I'm kinda "eh" about the whole thing. Not sure if I like it or dislike it, but either way the reaction this engenders isn't strong. Having to redo characters is kinda annoying though, and I'll probably end up officially retiring most of them.
I've probably read Greg Bear's "The Forge of God" a dozen times over the past twenty years, and every time I'll still get all misty-eyed at the end of it. The will melancholia stay with me for days, but it's a good melancholia, if you can believe that.
The scary thing is that the sorts of events it describes could be happening right now...