Lyctor? I Hardly Know Her

This blog contains Locked Tomb Spoilers

In the movie, the shock comes bc Ryland is acting in character for himself, but out of character for the scene. Movie Ryland isn't good at being an astronaut, he's not trained, Stratt basically had to convince him to continue working on astrophage. It's already been established outwardly that he's a coward, but you're still disappointed that he wouldn't rise to the occasion knowing that it's humanity's only shot.

In the book on the other hand, Ryland is out of character for HIMSELF, and in character for the scene. Ryland doesn't really come off as a coward in the book, he's fairly calm and in general he comes off as someone who at the very least knows what he's doing. He IS trained as an astronaut, and he barged in on Stratt cleaning up his lab and basically begged her to let him keep working on the astrophage because he couldn't sit by while bad things happened to the kids he taught. That's why when he freaks out over being told he was the third choice you're so upset, because you know he can do it. The big difference tho is that unlike in the movie, Grace was trained as an astronaut basically without his knowledge. When he finds out they want him to be the science specialist he also finds out that for the past years(??) the person he was closest to had him living on an airship because she was essentially planning his death. He was her second in command not out of merit but because she had him as a contingency. That SUCKS.