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Pale Grey Dot
Three members of an elite team of operatives--once so close they were like family--are living in disgraced exile after a mission gone horribly wrong. But, they are thrown back into action when the solar system's Jupiter Station is attacked from within. It will take all the tricks and tech they have to sort out the truth behind the official reports, and no small amount of courage to fight back against the system's totalitarian government, in this exciting sci-fi debut novel from pillar of the Toronto science fiction community, Don Miasek.
- GenresScience Fiction
439 pages, Paperback
Published May 15, 2024
9 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
Don Miasek
7 books10 followersDon Miasek writes from smack dab in the middle of Toronto, Canada. In addition to editing for TDotSpec and publishing numerous short stories, he is the author of PALE GREY DOT.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 6, 2024
A fantastic debut novel from Don Miasek! Few novels manage to captivate, thrill, and provoke thought all at once. Miasek’s debut novel, "Pale Grey Dot," does exactly that, making a spectacular entrance into the genre. Set against the sprawling backdrop of a besieged solar system, Miasek weaves a narrative that is as expansive as it is intimate, exploring the bonds of family, the weight of exile, and the fight against oppression—and each other—between the three co-leads of Ezza, Jenna, and Cherny.
The novel's pacing is exquisite, balancing quieter, introspective moments with explosive confrontations that propel the plot forward. The prose is crisp and evocative, capturing the vastness of space, intriguing politics, and the complexities of human emotion with equal finesse. The technology and world-building are thoughtfully crafted.
The novel's pacing is exquisite, balancing quieter, introspective moments with explosive confrontations that propel the plot forward. The prose is crisp and evocative, capturing the vastness of space, intriguing politics, and the complexities of human emotion with equal finesse. The technology and world-building are thoughtfully crafted.
May 18, 2024
Had the chance to read an ARC copy, and provide a blurb for Pale Grey Dot. I had no idea what I was in for, but after finishing the book I can firmly say this is one of the most interesting sci-fi reads to come across my desk in a long while. Inventive and polished, with a structure and universe that hits right at my cyberpunk-minded heart, Don Miasek's book is one to put on any sci-fi fan's TBR list.
Also, using the formatting to embody different voices within the text was a wonderful display of utilizing the medium to full effect. Something you'd never get on screen or through audio.
Also, using the formatting to embody different voices within the text was a wonderful display of utilizing the medium to full effect. Something you'd never get on screen or through audio.
May 19, 2024
Miasek has crafted a wonderful sci-fi story with imaginative settings and truly captivating characters. Ezza is one of my new favourites! I love a good spaceship, and the use of technology and implants was really cool. Highly recommend.
September 6, 2025
When a former intelligence operative starts targetting other agents, the agency attempts to reactivate the former members of team that aren't already wanted as traitors. The whole team was forcibly retired after an incident many years ago, and whether living in obscurity doing a dead-end job or serving the government, they don't really get a choice in the matter, as loyalty's been programmed into them.
This was described a space opera/cyberpunk fusion, which was definitely enough to get my interest. Holding it? Well, it manages, but only just and with a lot of disappointment that it didn't really get what I wanted, and, in fact, veered into a territory I'm not super into. There's a lot of Cyberpunk out there, of course, and a lot of variations, but one of the touchstones I use is 'High-Tech, Low Lives.' That is, it's set in a world with higher tech, and often things like cybernetics and so on, but often focuses on average people living their lives and often having small time scores. That's not this book. And that itself is not a problem. But it is a book that pretty much turns into Operative Vs Operative. That is, highly trained military soldiers facing off against each other and the governments behind them. And that CAN work, both in Cyberpunk and otherwise, but it's often Not My Thing and for me to enjoy it, it's gotta be done REALLY well.
This was... fine. It had a bit of a cool idea in exploring a compelled loyalty mod and how it affects characters who otherwise might act in different ways. But I never really felt connected to any of the characters, or the ordinary person in the society. So, it remained just... operative vs operative, people trained from a young age to be secret agents playing high level games against each other and with me not particularly caring who wins, except that the 'bad' side was pretty clearly labelled (not cartoonishly so, but enough that I at least was able to form a slight desire for them to be taken down which helped carry me through not connecting to the characters stories).
And, honestly, it's been a few months since I read the book (behind on my reviews) and... I couldn't tell you the names of the characters or much of where the plot took them. I guess that says something.
Though perhaps not as much as this: I actually read this from the Voter's Packet for the Aurora Awards, given out by Canada's Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. It was up for the Best Novel award, and the other nominees didn't particularly interest me in terms of the plot, so I figured I'd try this one and then I'd have something to vote for. Normally, I don't have any qualms about voting for awards when I've only read one entry, because all awards are subjective and while there are many ways stories-I-didn't-read might be better written, the mere fact that nothing about them inspired me to read them (and probably never will) means that a story I DID want to read has, well, at least something going for it in one category better than all the other nominees. That is, this book at least cleared the bar of being a SF story I was interested in enough to pick it up, while the others weren't. If I also subjectively thought it was pretty good, that's reason enough for me to vote for it even without having read the whole category. Except... in this case, I just thought the book was okay, and so I abstained from voting in that category, feeling the hope that other nominees were better. This book is competant, I don't regret reading it, and I doubt others would either, it just didn't convince me that it was better than a slate of other novels I hadn't read and are outside of my wheelhouse. I don't think it won, and I doubt my single lack of vote was definitive (at best it could have forced a tie) but I don't feel guilty over that possibility either.
