It seems impossible to review this volume without comparing it to the modern Green Lantern stuff. Some of this, I'm sure, is just general resurgence of the cosmic mythology in both universes. But the first couple of issues here have a a set of villains that look just a *little* too much like the Black Lanterns for comfort. I know space zombies weren't invented during Blackest Night, but there are panels here that could have been taken right from the DC stuff--they even have matching black and silver symbols on their chest.
Anyway, other than seeming sort of derivative, this suffers from the usual problems that plague the Marvel universe. (Specifically, an overabundance of me thinking "What exactly is going on here?" and "What exactly are this character's abilities?") Nova, as a protagonist, is sort of a poor-man's Green Lantern. He's a more likeable character (as is specifically pointed out in one chapter here, he was chosen because he's completely average) but his powers are pretty boring--what's more generic than "flying and shooting stuff"? This volume also sees a bunch of bizarre space bad guys with various poorly-defined-but-villainous powers. Nova is also being chased by Gamora and Drax, both of whom have the power to beat people up (apparently), and over in the simultaneous Annihilation:Conquest, Quasar and Adam Warlock are running around, flying and shooting stuff. It all gets very monotonous; very dramatic, but with little explanation to keep my interest.
The introduction of Cosmo, the telepathic Russian spacedog, is totally awesome, harkening back to the silliness of the '70s but in a winking way. Other than that, though, the book remains surprisingly humorless.
Anyway, I'm reading this simultaneously with Annihilation:Conquest since they're so intermingled. Unfortunately, the first 2/3 of this book is of the "some adventures happened along the way" variety; nothing significant, just some very Odyssey-style annoyances. After Nova gets to the phalanx homeworld near the end and hangs out with Warlock, the story gets enjoyable. But too much of the story seems like filler for me. Also, the BIG finale is collected in the Annihilation:Conquest book, so reading this one without that one would be rather unfulfilling.