Review:
So, so good.
It's easy to find common points between this book and Asimov's Foundation series. Galactic empires, planetary cities... Don't let that fool you.
This book is all the things Foundation is not, in a good way. It's well written, the plot is interesting, the society it describes feels foreign and attention-catching.
Science fiction has improved a lot in the past 70 years, and anyone thinking of recommending an old golden age classic for any reason other than historiography should recommend this book instead.
Because the golden age of scifi is now.