So, in terms of scoring, I think somewhere between 2 and 3 stars is appropriate. My review above probably suggests more towards the 'meh' side of the scale and thus 2, but... I think perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on it. If we could do half-stars, 2.5 would feel reasonable, but since it's not, let's round it up to three.
This was described a space opera/cyberpunk fusion, which was definitely enough to get my interest. Holding it? Well, it manages, but only just and with a lot of disappointment that it didn't really get what I wanted, and, in fact, veered into a territory I'm not super into. There's a lot of Cyberpunk out there, of course, and a lot of variations, but one of the touchstones I use is 'High-Tech, Low Lives.' That is, it's set in a world with higher tech, and often things like cybernetics and so on, but often focuses on average people living their lives and often having small time scores. That's not this book. And that itself is not a problem. But it is a book that pretty much turns into Operative Vs Operative. That is, highly trained military soldiers facing off against each other and the governments behind them. And that CAN work, both in Cyberpunk and otherwise, but it's often Not My Thing and for me to enjoy it, it's gotta be done REALLY well.
This was... fine. It had a bit of a cool idea in exploring a compelled loyalty mod and how it affects characters who otherwise might act in different ways. But I never really felt connected to any of the characters, or the ordinary person in the society. So, it remained just... operative vs operative, people trained from a young age to be secret agents playing high level games against each other and with me not particularly caring who wins, except that the 'bad' side was pretty clearly labelled (not cartoonishly so, but enough that I at least was able to form a slight desire for them to be taken down which helped carry me through not connecting to the characters stories).
And, honestly, it's been a few months since I read the book (behind on my reviews) and... I couldn't tell you the names of the characters or much of where the plot took them. I guess that says something.
Though perhaps not as much as this: I actually read this from the Voter's Packet for the Aurora Awards, given out by Canada's Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. It was up for the Best Novel award, and the other nominees didn't particularly interest me in terms of the plot, so I figured I'd try this one and then I'd have something to vote for. Normally, I don't have any qualms about voting for awards when I've only read one entry, because all awards are subjective and while there are many ways stories-I-didn't-read might be better written, the mere fact that nothing about them inspired me to read them (and probably never will) means that a story I DID want to read has, well, at least something going for it in one category better than all the other nominees. That is, this book at least cleared the bar of being a SF story I was interested in enough to pick it up, while the others weren't. If I also subjectively thought it was pretty good, that's reason enough for me to vote for it even without having read the whole category. Except... in this case, I just thought the book was okay, and so I abstained from voting in that category, feeling the hope that other nominees were better. This book is competant, I don't regret reading it, and I doubt others would either, it just didn't convince me that it was better than a slate of other novels I hadn't read and are outside of my wheelhouse. I don't think it won, and I doubt my single lack of vote was definitive (at best it could have forced a tie) but I don't feel guilty over that possibility either.
So, in terms of scoring, I think somewhere between 2 and 3 stars is appropriate. My review above probably suggests more towards the 'meh' side of the scale and thus 2, but... I think perhaps I'm being a bit harsh on it. If we could do half-stars, 2.5 would feel reasonable, but since it's not, let's round it up to three.
October 26, 2024
Really enjoyed this. The book is a solid read, with engaging characters and quickly evolving plot, and only the start felt a little off. I loved the blend of sci-fi/cyberpunk and the way people fought to retain their humanity even as technology was slowly taking it away. I had fun with this one!
March 14, 2025
Overall great read! A suspenseful thriller with unique world-building concepts such as the Pull and the character of Her. The stakes are always high and multiple characters are woven together in complex plots and intrigues. Characters have compelling motivations. A well-crafted sci-fi thriller!
March 26, 2025
4.5 rounded up. There was a lot to like with this novel. The plot was intriguing, the characters rich, and the world-building arose organically from the combination of those two elements.
April 20, 2025
I found the sci-fi elements rudimentary and old-fashioned, the military and governmental structure nonsensical, and the characters unrealistic. I'll try to break it down.
Writing
The prose itself is unembellished to a degree that renders it boring. Descriptions are all very blunt, when they exist. The closest the author get is this:
The infinite points of starlight reminded Ezza that they were just four specks of chemicals on a ball of ice, hurtling around a ball of gas, hurtling around an even larger ball of gas. Just one out of a hundred billion spheres rolling through the cosmos. It all suddenly seemed so petty.
Balls all the way down. Poignant.
