I reply I did to a discussion about new hard SF:
I really enjoyed Plutoshine (2023) by Lucy Kissick. From their website:
“I am a nuclear chemist specialising in the management of the back-end of the fuel cycle, working at a national laboratory near the English Lake District.
Until recently I was a planetary geochemist at the University of Oxford, where I researched how ancient Martian lakes once affected the planet’s climate—and were themselves in turn affected. I documented my journey across 75 videos on my YouTube channel, The PhDiaries.”
So I’m pretty sure the sciencey bits in Plutoshine are pretty accurate. ? But the kicker is the moving emotional core of the story and the one fantastical part, which is still very grounded. Too often, hard SF sacrifices characters on the altar of mind-bending ideas. Kissick is excellent at both.