I want to start by saying I've never read the books (nor even heard of them).
I truly cannot understand the popularity of this show. The characters are 1-dimensional. The main character is a female who can't do anything without a man? She does nothing but cry and whine and whinge for her "friend". They both care so much about each other, but neither can describe their feelings? Does this show care about character building? And what about the main character's strength? She's supposedly been in the military for at least a few years, but somehow cannot fight or really stand up for herself. How can she be so pathetic and cringy? The only part of this show I like is the world and setting. They had so much going for them. But each character feels like a cardboard cutout of a stereotype. Actually, Inej is a possible exception to this.
All in all, I'm very disappointed with how they crafted this show. Should have been better.