If you haven't read the Expanse novels by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (who together make up the pseudonym James S.A. Corey), now might be a very good time. They've already got a series order, and
today they just started announcing some casting/directing/writing details.
I freaking love these books and am so excited about this TV show.
Leviathan Wakes was the most fun book I read the year it came out, probably - a great popcorn space opera with all kinds of action, fun characters you care about, despicable corporations, thoughtful worldbuilding, weird alien weirdness - just about as much fun as a space opera could be. There are two POVs in it - Jim Holden (who conjures up a cross between Kirk and Holden Caufield in my head), XO of a space freighter, and Detective Miller - a contracted cop on a asteroid belt station.
The sequel
Caliban's War is even better - they expand the POVs to include a female space marine, a filthy-mouthed U.N. politician (who is also a loving grandmother and maybe one of my favorite characters in the series), and a father looking whose daughter has been kidnapped by mad scientists.
I'm listening to the fourth book right now, and I have yet to be let down by this series. If you enjoy fun space opera with an eye on the future and a social conscious, and/or have enjoyed any of Daniel Abraham's stories at PodCastle, I can't recommend it enough.
