I’ll just take this semi-legitimate opportunity to pay Robinson a backhanded compliment: I deeply disliked both main characters in 2312, which is a compliment since I enjoyed the book overall.
And of course there’s no rule that says protagonists or major characters have to be likable. And I don’t think he was trying, or in any event trying hard, to make characters that I or other readers would like. But it was kind of interesting to root for the “good guys” in their adventures to save humanity while also being very conscious of how little I’d mind if the shadowy conspiracy they were up against managed to kill off THOSE SPECIFIC humans.
