I'll add my own experience to the thread.
I was in the same situation as Sladesy, getting a deluxe-version print/pdf edition of the game during the current tax day sale. I haven't played the game yet, so keep that in mind when reading this post. On a similar note since I'm in Europe my physical book hasn't arrived yet, so I'm basing my first impressions off the PDF.
Firstly, the character creation steps are very easy to follow and keep track of. I like the idea of having backgrounds as an element of the character, makes characters more customizable. I'm already thinking of how to use backgrounds to fit my setting, seems very easy to construct your own. The raves are also nice, a good starting point for any fantasy campaign. One thing: While it's good to see illustrations of the different races, the female half-orc really bugs me. I know there is a long tradition of fantasy females with really large breasts, but with the half-orc this is taken to an almost ridiculous extreme, and this makes it harder for me to take Novus as a whole seriously, despite the many great things about the game.
On the topic of illustrations I really like most of the ones in the book. good mix of character types, weapons and historical illustrations. It works well to show what a Novus fantasy world is "supposed" to look like. Most of the charts are also easy to make sense of, although a few, notably the weapons chart on page 38, are harder to read due to the different columns not being seperate. I'd prefer to have just a centimeter between those two columns of weapon names.
On to the system itself, which is where I think Novus really shines. Doing away with the d20 is a stroke of genius. 2d10 gives a much nicer bell-curve, making players less dependent on chance and more on skill, as the rules themselves rightly point out. The combat system seems very nice and fast paced, while the idea of action points add to the tactical element. Boons are a fun way of makeing a critical hit system with variable results, and give even more options for ranged and melee fighter-types.
The magic system is also nice, the focus on making your own spells reminds me of Ars Magica in a very good way. It would have been nice to have those rules included in the book itself, but if they can be found in a 2$ supplement I guess it's forgiveable