“Affect change” is used when it ought to be “effect change”
One thing I like, because I find it really funny, is when people refer to disembarking a spaceship as “shore leave.”
“Star-car” is a silly name.
“Or a man from Mars and a woman from Venus?” Noble smiled at her own cleverness.
Who the hell would get that reference five hundred years from now? I doubt most people under the age of 30 would even get it.
There's not much to say. The writing is compenent, but dull and unengaging.
Worldbuilding
Why do people have physical media storage inserted into their arms?
Why is it that in order to interface with a spaceship you need multiple cables considering we don't even need cables now?
Why do people who are several centuries old act like they are in their 20s? Why would someone stay in the same job at a filling station for 200 years?
Someone's grandmother is 450 years old. The story is set in 2510 which means that that woman was born in 2060, so in 35 years we're going to unlock the secret of immortality? It's like these people are operating on hobbit rules, and a 50 year old is physically and mentally a teenager.
Zero-g did not slow him in the least.
Being in space doesn't make people physically slower. The reason astronauts move slowly and deliberately is so they don't go spinning out of control.
Two virtual reality cables—power and data—ran between her arm and the armrest of her chair.
How is a “virtual reality cable” different from any other cable?
The concept of a Martian Insurrection is questionable. On a practical level, an embargo would be devastating.
“At their core, the Syndicate is a bunch of anarchists acting out against perceived slights by the government.”
No, they're not. They are a loose coalition of pirates with a clear hierarchical structure. I generally don't like anarchy being conflated with chaos and terrorism, whatever its colloquial meaning. Here, it’s lazy to use it repeatedly to describe a group of dissidents who have no clear motivation other than profit. Whatever the “perceived slights” are is not stated.
A starliner, bright hull reflecting the light of the station, was docked at one of Terminal 6’s most upscale gates.
On the ocean, they are called ocean liners because they follow a particular line, or route. How is this translating to space travel? It is not analogous to sailing the seas.
There is paperwork, docked space vessels are restocked via space ferries (it's docked, things can be carried directly on), cyborgs are plugged into computers to read aloud information on data banks to colleagues who are also have cybernetic implants who presumably would not need two intermediaries for locally stored information. I get the impression of one of those massive computers from the 50s, and in modern times we are a bit beyond that scale of media. In 500 years, in a spacefaring society, we would be even more advanced.
What purpose do all the ports and wires have? Why would a person be covered in ports? It's purely aesthetic; you don't need dozens and dozens of ports and a bunch of wires sticking out of you, or a computer, to gain access to information, to transfer information. There's no utility in it whatsoever. It's only for the visual.
The author must possess some awareness of this, as we get this line about a spaceship: It was a sleek and aerodynamic frame for a ship that needed to be neither. Style over function. It’s ironic given the worldbuilding, which is essentially style over function.
There is a very weird scene where Jenna is looking through Marcus's memories via something called a data drive, which is a physical storage thing. But it doesn't make sense for it to be like her reading someone's mind when it's digitally stored data. That’s not the same as a human brain, or watching random video clips.
Jenna, Ezza, and Chery are all equipped with cybernetic arms which are said to be more advanced than even what the military presently has. How are they more advanced? What does that mean? And how is it their cybernetic implants are still more advanced when they are at least fifty years out of date?
It's funny that medication still comes in plastic orange bottles with white safety caps. 500 years and there's been no advancements in how we store and distribute medication.
The overwatch are inexplicable. Why would you turn a human being into a cyborg to be a computer interface? Computers have interfaces already.
A big issue I have is with the attack at the Jupiter Station. It shouldn't be so absurdly easy to take out the majority of a military's fleet. Was there no security? Was the cargo not checked? Was there no scanning? We have more stringent security getting into a fucking club than loading spaceships in the future. Jenna has to go through a checkpoint while wandering Toronto. The materiel should have been checked multiple times, especially when it's known that space pirates are gallivanting about the solar system and escalating their attacks. Later, there is a missive which states, “Don’t let anything on board without your or your crew’s visual inspection.” My high school had a metal detector. A public high school. Why is a futuristic, advanced military relying on solely visual inspections? If we assume these are cybernetically enhanced visual inspections, like they've got X-ray vision or some shit, why was this not already happening? Speaking of government communiqué, I found them all unprofessional, too casual, and unconvincingly written.
Mars is powered by wind farms. However, Mars barely has an atmosphere. The strongest “wind” is similar to me blowing really hard. It's not enough to generate electricity.
There is one bright spot, which is how long and tedious a battle in space would actually be. That, the time it takes to travel between planets, the lag in communication. It's realistic, but also prolonged, boring, and I never felt the stakes.
