Answer Details

I'll search for the most highly-reviewed science fiction novels published recently to give you current recommendations.Based on these results, I can see several standout titles from 2024. Let me get a bit more detail on some of the most acclaimed ones.Here are some excellent, highly-reviewed science fiction novels from 2024 that your friend should love: **Top Picks:** **In Ascension by Martin MacInnes** - Winner of the 2024 Arthur C. Clarke Award and longlisted for the Booker Prize, this literary sci-fi novel follows a marine biologist studying deep-sea life who becomes involved in investigating cosmic anomalies. It's been compared to works by Ted Chiang and Jeff VanderMeer, and praised for finding as much poetry in the human microbiome as in the grand revolutions of the planets. **System Collapse by Martha Wells** - The 2024 Locus Award winner for Best Sci-Fi Novel, this is the seventh book in the beloved Murderbot Diaries series. The series has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, featuring a sarcastic security robot that has hacked its own programming. **The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang** - A Nebula Award nominee that's been praised as a boisterous martial-arts epic and intricate heist story with breathless pacing. **Also Excellent:** **Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino** - Described as one of the most heartwarming books of the year, following a young girl who believes she's an alien reporting back on what it means to be human. **The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera** - The 2024 Nebula Award winner for Best Novel. All of these received critical acclaim and appeared on multiple "best of 2024" lists from major publications!