Rating: 4.5 stars

I wouldn't recommend this one due to content issues (mostly of the violent, sexual [no explicit scenes, but a lot of implications/questionable situations], and [if this bothers you] magical variety), but I personally thought it was well-done and I really enjoyed the characters, their relationships, and the worldbuilding.
It was also really predictable, but with the author's foreword and with the characters and everything else to tide it over, I didn't mind terribly.