Characters
I found them, particularly for special agents trained from childhood, incompetent, unsubtle, and squeamish. They use their actual names while infiltrating (Jenna on the Étoile, Cherny on Mars). Really rookie stuff. A few characters do acknowledge how much information they are revealing to outsiders, but do nothing to remedy this. Not even something basic like not discussing sensitive topics in front of people you can't trust. These people (Jenna, Ezza, Cherny, etc) are a hundred and fifty years old. I don't think the Athena Protocol and their loyalty chips can be blamed for so, so many lapses in judgment. If that is the cause, it's not really addressed in the text. Ezza will wonder why she is speaking so freely around someone, then immediately move on as if that brief moment of self-awareness never happened.
Some of the exchanges between characters are very bizarre.
Brylan studied her face. 'Nah,' he said finally. 'No, mademoiselle, you don’t know. Damn, though, you are good at the game. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to go up against you.'
This woman, Ezza, is the captain of a ship. In the marines (space marines?). That she would tolerate so much disrespect and agree to give this man a “lift” to Jupiter is baffling. Brylan is an ESS agent, and Ezza is a former agent, so that may be guiding some of her responses. However, she is well over a century old. Did her spine deteriorate in that time?
One ESS operative, Cherny, is brought back into service. Within minutes he is literally plugged in (again, why is all the hardware necessary?) and seemingly has full access to all of ESS’ activities. Is that not a significant security breach? Why would one lowly agent need that amount of sensitive information?
I didn't really like anyone, and I didn't care what happened to them. We are told about their relationships, but see very little of it. We are also told they are special agents trained from childhood to be the best in the solar system at...whatever it is they do. We barely see any of that. They just stumble around with headaches for huge portions of the book.
Plot
Very basically, the story is about a group of former special agents, one who defects, one who is a vigilante. Independently, they want to take down the organization they worked for. The other former agents get dragged into it.
This story alludes to some interesting themes, which it never fully addresses. For example, the stagnation that comes with immortality, or manufactured longevity. How does that affect a person? It doesn't seem to; all of these long-lived characters are unilaterally resigned to it. They act like anyone in a dead end job. You're telling me people who are several centuries old have no psychological, social, physical, any impact from this? How does it affect the economy? Not at all, apparently.
Why did it take fifty years for Jenna to do anything? The whole longevity thing is ridiculous. Just give them typical lifespans and make it five years instead. That is a more reasonable time frame than spending fifty years in unproductive squalor. When she does rouse herself, she kills a guy and goes to Jupiter to find Ezza. She's spent fifty years deprogramming herself, and in all those decades she never once attempted to contact her old friends.
Cherny is "reactivated" to track down Sienar, who killed some people on Ganymede, joined the Syndicate, and fled. On a hunch, he goes to Mars. There he tries to infiltrate the Syndicate, fails spectacularly, and ends up in a train tunnel in their custody.
Cherny's escape plan from the Syndicate is insane. Like, instead of Sienar sneaking Cherny out the same way he was snuck in, they incite a raid against the Syndicate refugees, resulting in dozens of deaths, including Sienar's.
What?
When Jenna makes it back to Earth with a memory drive that she got from another operative who was after Ezza on one of Jupiter's moons ‐ a convoluted chain of events which is all somehow related to defeating the leader of the ESS - Jenna is immediately captured, within minutes.
These people are supposed to be the best trained agents or assets or whatever in the galaxy, and again it's not at all clear what they're going to do to defeat the ESS. In Jenna's head she's going to kill the leader, but she doesn't have any weapons. She can't even evade capture.
None of this is part of a more complex or deeper plot, it just happens and things happen to work out.
The climax hinges on the memory drive of that one operative who happened to be on Ganymede, who happened to know that the destruction of Jupiter Station was a ploy by ESS, who happens to be sent after Ezza. There was no way anyone could have predicted obtaining that evidence through such means, nor any intention by the protagonists to expose the station's destruction as an inside job as a means of taking down ESS.
I can't even remember why Jenna killed Marcus at the beginning. I think to steal his memories, for some reason. And what's really stupid is that they keep their memories in a flash drive stuck in their arm. Who does that?
The defeat of Her is very anticlimactic. She's just this old lady in a tank who Jenna punches really hard. That's it. That’s the coup.
Conclusion
There was no reason for this to be science fiction. The same story, the same characters, everything could have taken place 50 years ago. 70 years ago. Maybe it's because I’m pedantic and think a lot about these things, and am kind of an asshole, but the poorly done, poorly conceptualized, science fiction elements detracted from the story. It’s redolent of Space Age aesthetic, without any substance or relevance.
I read another review where the guy commented how this might be better as a movie or a TV show, and I completely understand why he said that. So many of the science fiction elements in this story are lifted cues from sci-fi movies, like Alien or RoboCop or whatever. We have a bunch of fucking wires and shit sticking out everywhere to telegraph that this is futuristic setting.
This book is more a relic of dated sci-fi tropes and pseudo-military bullshit. Scrape that away and there is a mediocre secret agent novel with uninteresting “spies,” a bland and distant antagonist, and an incoherent plot. No one ever articulates a plan for how to remove Her from power. We're told Jenna has loads of plans, but never what they are. Most of the time is spent with the protagonists searching for each other and dicking around in space.
