I really had to scroll a lot to figure out what the hell happened that I clicked one thread and ended up in another. We are supposed to get on fried foods when we derail, guys. Quit with this unapproved off topic stuff. >_>
Book 3 is covered basically in season 3. Caliban is what one of the protomolecule hybrids is called. Book 4 might help with some background on s4, but be aware characters from the book WERE changed (Murtry is still a bastard, though).
I have recently got to the books (after watching the series). I really like the series. I like the books even more (currently chewing through Abaddon's Gate). As usual, there's a lot of differences, especially in the pacing. But both are good. And knowing the series making the books easier to understeand :)
I only became aware of the books in 2015 AFTER watching the first episode of season 1 (and was told "it's based on some books"). I read all that I could find to that point (I think I got up to Caliban's war by the time season 1 ended). I've been a fan of both the books and the series since. I don't care if the series doesn't slavishly follow the books. There are things with the written word that are unnecessary in a video medium and while you can spend an entire chapter detailing the journey from A to B, it doesn't make for riveting watching (even if, yes, space is "big".)
Yeah my mate told me it's based on some books, was hoping to get some for Christmas after a lot of hinting but no success :-( enjoying the new series. Got one more episode to go
I had a friend recommending the series a few years before it was a series. Didn't read the books until the first three seasons were done. The differences from one medium to the next feel necessary and not forced. They amalgamated a few characters each season, wove in some of the short stories to fill in some of the narrative, introduced Avasarala early as it would make a lot of stuff less confusing, etc. The show flows very well in a way that a more direct translation of mediums simply would not. I love both almost equally. There are bits from the books missing (usually small moments) that I really like and wanted to see on screen, but I totally get why they used the parts they did and the parts they didn't. Season 4 was my biggest disappointment, but it is still excellent. I just think some of the weight of the book (a lot of internal stuff and some exposition) didn't make it. There's an entire secondary plot that was removed that I feel would have given more weight to the seriousness of what was going on and that, without it, they didn't adjust Murtry enough to account for it. He's still a bastard, but there's a lot of missing bastard shit he pulled (and some epic moments) that were excised and left his character feeling more like just some asshole instead of the absolute menace he really was. They also changed the whole reason the Roci was sent (and then didn't lean into it enough at all), and that completely altered a lot of Avasarala's plot and, while it is visibly there, you have to be looking for it and it isn't subtext so much as they didn't change enough, so there were the script equivalent of evolutionary leftovers.
