StarWarsnewsnet.com have done a sort-of-review of the TFA novelization.
There’s a few interesting quotes (some of which which I’ve copy-pasted below), and a somewhat explanation of the politics of the new canon.
http://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2015/12/spoilers-want-a-few-more-hints-about-the-force-awakens-take-a-look-at-the-novelization.html
First of all, the Journal of the Whills is apparently canon again. Although how similar it will be to the EU has not been expanded upon yet.
This quote intrigued me;
In the novel, after he orders Hux to leave Starkiller Base, retrieve Kylo Ren, and come to him, Snoke says, “It appears that he may have been right about the girl.”
Apparently when Rey takes Anakin/Luke’s lightsaber away from Kylo with the Force on Starkiller base he says; “It is you.”
Not sure what to take from that.
There’s a lot to take from this article, and I probably missed several important points, but these were the ones that stood out for me.
This article did however confuse me about as to what have happened when in the new canon (e.g. the past 30 years). The guy writing the article mentioned that Kylo had turned to the Dark Side roughly 20 years before TFA. So how old is Kylo Ren then? I assumed that he was about Adam Driver’s age; so roughly 30. In Rey’s Force-flashback he was clearly somewhat of an adult, at least a teenager, when he killed Luke’s Jedi students. So he couldn’t have been 10 years old. Then again he could have turned earlier than we expected, joined the Knight of Ren, which as I mentioned earlier existed before he turned, and then come back and killed Luke’s students when he was older. Or it could have been a typo, or mis-reading of the novel of course. I’m going to have to read this book myself some time soon.