A Mother’s Day book review

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

This novel is a science fiction story; the main character is Commander Cordelia Naismith of Beta Colony’s Astronomical Survey. As the story opens, she commands the Survey Ship Rene Magritte. Along with a shuttle load of various experts, Cordelia has made camp on an unnamed planet. While she and her team’s botanist, Ensign Dubauer, are away, the camp is attacked by a Barrayaran military force. When Cordelia and Dubauer see the shuttle make an emergency takeoff, she contacts her ship, orders them to get away from the planet, and realizes that she will probably be captured by the Barrayarans.