To kick off, I'd like to mention I was looking forward to this after hearing about it in IO9.com, the mix of otherwise disparate concepts tickled the proper portions of my brain. I was, sadly, underwhelmed... but there are some good nuggets that I hope are better developed in Cole's next novel.
The Good: The world is well thought-out and, while not perfectly fleshed out, offers tantalizing hints of the grater change the Reawakening of powers has had on the global landscape. That the militaries of the world would jump at the chance of using super-powered assets rather than fight a failing genocide is fresh, and their on-the-fly attempts to understand control and cultivate these abilities has the right flavor of bureaucratic BS and boots-on-ground practicality. The US Army isn't dumb, as often portrayed in these kinds of novels, just amoral and lacking a certain amount of imagination and neither are they purely fascist evil. Points for that.
The Bad: Simply put I hate Oscar Britton as the lead character. As a character he suits the world, don't get me wrong, but his constant flip-flopping of attitudes between 'loving the corps' and 'hating the inhumanity of it all' really really bugs me. I just can't sympathize with him when he can't stop blaming everyone else. Every time he acts selfishly people die, horribly, and he never really owns up to it, even by the end of the novel when he's leading an psuedo-rebellion. Pick a goddamn side, Oscar, and stick with it.
When you compound this with the idea that he learns to sling portals and martial arts in a couple weeks, plus gets the hot healer babe as a girlfriend, plus a blood-dept from a native price, despite being dumb as a bowling ball, it just sits as more phony than the magic.
When I'd rather be seeing the story form Harlequin's POV, the BAD GUY, something is wrong. But Harlequin seems to have a concept of... oh I dunno... consequences for his actions. If there's a sequel I really hope it's from another character's POV.
The Awesome: I have to give props to how the fights are handled. The internal choreography is pretty slick, from how the powers are handled, to the spec-ops tactics, to the vehicle mayhem. The writing set up these action pieces well, and rarely was I lost wondering who was doing what. And no one comes out clean from these fight, I appreciate that.