This line from the last chapter really sums it up.
Status quo. Cherny thought of Sienar. He’d have been devastated to know that after all this, we’ve only managed the status quo
Yeah, I’m disappointed too.
Writing
The prose itself is unembellished to a degree that renders it boring. Descriptions are all very blunt, when they exist. The closest the author get is this:
The infinite points of starlight reminded Ezza that they were just four specks of chemicals on a ball of ice, hurtling around a ball of gas, hurtling around an even larger ball of gas. Just one out of a hundred billion spheres rolling through the cosmos. It all suddenly seemed so petty.
Balls all the way down. Poignant.
“Affect change” is used when it ought to be “effect change”
One thing I like, because I find it really funny, is when people refer to disembarking a spaceship as “shore leave.”
“Star-car” is a silly name.
“Or a man from Mars and a woman from Venus?” Noble smiled at her own cleverness.
Who the hell would get that reference five hundred years from now? I doubt most people under the age of 30 would even get it.
There's not much to say. The writing is compenent, but dull and unengaging.
Worldbuilding
Why do people have physical media storage inserted into their arms?
Why is it that in order to interface with a spaceship you need multiple cables considering we don't even need cables now?
Why do people who are several centuries old act like they are in their 20s? Why would someone stay in the same job at a filling station for 200 years?
Someone's grandmother is 450 years old. The story is set in 2510 which means that that woman was born in 2060, so in 35 years we're going to unlock the secret of immortality? It's like these people are operating on hobbit rules, and a 50 year old is physically and mentally a teenager.
Zero-g did not slow him in the least.
Being in space doesn't make people physically slower. The reason astronauts move slowly and deliberately is so they don't go spinning out of control.
Two virtual reality cables—power and data—ran between her arm and the armrest of her chair.
How is a “virtual reality cable” different from any other cable?
The concept of a Martian Insurrection is questionable. On a practical level, an embargo would be devastating.
“At their core, the Syndicate is a bunch of anarchists acting out against perceived slights by the government.”
No, they're not. They are a loose coalition of pirates with a clear hierarchical structure. I generally don't like anarchy being conflated with chaos and terrorism, whatever its colloquial meaning. Here, it’s lazy to use it repeatedly to describe a group of dissidents who have no clear motivation other than profit. Whatever the “perceived slights” are is not stated.
A starliner, bright hull reflecting the light of the station, was docked at one of Terminal 6’s most upscale gates.
On the ocean, they are called ocean liners because they follow a particular line, or route. How is this translating to space travel? It is not analogous to sailing the seas.
There is paperwork, docked space vessels are restocked via space ferries (it's docked, things can be carried directly on), cyborgs are plugged into computers to read aloud information on data banks to colleagues who are also have cybernetic implants who presumably would not need two intermediaries for locally stored information. I get the impression of one of those massive computers from the 50s, and in modern times we are a bit beyond that scale of media. In 500 years, in a spacefaring society, we would be even more advanced.
What purpose do all the ports and wires have? Why would a person be covered in ports? It's purely aesthetic; you don't need dozens and dozens of ports and a bunch of wires sticking out of you, or a computer, to gain access to information, to transfer information. There's no utility in it whatsoever. It's only for the visual.
The author must possess some awareness of this, as we get this line about a spaceship: It was a sleek and aerodynamic frame for a ship that needed to be neither. Style over function. It’s ironic given the worldbuilding, which is essentially style over function.
There is a very weird scene where Jenna is looking through Marcus's memories via something called a data drive, which is a physical storage thing. But it doesn't make sense for it to be like her reading someone's mind when it's digitally stored data. That’s not the same as a human brain, or watching random video clips.
Jenna, Ezza, and Chery are all equipped with cybernetic arms which are said to be more advanced than even what the military presently has. How are they more advanced? What does that mean? And how is it their cybernetic implants are still more advanced when they are at least fifty years out of date?
It's funny that medication still comes in plastic orange bottles with white safety caps. 500 years and there's been no advancements in how we store and distribute medication.
The overwatch are inexplicable. Why would you turn a human being into a cyborg to be a computer interface? Computers have interfaces already.
A big issue I have is with the attack at the Jupiter Station. It shouldn't be so absurdly easy to take out the majority of a military's fleet. Was there no security? Was the cargo not checked? Was there no scanning? We have more stringent security getting into a fucking club than loading spaceships in the future. Jenna has to go through a checkpoint while wandering Toronto. The materiel should have been checked multiple times, especially when it's known that space pirates are gallivanting about the solar system and escalating their attacks. Later, there is a missive which states, “Don’t let anything on board without your or your crew’s visual inspection.” My high school had a metal detector. A public high school. Why is a futuristic, advanced military relying on solely visual inspections? If we assume these are cybernetically enhanced visual inspections, like they've got X-ray vision or some shit, why was this not already happening? Speaking of government communiqué, I found them all unprofessional, too casual, and unconvincingly written.
