Answer Details

I'll search for some highly-reviewed recent science fiction novels to give you current recommendations.Based on recent reviews and awards, here are some excellent science fiction novels to recommend: **Recent Award Winners & Critical Favorites:** **The Ministry of Time** by Kaliane Bradley - This debut novel combines time-travel romance with workplace comedy, roommate drama, espionage, and temporal physics. It won readers' favorite science fiction at the 2024 Goodreads Choice Awards. **Absolution** by Jeff VanderMeer - The surprise fourth volume in the Southern Reach series, with three new expeditions providing long-awaited answers while offering new surprises and questions. **Lake of Souls** (collection) by Ann Leckie - This complete collection features all the short fiction from the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner, including science fiction and fantasy stories. **Other Strong 2024 Debuts:** **Redemptor** by Jordan Ifueko - Military sci-fi about Inez, who after a career-ending injury breaks every rule to rise to the top and destroy the fleet. **Redwood and Wildfire** by Andrea Hairston - Set at the Next World Festival, featuring former coder Cinnamon Jones, AI Circus-Bots trained on ancestor memories, and a Ghost Mall full of community leaders. **In Ascension** by Martin MacInnes - Described as glorious and full of wonder about who humanity might become. Any of these would make excellent recommendations depending on your friend's taste—time travel, military sci-fi, ecological themes, or short fiction collections!