I got this printed, a character created and am continuing reading the book. I’m really impressed so far! This is very well laid out and well written, the art is nice too. I can’t wait to play!
I'd recommend you start with the "A First Step" quest, which gives you a Follower and a Companion right away, and if you can afford to keep paying them, they're yours to keep! In any case, the way of getting a Companion is be rolling a 20 on the Follower Trait table on page 158, so they're pretty rare!