Mars is powered by wind farms. However, Mars barely has an atmosphere. The strongest “wind” is similar to me blowing really hard. It's not enough to generate electricity.
There is one bright spot, which is how long and tedious a battle in space would actually be. That, the time it takes to travel between planets, the lag in communication. It's realistic, but also prolonged, boring, and I never felt the stakes.
Characters
I found them, particularly for special agents trained from childhood, incompetent, unsubtle, and squeamish. They use their actual names while infiltrating (Jenna on the Étoile, Cherny on Mars). Really rookie stuff. A few characters do acknowledge how much information they are revealing to outsiders, but do nothing to remedy this. Not even something basic like not discussing sensitive topics in front of people you can't trust. These people (Jenna, Ezza, Cherny, etc) are a hundred and fifty years old. I don't think the Athena Protocol and their loyalty chips can be blamed for so, so many lapses in judgment. If that is the cause, it's not really addressed in the text. Ezza will wonder why she is speaking so freely around someone, then immediately move on as if that brief moment of self-awareness never happened.
Some of the exchanges between characters are very bizarre.
Brylan studied her face. 'Nah,' he said finally. 'No, mademoiselle, you don’t know. Damn, though, you are good at the game. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to go up against you.'
This woman, Ezza, is the captain of a ship. In the marines (space marines?). That she would tolerate so much disrespect and agree to give this man a “lift” to Jupiter is baffling. Brylan is an ESS agent, and Ezza is a former agent, so that may be guiding some of her responses. However, she is well over a century old. Did her spine deteriorate in that time?
One ESS operative, Cherny, is brought back into service. Within minutes he is literally plugged in (again, why is all the hardware necessary?) and seemingly has full access to all of ESS’ activities. Is that not a significant security breach? Why would one lowly agent need that amount of sensitive information?
I didn't really like anyone, and I didn't care what happened to them. We are told about their relationships, but see very little of it. We are also told they are special agents trained from childhood to be the best in the solar system at...whatever it is they do. We barely see any of that. They just stumble around with headaches for huge portions of the book.
Plot
Very basically, the story is about a group of former special agents, one who defects, one who is a vigilante. Independently, they want to take down the organization they worked for. The other former agents get dragged into it.
This story alludes to some interesting themes, which it never fully addresses. For example, the stagnation that comes with immortality, or manufactured longevity. How does that affect a person? It doesn't seem to; all of these long-lived characters are unilaterally resigned to it. They act like anyone in a dead end job. You're telling me people who are several centuries old have no psychological, social, physical, any impact from this? How does it affect the economy? Not at all, apparently.
Why did it take fifty years for Jenna to do anything? The whole longevity thing is ridiculous. Just give them typical lifespans and make it five years instead. That is a more reasonable time frame than spending fifty years in unproductive squalor. When she does rouse herself, she kills a guy and goes to Jupiter to find Ezza. She's spent fifty years deprogramming herself, and in all those decades she never once attempted to contact her old friends.
Cherny is "reactivated" to track down Sienar, who killed some people on Ganymede, joined the Syndicate, and fled. On a hunch, he goes to Mars. There he tries to infiltrate the Syndicate, fails spectacularly, and ends up in a train tunnel in their custody.
Cherny's escape plan from the Syndicate is insane. Like, instead of Sienar sneaking Cherny out the same way he was snuck in, they incite a raid against the Syndicate refugees, resulting in dozens of deaths, including Sienar's.
What?
When Jenna makes it back to Earth with a memory drive that she got from another operative who was after Ezza on one of Jupiter's moons ‐ a convoluted chain of events which is all somehow related to defeating the leader of the ESS - Jenna is immediately captured, within minutes.
These people are supposed to be the best trained agents or assets or whatever in the galaxy, and again it's not at all clear what they're going to do to defeat the ESS. In Jenna's head she's going to kill the leader, but she doesn't have any weapons. She can't even evade capture.
None of this is part of a more complex or deeper plot, it just happens and things happen to work out.
The climax hinges on the memory drive of that one operative who happened to be on Ganymede, who happened to know that the destruction of Jupiter Station was a ploy by ESS, who happens to be sent after Ezza. There was no way anyone could have predicted obtaining that evidence through such means, nor any intention by the protagonists to expose the station's destruction as an inside job as a means of taking down ESS.
I can't even remember why Jenna killed Marcus at the beginning. I think to steal his memories, for some reason. And what's really stupid is that they keep their memories in a flash drive stuck in their arm. Who does that?
The defeat of Her is very anticlimactic. She's just this old lady in a tank who Jenna punches really hard. That's it. That’s the coup.
Conclusion
There was no reason for this to be science fiction. The same story, the same characters, everything could have taken place 50 years ago. 70 years ago. Maybe it's because I’m pedantic and think a lot about these things, and am kind of an asshole, but the poorly done, poorly conceptualized, science fiction elements detracted from the story. It’s redolent of Space Age aesthetic, without any substance or relevance.
