Oh and definitely Murderbot Diaries. That’s a quite similar book series, I’d say. Had a lot of fun with it.

You might want to consider Project Hail Mary. It’s not a book series but it’s hard sci-fi with good story telling and great humour. But no pop culture references.

Uhm… Have you read the whole headline?

Arctic sea ice winter peak in 2025 is smallest in 47-year record

Somewhere on the Baltic Sea, I would assume. But I don’t know exactly where.