Answer Details

I'll search for highly-reviewed recent science fiction novels to give you current recommendations.Based on recent reviews and awards, here are some excellent recent science fiction novels to recommend: **Top Picks from 2024:** **The Ministry of Time** by Kaliane Bradley - A debut novel featuring a playful twist on time-travel romance with elements of workplace comedy, roommate drama, espionage, and temporal physics. This was a Goodreads Choice Awards favorite and has received widespread critical acclaim. **In Ascension** by Martin MacInnes - A philosophical novel with big action and universe-spanning stakes featuring Anna, a survivor who has a close encounter with a many-headed serpent alien named Ssrin as a strange broadcast fills the universe with horror. **Master Mage** by Malka Older - Opens with the idea "There are other ways to live" and explores questions about how we might live differently with one another. **Lake of Souls and Other Stories** by Anne Leckie - The complete collection of short fiction from the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner, author of the acclaimed Imperial Radch series, including the brand new novelette "Lake of Souls". Great for both fans and newcomers to her work. **Redwood and Wildfire** by Andrea Hairston - A joyful novel reminding us that even if the world ends, people will find each other and make art, featuring Cinnamon Jones and her Next World Festival with help from Circus-Bots, border collies, and a Ghost Mall full of community leaders. **The Tainted Cup** by Robert Jackson Bennett - This was highly anticipated and well-received in 2024. These books span different subgenres—time travel, space opera, philosophical SF, and near-future fiction—so you can pick based on your friend's specific interests!