I read another review where the guy commented how this might be better as a movie or a TV show, and I completely understand why he said that. So many of the science fiction elements in this story are lifted cues from sci-fi movies, like Alien or RoboCop or whatever. We have a bunch of fucking wires and shit sticking out everywhere to telegraph that this is futuristic setting.
This book is more a relic of dated sci-fi tropes and pseudo-military bullshit. Scrape that away and there is a mediocre secret agent novel with uninteresting “spies,” a bland and distant antagonist, and an incoherent plot. No one ever articulates a plan for how to remove Her from power. We're told Jenna has loads of plans, but never what they are. Most of the time is spent with the protagonists searching for each other and dicking around in space.
This line from the last chapter really sums it up.
Status quo. Cherny thought of Sienar. He’d have been devastated to know that after all this, we’ve only managed the status quo
Yeah, I’m disappointed too.
April 14, 2025
I couldn't put this book down! Fantastic characters, great intrigue, and the whole book oozes with atmosphere. I would recommend this to anyone looking for some gritty, lived in sci fi.
July 19, 2024
I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi, so it's saying a lot when I tell you this book had me hooked start to finish. Don Miasek is a master of his craft, writing with impeccable pacing, exquisite tension, and characters that leap right off the page. And it's not just the main characters--against all odds, I found myself loving every scene with Nirali, a journalist who unwittingly winds up at the centre of this epic conspiracy. At its core, this is a book about loyalty, integrity, and family, and what happens when those values are at odds with one another. It features complex characters with morality as grey as the titular pale dot. And I loved every moment of it.
Hard science fiction can require something of a learning curve for readers new to the genre. I'm happy to report that, despite my rudimentary knowledge of physics and space travel mechanics, I was never once confused by the intricate science, and, dare I say it, I may have learned a thing or two. The absolute highlight of this novel was a spaceship battle near the climax. By striving for realism, Don delivers one of the most unique and captivating battle sequences I've ever encountered. Trust me, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
Pale Grey Dot is a book you won't want to put down. I'd often crack it open, intending to read about twenty pages or so, only to blow through upwards of fifty. From the lumbering cybernetic monstrosity that is Reuben to the Mother Brain-esque authority that is Her, the book is full of imaginitive characters and constructs that'll capture the imaginations of any science fiction fan. It perfectly treads that boundary between the familiar and the strange, with an added bonus for fellow Toronto natives.
In short, Pale Grey Dot is a masterful, breakneck-paced sci-fi thriller with more heart than it has any right to have. If you read one science fiction novel this year, make it this one. The others will pale in comparison.
Hard science fiction can require something of a learning curve for readers new to the genre. I'm happy to report that, despite my rudimentary knowledge of physics and space travel mechanics, I was never once confused by the intricate science, and, dare I say it, I may have learned a thing or two. The absolute highlight of this novel was a spaceship battle near the climax. By striving for realism, Don delivers one of the most unique and captivating battle sequences I've ever encountered. Trust me, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.
Pale Grey Dot is a book you won't want to put down. I'd often crack it open, intending to read about twenty pages or so, only to blow through upwards of fifty. From the lumbering cybernetic monstrosity that is Reuben to the Mother Brain-esque authority that is Her, the book is full of imaginitive characters and constructs that'll capture the imaginations of any science fiction fan. It perfectly treads that boundary between the familiar and the strange, with an added bonus for fellow Toronto natives.
In short, Pale Grey Dot is a masterful, breakneck-paced sci-fi thriller with more heart than it has any right to have. If you read one science fiction novel this year, make it this one. The others will pale in comparison.
July 19, 2025
2025 Aurora Awards Nominee
Pale Grey Dot is Miasek's debut novel and so much fun.
Ezza, Jenna, and Cherny are colleagues with a past - each outcast from the organization that raised them and having not spoken to each other for years. Each of them blames themselves for the events of the past and none of them are dealing with it healthily. They've all become the worst versions of themselves, struggling to stay alive while knowing that the danger that happened to them is still free in the world.
When certain events are set in motion, they are all scrambling towards the same end and colliding with each other. There's mistrust, there's the reason they were a team in the first place, and there's hard choices complicated by who they've grown to be when they were apart. Miasek takes the reader on an absolute romp through the galaxy in his debut novel. I can't wait to see what's next.
Pale Grey Dot is Miasek's debut novel and so much fun.
Ezza, Jenna, and Cherny are colleagues with a past - each outcast from the organization that raised them and having not spoken to each other for years. Each of them blames themselves for the events of the past and none of them are dealing with it healthily. They've all become the worst versions of themselves, struggling to stay alive while knowing that the danger that happened to them is still free in the world.
When certain events are set in motion, they are all scrambling towards the same end and colliding with each other. There's mistrust, there's the reason they were a team in the first place, and there's hard choices complicated by who they've grown to be when they were apart. Miasek takes the reader on an absolute romp through the galaxy in his debut novel. I can't wait to see what's next.
