Generally speaking, Modesitt's heros/heroines aren't supposed to be particularly loveable. In the fantasies mostly they start off dense and kind of grow in understanding until they are reasonably decent human beings. In the sci-fi ones, they mostly start off dense and kind of grow into the understanding that they will have to do terrible things and then try to manage to live with themselves afterward because not doing the terrible things will result in even more terrible things happening. IMO the sorceress books were not his best series, however.