You asked for my opinion so here goes.
This ain't really my sort of taste these days, although I've read similarly themed books when I was much much younger. This is a great reading experience for guys though. Me, not so much, not because I'm offended, or think it's bad, but because I like my SciFi more messy, emotional, and organic, (with a touch of horror). Think Aliete De Bodard's Vietnamese Space Operas.

I like my reading style to be more grounded and basic. The dialogue drops you right into the deep end. I'd love to read some messy action sequences, too. There's a lot of explaining going on here, and it was hard to keep my interest up. This is some good worldbuilding (my favorite part, really), ultimately it's not the kind of SciFi that I gravitate to these days.