2312 is actually quite interesting about 100 pages in, I just wish the author's style would me more on my taste; this way it is like reading a very dry proof but of a very interesting result so while I derive little emotional pleasure, it's intellectually satisfying; let's hope that continues as otherwise as fiction I would have no reason to continue with 2312 and i really wish to finish it.

I finished 2312 and overall I wouldn't call it disappointing as I did not expect that much from it, but I wish the author would write better prose as the book is full of interesting ideas; that however is not enough as the novel is utterly lifeless and it reads like a play on an empty stage where characters rush along and try to engage the spectators in an imagination game (see, now I am traveling to Earth, now I am on Mercury, now we are in a spaceship...) while a constant flow of information rolls in the background...

In other words, the book has no "external reality" and the main characters read like paper constructs than actual living human beings

Here is a little more coherent take on the above as done on FBC:

There are a lot of detailed and raving reviews out there about 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson and I can appreciate them intellectually, but for me the "writing magic" that makes a book more than a collection of words without special meaning beyond the dictionary one, mostly lacks here.

I wouldn't call the novel disappointing as I did not expect that much from it considering my past experience with the author's style, but I wish the author would write better prose as the book is full of interesting ideas. That however is not enough as the novel is utterly lifeless and it reads like a play on an empty stage where characters rush along and try to engage the spectators in an imagination game: see, now I am traveling to Earth, now I am on Mercury, now we are in a spaceship, while a constant flow of information rolls in the background... In other words 2312 reminded me strongly of the TV play adaptions where characters talk and talk and describe action happening to them, though we actually have to imagine it, rather then see it...That's fine if the actors are great, but here as mentioned we have just a string of words...

So overall, 2312 has no "external reality" and the main characters read like paper constructs than actual living human beings and the book is most liekly the last I will ever attempt from the author as if one of the most interesting subjects possible for me (solar system space opera) and the book reads lifeless, there is no point in wasting time again.