@Edent hahaha. I enjoyed these books (and the TV show which did some things better and some worse) but, whew, you hit the nail dead-on. Trope-y to the max. Corey (the two authors) does human interactions well enough and physics well (handwave the magic bits) but the proto-molecule as ongoing macguffin is frustrating. I want more of the colonial relationship between Earth and the Belt, and a lot more of the Belt gaining power over the colonizer (which is def. USA analogue).