After the second or third episode of Game of Thrones, I rushed out to get the books. After watching the first two episodes of The Expanse, I'm jumping on yet another bandwagon (whatever the fuck a 'bandwagon' is). There is apparently some sort of relationship between the writers of 'The Expanse' novels and George R.R. Martin, and the ads announced the adaptation as 'Game of Thrones in space', but my enthusiasm was very lukewarm until I actually watched it. I'd say it's the best SF television I've seen in a long while -- as good as the Battlestar Galactica mini-series from 2004 -- and the GRRM connection translated into a big budget and great cast... I just hope the story holds up. Reviews of 'Leviathan Wakes' on GR seem pretty positive, ranging between 3 and 5 stars amongst friends who are very experienced in all things science fiction. Right away the prose is fairly impressive, and the show seems to be following the novel very closely for now, meaning the book opens with a literal bang. The way it's balancing a large number of characters, scattered across a solar system that feels very big without FTL capabilities, is a very good sign. Mystery, political intrigue, and the good ol' fashioned 'distress signal answered by a commercial transport/mining vessel/etc.' (how many times have I seen that in one form or another? Alien, Event Horizon, Sunshine... it never ends well, but I love it every time I see it); it sinks the hook in earlier and deeper than most hardboiled space dramas manage to do, at least in my experience. One of my favorites, Neal Stephenson's Anathem, moved along at a geriatric pace for the first couple hundred pages, until suddenly the slack lines snapped taut. Altered Carbon had a weak beginning that almost convinced me to ditch it. I'm hoping this strong beginning bodes well.