I found The Novice to be very reminiscent of Harry Potter, mostly because the school setting combined with the various character tropes. The main protagonist, Fletcher, quickly makes friends with the commoner novices and the resident scions of the dwarf and elven races all the while making foes with the rich, spoiled, and bigoted noble born apprentice that is very similar to Draco Malfoy.
Beyond the similarities to Harry Potter, Novice is generally very predictable in its story arch and lacks any sense of Character development to deepen or expand the extremely basic character archetypes. I will say, however, that there are some cool moments involving Novices demon, but they are few and brief.
Now, from a more technical standpoint, Novices prose is, while serviceable, very basic. At best it seems to have been strung together as a means to an end, there is no artistry to it, which, in the end will sap some of the enjoyment for more experienced readers, or at least those readers with a technical mindset.
To summarize, my feelings toward Novice are generally a shrug of indifference combined with a touch of disappointment. Novice had potential, but it leans to heavily on accepted tropes to be truly enjoyable. Thus, I say just go read to Batimaeus trilogy instead, even if its you second or third reading.