Which character do you least sympathise with in The Chrysalids?

I think the character that the author means us to
sympathise with least in this novel is Joseph Storm, the father of David and Petra, who,
throughout the novel, shows that he has wedded himself irreversibly to the principles of
Waknuk society that defy deviations and mutations. The way in which he is perfectly
happy to hunt down his son and daughter for his inflexible religious beliefs clearly
indicate that he is not a pleasant character. He is presented from his very first
introduction in the story as a character who is resolutely wedded to the duty of acting
to preserve his beliefs, as he "sets a high example" and also, we are told, slaughters
and burns any deviations much more than any other
farmer:

My
father, however, seldom called in the inspector, he preferred to be on the safe side and
liquidate anything doubtful. There were people who disapproved of his meticulousness,
saying that the local Deviation-rate, which had shown a steady overall improvement and
now stood at half what it had been in my grandfather's time, would have been better
still, but for my father.

In
addition to his rigorous and unyielding attitude towards deviations, let us remember the
dream that David has of his father when he sacrifices Sophie as if she were a mutated
calf. Throughout the entire story, he follows an inhumane set of laws and pursues them
to his very death.