Yeah I totally agree, the surprises were great.
I knew literally nothing except for the title and the author and that it could have something to do with space, as he wrote the Martian.
I hadn't read any Andy Weir before, but someone recommended it to me so just started reading.
yes, the writing was annoying in parts (especially the Earth flashbacks). What I liked about it was 1) if you don't know anything about it (I didn't even read the back cover) the surprises evolve nicely; and most importantly, 2) it was a story of humans cooperating with another species rather than either subjugating or resisting subjugation