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I'll search for the best recent science fiction novels to give you current recommendations with strong reviews.Let me search for a few more specific highly-reviewed titles to give you comprehensive recommendations.Based on my research, here are some excellent recent science fiction novels with strong reviews that you should recommend to your friend: ## Top Recommendations for 2024 **The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley** (debut novel) This genre-blending debut combines time travel, romance, workplace comedy, and espionage. It won the Goodreads Choice Award for Readers' Favourite Science Fiction in 2024 and was named a best book of 2024 by outlets including NPR, Vanity Fair, Kirkus Review, and Vox. The story follows a civil servant tasked with helping a Victorian naval officer from the doomed 1847 Franklin Expedition adapt to modern London. Kirkus Reviews praised it as "taut, artfully unspooled, and vividly written" and "breathtakingly sexy". **The Book of Love by Kelly Link** This novel features open doors to places both familiar and fantastical, with Link's signature humor that's "half eye-roll, half wink". **Translation State by Ann Leckie** The complete collection of Leckie's short fiction showcases her masterful storytelling, and her work demonstrates how seemingly minor details have extraordinary significance on larger scales. **Master Minding by S.L. Huang** A feminist military sci-fi novella that explores how two people on the same side of a war can become true enemies. **In Ascension by Martin MacInnes** A novel with big action, universe-spanning stakes, and philosophical depth. **Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston** An absolute joy that reminds readers that even if the world ends, people will find each other, make art, remember, and move forward. These books offer a brilliant mix of styles—from time travel romance to space opera to feminist commentary—all with the imaginative worldbuilding and thought-provoking themes that make great science fiction.