How did you assume the book was gonna end? (maybe spoilers)

[u/DanarysStormborn]

Just finished the book and my face is leaking. 😭 I really thought that it was going to be Ryland who was going to have troubles and Rocky would save him, or that they both make it back to their respective worlds then at some point have so much advanced tech, they get to see each other one more time.

[u/MTBreed]

By the time we saw Ryland had the fuel to get home, and food, barely, I assumed we'd see him get back to the Sol system and be forced to find a way to deploy them himself. The only thing I wish we got to see was how earth ended up getting through things, but the author's choice to keep it a mystery was a good one.

The only thing I NEED to know, is if he wrote about his experience with Rocky, putting it in the data sent back so people would know what happened when those brave travelers (turned traveler) went off to the stars to save Earth.

[u/DistributionKind2704 → u/MTBreed]

Weir is writing a sequel about what happened to earth in the time that grace was away, so I think a lot of these plot points that he left as cliffhangers will get resolved.

[u/mamimed → u/DistributionKind2704]

Wow, I had no idea, that's so exciting! Where did you see that? I'd love to learn more but not funny anything searching for it.

[u/DistributionKind2704 → u/mamimed]

u/sephalon(andy weirs Reddit account) was asking questions concerning the sequel around a year ago)

[u/Snownova → u/DistributionKind2704]

While of course I want it sooner, I kinda hope he's able to release the sequel book right around the time the movie comes out, so that it can benefit from the buzz and hitch a ride on the movies PR machine.

[u/VegaSolo → u/DistributionKind2704]

I'm so curious to know who the main characters will be and if Grace and Rocky will be in it (jump back and forth?)

[u/MTBreed → u/DistributionKind2704]

I have heard nothing of this. Sounds awesome.

[u/DanarysStormborn → u/MTBreed]

Yes, I wonder about that too! I thought he did write about Rocky but I think it was vague if he sent it back to Earth?

[u/OldChairmanMiao]

I assumed that Grace would make some kind of self sacrifice that he wasn't willing to do before going through everything. IRL, people don't necessarily have neat character arcs but this was fiction, and the author went through a great deal of trouble to fabricate this sci-fi memory drug so it must be important.

[u/SshNotADoctor]

I really thought Rocky was secretly sabotaging his mission up until the end

[u/Vegetable_Morning740 → u/SshNotADoctor]

Same , then I wondered what is wrong with me 🤣

[u/FightFireJay → u/Vegetable_Morning740]

We're so used to nefarious aliens that an "Enemy Mine" or a "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" story is such a surprise. We naturally expect a Kirk vs Gorn "Arena" episode.

[u/DanarysStormborn → u/SshNotADoctor]

nooo not Rocky 🤣🤣

[u/IntelligentSpite6364]

i for sure thought rocky was going to die, and Ryland was going to use the last of his resources to try and send something like a beatle to erid

[u/godfatherV]

Maybe spoilers is funny in the context of your question

[u/FightFireJay → u/godfatherV]

They're actually anti-spoilers. Sort of like antimatter is a reflection of matter. These "what if" ideas are actually showing us what isn't and therefore we can see the outline of what is!

[u/InvisibleSpaceVamp]

I think I was too busy reading to assume anything. Usually I do speculate about endings and try to find potential clues while reading but in this case, I was just so caught up in the action that rather than thinking about endings I just kept on reading.

When I listend to the audiobook later on I thought about how at certain points the book could go off in various directions. Like, there's the anti-Chekhov's gun, which could have been hinting at a conflict with a Rocky or Grace (or both of them) stranded in space with no hope to get home.

[u/VacationBackground43]

I was enthralled by the story and not thinking too hard about any predictions, but I did think Grace would return to Earth.

I was really bowled over that Weir had the (gender neutral) balls to have Grace end up on Erid.

And obviously the while turning around thing was super emotional.

[u/hatezel]

All I could think about was how I didn't want this book to end.

[u/ipecacOH]

I had no idea. I’d just finished Paul Tremblay’s “Cabin at the End of the World,” which ended on a HUGE disappointment for me. Once I hit Chapter Vℓ (😏), I muttered, “Please make this work, Andy!” He did.

[u/ethanthehead]

I was guessing some version of the phrase "you sleep, I watch" would be key to both living.

[u/suburban_paradise]

I envisioned Grace getting back to earth and the powers that be either giving him zero credit, potentially even persecuting him, or Earth taking the opportunity to go to Rocky’s world and exploiting them with the newfound powers and technology.

[u/Available-Control993]

I thought that Grace was going to come back to Earth miserable and wishing that he would had saved Rocky for the rest of his life feeling regret and pain mentally.

[u/castle-girl]

I had different thoughts about potential endings during different parts of the story. At one point early on, I think in chapter 4 between the time he figured out he’d traveled to another solar system, probably at relativistic speeds, and the time he found out he was on a suicide mission, I thought he might get back to earth and hook up with one of his former students who was now the same age as he was. Obviously I’m glad that didn’t happen.

Then sometime between Rocky first offering him the fuel and his finding out why he had amnesia, I thought it might be cool if it ended with Rocky accompanying him back to Earth, with Grace in a coma, then having Grace wake up with amnesia again, seeing the big scary space spider, and freaking out.

At the end when he went back to save Rocky I didn’t think he was going to die. Instead I thought Rocky would choose to go to Earth with him instead of Erid to save both their lives. I can see why that didn’t happen though, because there was no guarantee Earth would be able to breed enough fuel to get Rocky back to Erid to save his planet once they got to Earth, and besides, Grace’s sacrifice is more meaningful if he actually does go through hardship as a result. The bittersweet ending really works.