May 31, 2024
What a fun read! The year is 2510, humanity has spread throughout the solar system, but the colonies struggle under the iron fist of the Earth Security Services (ESS) run by a mysterious central being known only as ‘She’
Three failed ESS operatives, exiled after failing to bring a peaceful end to the Mars Insurrection, are now scattered and cut off when they begin to be called back to service. However, the task is unclear, and the operatives are not as compliant as they once were.
The future is richly imagined and logically consistent throughout the novel. The characters are well-defined, each with their own drives and flaws. We come to care about them as the story unfolds. The result is a true planet-hopping adventure reminiscent of John Farley’s Eight Worlds novel Steel Beach.
Three failed ESS operatives, exiled after failing to bring a peaceful end to the Mars Insurrection, are now scattered and cut off when they begin to be called back to service. However, the task is unclear, and the operatives are not as compliant as they once were.
The future is richly imagined and logically consistent throughout the novel. The characters are well-defined, each with their own drives and flaws. We come to care about them as the story unfolds. The result is a true planet-hopping adventure reminiscent of John Farley’s Eight Worlds novel Steel Beach.
March 16, 2025
2/5 Stars.
This was actually quite dull to read and difficult to finish due to having indistinguishable characters (except for an afterthought of a minor crime boss antagonist), absolutely no stakes, no attempt at explaining the world the novel takes place (sometimes you need to tell a little so you can show), and absolutely no attempt explaining who the antagonist is and why She was so bad and an antagonist in the first place.
Truthfully, I think this would benefit from being a film or series, but as a book it really didn’t hit the mark.
Other reviewers, were you real?
I was burned by the great title, and sparse but high ratings.
This was actually quite dull to read and difficult to finish due to having indistinguishable characters (except for an afterthought of a minor crime boss antagonist), absolutely no stakes, no attempt at explaining the world the novel takes place (sometimes you need to tell a little so you can show), and absolutely no attempt explaining who the antagonist is and why She was so bad and an antagonist in the first place.
Truthfully, I think this would benefit from being a film or series, but as a book it really didn’t hit the mark.
Other reviewers, were you real?
I was burned by the great title, and sparse but high ratings.
May 9, 2025
Pale Grey Dot is an unflinching sci-fi adventure that paints a picture of familiar human habits projected forward to a dreadfully plausible future.
The gradual revelation of each character's past added sharp suspense. And watching past colleagues rediscover teamwork brought 'bring the old gang together' spice.
If you enjoy gritty and socially realistic sci-fi, I think you will find Pale Grey Dot a satisfying read.
The gradual revelation of each character's past added sharp suspense. And watching past colleagues rediscover teamwork brought 'bring the old gang together' spice.
If you enjoy gritty and socially realistic sci-fi, I think you will find Pale Grey Dot a satisfying read.
December 2, 2024
Don Miasek crafts an intricate story of control and subterfuge, where many of the main characters cannot trust their feelings and allegiances, and may not only betray others, but also themselves.
Of all the concepts in this book, I loved that of the Pull most of all. There is a unique kind of horror to a force that controls and reprograms your mind, even years after consent to such a deep-seated alteration of your personality may have been withdrawn. This book shows the many layers of control, be it through vast government agencies or through the many verbal skirmishes of its characters.
The only reason I cannot give it five stars is that it took me quite a while to relate to the main characters. They were, more often than not, players on a board, with their actions and emotions dictated by the plot, rather than by any intrinsic motivation. For most of the book, I had a hard time building any sort of connection to them at all.
I would recommend this book to readers of light-weight more action-oriented science fiction, but not those who seek an overly emotional story.
Of all the concepts in this book, I loved that of the Pull most of all. There is a unique kind of horror to a force that controls and reprograms your mind, even years after consent to such a deep-seated alteration of your personality may have been withdrawn. This book shows the many layers of control, be it through vast government agencies or through the many verbal skirmishes of its characters.
The only reason I cannot give it five stars is that it took me quite a while to relate to the main characters. They were, more often than not, players on a board, with their actions and emotions dictated by the plot, rather than by any intrinsic motivation. For most of the book, I had a hard time building any sort of connection to them at all.
I would recommend this book to readers of light-weight more action-oriented science fiction, but not those who seek an overly emotional story.
January 30, 2025
I am still reading; I like the overall world and characters. There is witty banter, good worldbuilding with a history of a space war in the past, and characters coming out of "retirement" to face a mysterious entity, "She," who is controlling things and can wreak havoc in the present times, as history repeats itself.
July 11, 2025
Wow!
A sprawling masterpiece that had me invested no matter who’s side was being fought for. The world was expertly crafted and realistic enough that I could engage fully with the story being told.
I eagerly await more writing by Don Miasek.
A sprawling masterpiece that had me invested no matter who’s side was being fought for. The world was expertly crafted and realistic enough that I could engage fully with the story being told.
I eagerly await more writing by Don Miasek.
January 1, 2026
Dull. Lots of telling. Not a lot of showing. Meh
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