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I read this as part of the Hugo Nominee packet, knowing it won the Nebula. I expected dense science fiction, as winners tend to be along that line; that proved to be true. However, I didn't expect to find the book so annoying and unnecessarily long.

The world-building is the source 2312's brilliance. Mercury is described with astonishing vividness from the very start--this being a world where sun worshipers risk their lives to see the sun rise, and where the sole bastion of civilization is a mobile terrarium that is constantly outrunning fatal sunlight. Most space travel is also done via terrariums--microcosms of Earth or fantasy environments, replete with wild animals and agriculture and cities; I loved the uniqueness of this. The physics also feel very real, down to g-forces, the dangers of space, and the mechanics of space elevators. Biological adaptations are also commonplace. The lead characters go by standard gender pronouns, but there's something more going on in their pants.

Earth is the source of humanity's diaspora, and it has suffered in the years prior to 2312. Global warming has melted many of the ice caps and flooded the continents. Florida is completely underwater. I was fascinated by how he described Earth in this condition.

However, the lead character was not as compelling.

Swan is rather unstable, manic and outright annoying. She does incredibly stupid things, repeatedly; there's a subplot involving wolves that felt like it was supposed to be largely symbolic, and it was more of a distraction. When she is intelligent, it's because of her qube, her computer implant. Sadly, the qube isn't in charge most of the time. Robinson's writing is excellent in showing Swan from her own viewpoint and that of others, and how she does annoy other people and drive them away (readers included, alas).

The book is over 500 pages and feels far too long. The plot wanders all of the place. There are extra brief chapters interspersed throughout that have extracts and lists of key words. They seemed largely pointless, or in same cases like an excuse to drop in tidbits of world-building that didn't fit in with the narrative.

I can see why the book compelled so many people to vote for it to win the Nebula, but it simply doesn't feel like a cohesive story to me. I think I would have enjoyed a Wikipedia about Earth and the universe in 2312 instead of the character-based novel.