** spoiler alert ** 
 I'm afraid that I was constantly thrown while reading this book by both the prose style, and the plot 'twists', both seemed naive, with words and concepts from a modern context. 
 There was a lack of consistency in the characters' relationships. (Our hero is promoted from commoner to 'adopted son' about half way through the book, but continues to be treated as a commoner, even by the man who promoted him.) 
 The training regime, (such as we see it) is odd, with random actions undertaken for too little time. Any martial school which has potentially fatal training undertaken with no preparatory training regime ("Here, untrained youth, take this unweildy shield and protect yourself while having live weapons thrown at you, if you fail you will die. ") rapidly runs out of cadre and is left with the lucky or the sneaky. 
 Still, I finished it, so it gets a 3.