This is another one from the category of ‘books I’ve read in the past few years being turned into movies or shows’ and hot damn am I satisfied with it. Don’t let the fact that its on SyFy dissuade you.
Sci fi seems to be making a resurgence, there are a lot of good sci fi shows lately, but what this one does different is it tries to be realistic. It treats gravity (and lack therof) as a real thing (including it’s long term effects). It cares about distances between planets, and the economics it would present, lack of oxygen and water and etc, and builds a brilliant story around all these aspects.
The characters are strong and well acted, and the story is interesting and engaging (as it should be, being based on a series of novels) some people have even called it Game of Thrones in space, except there is a lot less sex and violence–and that is not a negative. This show manages to keep the intrigue and power struggle factor turned way up without the need to distract you with tits and gore.
The show holds true to the book, for the most part. I think they cast the characters very well. I did imagine Miller as much older and grumpier, but Thomas Jane’s portrayal grew on me after a few episodes. Although, IÂ did find myself saying ‘ugh, take off that stupid hat’ quite often, but then, thankfully, he did take it off!
Any sci fi fans should definitely check this one out, you are in for a treat!
Jonas David 
I liked that hat. I might go looking for one like it.
More to the point, it was really useful for storytelling purposes. At a point when we knew nothing about the character, it made him visually distinctive and easy to recognize. It also symbolized a number of aspects of his character, particularly the way he was an outsider in his own culture, where no one wears hats, and not by happenstance but by deliberate choice. The point where he took that hat off and left it behind indicated a huge change in his character.
You’re quite correct about the show being excellent, though. The Syfy budget shows, but the writing is strong and I like the cast. It doesn’t really remind me of Game of Thrones, though, so much as a much more realistic version of Babylon 5. That’s not a bad thing.