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I'll search for the best recent science fiction novels that have received strong critical acclaim and reader reviews.Based on my search of highly-reviewed recent science fiction, here are some excellent recommendations for your friend: ## Top Recent Picks: **The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (2024)** - A debut novel that combines time-travel romance with workplace comedy, roommate drama, espionage, and temporal physics. This was a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee and has received widespread critical acclaim. **In Ascension by Martin MacInnes (2024)** - Described as glorious, exploring existence itself as "the impossible adventure full of wonder and awe". This appears on multiple "best of" lists. **Translation State by Ann Leckie (2024)** - A collection featuring all the short fiction from the author of the acclaimed Imperial Radch series, plus a new novelette. Leckie is a Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner, and her stories feature lonely people trying to connect, protect, or survive, with masterful storytelling. **The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (2024)** - This was highly anticipated and appears on multiple "best of 2024" lists, though specific plot details weren't in the search results. **Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (2024)** - A military sci-fi novella about two people on the same side of a war who go head-to-head like true enemies. **Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston (2024)** - A joyful novel featuring brilliant former coder Cinnamon Jones running a festival with help from Circus-Bots, border collies, and a Ghost Mall full of community leaders. These books span various subgenres from time travel to space opera to climate fiction, all with strong critical reception and reader enthusiasm in 2024!