adaptations of these sorts of works. The medium is just so much more high concept friendly; making strange alien characters and settings has a similar cost profile to storys about human characters and normal settings.

Alas, most of that artistic movement is very limited to adapting source material from its own unique cultural direction. However, a growing interest from western studios and growing understanding that non-comedy adult animation can be a thing makes me optimisic.

Also, my personal favorite for adaptation would be Hyperion Cantos. It has a lovely episodic feel at the start, as the pilgrims, tell their respective stories, and slowly piece togeather the true story. They seek a horrible, mysterious machine god on a distant colony pLanet, which is said to grant 1 wish for any appropriately sized band of pilgrims, at the cost of the rest of their lives.